Exclusive: London has highest level yet recorded but health impacts of breathing particles are unknown
Microplastic pollution is raining down on city dwellers, with research revealing that London has the highest levels yet recorded.
The health impacts of breathing or consuming the tiny plastic particles are unknown, and experts say urgent research is needed to assess the risks.
Continue reading...Pollution causes more than 2 million deaths a year in India, while Chad, Central African Republic and North Korea saw highest per capita rates
India leads the world in pollution-linked deaths– followed by China and Nigeria – according to a report published on Wednesday that estimated the global impact of contaminants in the air, water and workplace.
The report by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP) found pollution to be the largest environmental cause of premature death on the planet, causing 15% of all deaths – some 8.3 million people.
Continue reading...Cutting toxic air might prevent millions of people getting depression, research suggests
People living with air pollution have higher rates of depression and suicide, a systematic review of global data has found.
Cutting air pollution around the world to the EU’s legal limit could prevent millions of people becoming depressed, the research suggests. This assumes that exposure to toxic air is causing these cases of depression. Scientists believe this is likely but is difficult to prove beyond doubt.
Continue reading...Up to 20 properties lost in Blue Mountains as megafire burns outside Sydney, while fires also threaten communities in Western Australia and Queensland
About 2,000 firefighters are currently fighting more 108 active bushfires in NSW.
The RFS have issued a new emergency warning for areas near Muswellbrook.
EMERGENCY WARNING - Kerry Ridge fire (Muswellbrook, Singleton and Mid-Western LGA)
Fire activity increasing. If you are in the area of Olinda, Nullo Mountain and Bogee, watch out for embers that may start fires ahead of the main fire front. #nswrfs #nswfires #alert pic.twitter.com/6UEV0imNRS
David Bowman says Australia must retrofit houses to make them heat and smoke-proof
Australia has a “massive adaptive program” ahead to prepare for future protracted bushfires and subsequent air pollution, a professor of pyrogeography and fire science has warned, urging politicians to “tone down the ideology and start solving the problem using the skills Australians have”.
David Bowman, the director of the Fire Centre at the University of Tasmania’s school of natural sciences, said it was too late to call for action to prevent climate change and that people affected by smoke inhalation from fires should demand action to adapt to it, such as retrofitting houses to make them heat and smoke-proof.
Continue reading...Gospers Mountain, Paddock Run and Little L Complex, Three Mile and Thompson Creek fires overlap, and there are now seven emergency warnings in NSW as fire conditions worsen along Australia’s New South Wales and Queensland coasts. This blog is now closed
We are going to wrap the live blog up here. As of almost 7.30pm AEDT there are still seven fires at emergency warning level across NSW.
They are:
Related: Australia fires: five blazes merge north of Sydney as conditions forecast to worsen
Some more photos from photographer Matthew Abbott out at Kulnura:
Continue reading...Asthma and heart attacks fall rapidly and babies born healthier, review finds
Cutting air pollution can prevent deaths within weeks, according to scientists. They found the health benefits of clean air were “almost immediate and substantial” and stretched into the long term, saving billions of dollars.
The review examined the evidence for the reduction of illness after levels of toxic air were reduced. It showed dramatic reductions in asthma and children missing school, heart attacks and the number of small and premature babies.
Continue reading...Temperatures top 40C in Victoria’s north as up to 11 properties hit by fire in South Australia, while NSW and Tasmania face difficult conditions
Record-breaking spring temperatures helped spark and fan bushfires across the country on Thursday, forecasting a potentially devastating bushfire summer.
In Victoria, 100km/h winds fanned more than 60 blazes, as an unprecedented heatwave moved north to south, drawing comparisons with the “worst conditions you’d see in February or March” from the state’s emergency services minister Lisa Neville.
Continue reading...Continent is embarking on a huge expansion of power stations, most of which will burn coal
Last week the UN secretary general, António Guterres, called for an end to new coal-fired power plants. Many European countries including the UK and Germany are decreasing their dependence on coal, but this is not the case everywhere. Across Africa many people rely on standby diesel generators to supplement erratic electricity supplies, leading to local air pollution problems and high emissions of climate-heating carbon dioxide.
Although Africa is in a unique position to leapfrog dependence on fossil fuels and utilise abundant renewable sources such as wind and solar, the continent is embarking on a massive expansion of fossil fuel electricity. More than 200 new power stations are planned, the majority of which will burn coal. Power ships – vast floating power stations, some burning highly polluting bunker oil – are already moored in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Mozambique.
Continue reading...Indian city suffering record levels of poor air quality, partly caused by stubble burning
The illegal burning of crop stubble by farmers in India, one of the biggest causes of the record-breaking pollution that has enveloped Delhi over the past week, is expected to continue for the next two weeks, despite a supreme court order for all farm fires to be halted.
Delhi has been experiencing its longest spell of hazardous air quality since public records began, with the city suffering from “severe” levels of pollution for nine days straight, prompting a public health emergency to be declared.
Continue reading...Pollution in Delhi has reached its worst levels so far this year, at almost 400 times the amount deemed healthy. A week on from Diwali, the thick brown smog that shrouded the city after the festival has shown no sign of shifting. One local said the pollution was so bad it burned his nose and throat, making simple activities such as jogging difficult
Continue reading...Vehicles with odd or even licence plates are banned from roads on alternate days
Delhi restricted many private vehicles from the roads on Monday to try to lessen pollution as India grapples with a public health crisis over its toxic smog.
The “odd-even” scheme will restrict private vehicles with odd-number licence plates to driving on odd dates while even-numbered plates are allowed on even-numbered dates. It was begun days after authorities in the Indian capital began emergency control measures and ordered the closure of schools as pollution levels reached a three-year high.
Continue reading...Car fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from farms have contributed to pollution crisis
Pollution in Delhi has reached its worst levels so far this year, at almost 400 times the amount deemed healthy, causing planes to be diverted away from the city.
A week on from Diwali, the thick brown smog that shrouded the city after the festival has shown no sign of shifting. On Friday a public health emergency was declared and Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the city had turned into a “gas chamber”.
Continue reading...California governor Gavin Newsom angered some allies on Friday by vetoing a bill aimed at blunting Trump administration rollbacks of clean air and endangered species regulations in the state.
Related: Trump's EPA attacks California with claim that state is lax on water pollution
Continue reading...Infant mortality rate higher in babies exposed to pollutants such as sulphur dioxide
Babies living in areas with high levels of air pollution have a greater risk of death than those surrounded by cleaner air, a study has found.
It is not the first study to investigate the link between air pollution and infant mortality , but thestudydrew particular focus on different pollutants and its analysis at different points in babies’ lives.
Continue reading...Research finds black carbon breathed by mothers can cross into unborn children
Air pollution particles have been found on the foetal side of placentas, indicating that unborn babies are directly exposed to the black carbon produced by motor traffic and fuel burning.
The research is the first study to show the placental barrier can be penetrated by particles breathed in by the mother. It found thousands of the tiny particles per cubic millimetre of tissue in every placenta analysed.
Continue reading...Emissions rose 20-30% in Paris when temperatures topped 30C, raising urgent questions as the climate gets hotter
Emissions from diesel cars – even newer and supposedly cleaner models – increase on hot days, a new study has found, raising questions over how cities suffering from air pollution can deal with urban heat islands and the climate crisis.
Research in Paris by The Real Urban Emissions (True) initiative found that diesel car emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) rose by 20% to 30% when temperatures topped 30C – a common event this summer.
Continue reading...Report predicts radical scheme could cut air pollution by a quarter as other cities including Seattle prepare to follow suit
Barcelona could save hundreds of lives and cut air pollution by a quarter if it fully implements its radical superblocks scheme to reduce traffic, a new report claims.
A study carried out by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health calculates that the city could prevent 667 premature deaths every year if it created all 503 superblocks envisaged in its initial plan – up from the current six schemes.
Continue reading...Residents inhaling smoke from peat and trees burned hundreds of miles away
An increase in Indonesian forest fires – the sharpest rise since 2015 – has infuriated neighbouring Malaysia, where residents are inhaling smoke from peat and trees burned hundreds of miles away.
More than 14 megatonnes of carbon dioxide were discharged from the blazes on 5 September, more than triple the average on this day over the previous 15 years, according to satellite data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.
Continue reading...Emissions of a likely carcinogen emitted by a nearby plant have been recorded at levels hundreds of times above the safe limit
Local officials in Reserve, Louisiana, are examining the prospect of removing pupils from an elementary school situated a few hundred feet from a chemical plant that presents the highest risk of cancer due to airborne toxins anywhere in America, the Guardian has learned.
The Fifth Ward elementary school, which educates close to 500 students aged up to 10 years old, has become a focal point in environmental activism in Reserve after emissions of a likely carcinogen, chloroprene, emitted by the nearby plant have been recorded at the school at levels hundreds of times above the safe limit recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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