Map of pollution levels

[Peter1469]

Map of pollution levels

Several maps showing pollution levels. Looks like some good news for North America.

To document pollution levels over a longer period of time, NASA scientists created a series of maps that show the "human fingerprint on global air quality." The images offer insights into air pollution in nearly 200 cities around the world, as well as in neighboring areas.

The good news first: The scientists concluded that the United States, Europe and Japan have greatly improved their air quality. But pollution has worsened in parts of China, India and the Middle East.


The researchers focused their analysis on nitrogen dioxide, which is commonly emitted by cars and industrial plants and is used an indicator of air quality, according to NASA.

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - lil' kids gonna start droppin' like flies `cause o' pollution...

UNICEF: 1 in 7 of World's Children Exposed to Toxic Air Pollution
October 31, 2016 - One in seven of the world's children is exposed to pollution levels six or more times higher than international standards set by the World Health Organization, according to a new report by UNICEF. The report was released a week ahead of the United Nations Climate Change conference in Marrakech.

"Air pollution is a major contributing factor in the deaths of around 600,000 children under five every year," says UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, "and it threatens the lives and futures of millions more every day."

Haze hangs over Mexico City. Some two billion children live in regions where outdoor air pollution exceeds WHO's minimum air quality guidelines.

Some two billion children live in regions where outdoor air pollution exceeds WHO's minimum air quality guidelines, with 620 million of those children living in South Asia, followed by 520 million children in Africa, and 450 million children in the East Asia and Pacific region. UNICEF says young children are particularly susceptible to indoor and outdoor air pollution because their lungs, brains and immune systems are still developing and their respiratory tracts are more permeable.

Around 2 billion children live in areas where outdoor air pollution exceeds international limits.

UNICEF says it will ask the countries attending the climate change conference to take "four urgent steps" to protect children from air pollution:

Those steps are:

1. adopt measures to reduce pollution;

2. increase children's access to healthcare;

3. minimize children's exposure to pollution; and

4. establish better monitoring of air pollution.

Lake said "We protect our children when we protect the quality of our air. Both are central to our future."

http://www.voanews.com/a/unicef-1-in...n/3572678.html

[Peter1469]

I have friends who have lived in SE Asia on and off for a while. They say the pollution can be horrendous at times.

[waltky]

Granny says it's from all dem sacred cows fartin' whilst dey roamin' `round...

Report says air pollution in India surpassing China
Wed, Feb 15, 2017 - India’s rapidly worsening air pollution is causing about 1.1 million people to die prematurely each year and is now surpassing China’s as the deadliest in the world, a new study of global air pollution showed.

The number of premature deaths in China caused by dangerous air particles, known as PM2.5, has stabilized globally in recent years, but has risen sharply in India, according to the report, issued yesterday by the Health Effects Institute — a Boston-based research institute focused on the health effects of air pollution — and the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, a population health research center in Seattle.

India has registered an alarming increase of nearly 50 percent in premature deaths from particulate matter between 1990 and 2015, the report said. “You can almost think of this as the perfect storm for India,” said Michael Brauer, a professor of environment and health relationships at the University of British Columbia and an author of the study, in a telephone interview. Brauer cited the confluence of rapid industrialization, population growth and an aging populace in India that is more susceptible to air pollution.

Pollution levels are worsening in India as it tries to industrialize, but “the idea that policymaking should be led by government is lacking,” said Bhargav Krishna, manager for environmental health at the Public Health Foundation of India, a health policy research center in New Delhi. As air pollution worsened in parts of the world, including South Asia, it improved in the US and Europe, the report said, crediting policies to curb emissions, among other things.

Environmental regulations in the US and action by the European Commission have led to substantial progress in reducing fine particulate pollution since 1990, the report said. The US has experienced a reduction of about 27 percent in the average annual exposure to fine particulate matter, with smaller declines in Europe. However, about 88,000 people in the US and 258,000 in Europe still face increased risks of premature death because of particulate levels, the report said.

MORE

[waltky]

Garbage is going to start backing up into waste disposal operations around the world. ..

The Chinese blockage in the global waste disposal system
Wed, 18 Oct 2017 - A ban on the import of waste in China is about create a major blockage backing up through the global waste disposal system

Imagine the world as a global waste disposal system. Now imagine it with a blockage. And what if that waste is backing up around the world, reappearing in places where you really don't want it to be. That blockage is about to happen in China and the flood is going to start seeping out into waste disposal operations around the world. Three months ago, China decided to ban 24 different grades of rubbish as part of its "National Sword" campaign against foreign garbage. Until now China has been importing millions of tonnes of the world's waste every year to feed its recycling industry. The Bureau of International Recycling China estimates that China last year imported 7.3 million tonnes of plastic scrap from Europe, Japan and USA, and 27 million tonnes of waste paper.

In Hong Kong, 2,500 tonnes of waste paper are piling up at its docks every day

Robin Wiener, president of the US-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, said: "More than 155,000 direct jobs are supported by the US industry's export activities, earning an average wage of almost $76,000 and contributing more than $3bn to federal, state, and local taxes. "A ban on imports of scrap commodities into China would be catastrophic to the recycling industry." The new restrictions have yet to be agreed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and China could still change its mind, but the waste is already starting to back up. In Hong Kong, 2,500 tonnes of waste paper are piling up at its docks every day.

Easy option

For China the problem is simply one of pollution. Its submission to the WTO reads: "We found that large amounts of dirty wastes or even hazardous wastes are mixed in the solid waste that can be used as raw materials. This polluted China's environment seriously." Western recyclers admit that China has been a cheap and easy waste bin for their industry. In theory the rubbish from your recycling rubbish bin is meant to be treated or sorted before it goes in the container overseas, but the rules have too often been ignored and rarely enforced. Mike Baxter, external affairs director at the recycler RPC Group, says: "The easiest option for years has been put it into a container and send it overseas where the labour is cheaper and it can be sorted by hand."

Western recyclers admit that China has been a cheap and easy waste bin for their industry

But with the ban expected to come into full effect by the new year, if not before, the UK industry has written urging the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to help with the expected overflow. Even so, Robin Latcham, editor of the recycling industry magazine MRW believes the recyclers are not spelling out the problems loudly enough, and says: "Why no mention of growing domestic stockpiles of waste and the danger of more fires or incidents of waste crime? "I don't think it is scare-mongering to set out such fears, along with concern that public perception of the recycling industry in its widest sense will be heavily scarred by greater fly-tipping, larger-scale dumping and more plumes of heavy black smoke crossing housing estates." No minister from Defra was available for comment, but a spokesman told the BBC: "We are aware of this situation and are looking into the potential implications."

Opportunities

[Peter1469]

Much of that could be turned into methanol or ethanol.