India and Pakistan Dominate WHO's Air Pollution Database (theguardian.com) 18
At this time of year, agricultural burning adds to the air pollution problems across northern India and Pakistan. The region contains 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the World Health Organization's global PM2.5 database. But are these the most polluted places ever recorded? Lack of measurements make historic comparisons difficult, but we have some clues. From a report: More than 200 years ago, Benjamin Franklin was famously among the first scientists to study electricity in the atmosphere. Lightning is the most obvious manifestation, but air pollution also changes the electrical properties of our air. Electrical measurements near Hyde Park in about 1790 suggest 18th-century London's particle pollution was perhaps half the annual average in the most polluted cities in modern India.
I'm shocked (Score:3)
Shocked, I tell you.
Now - this just in from our ursine correspondent up in the forest...
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India's problem with pollution is 'people do not care'. The laws and enforcement against pollution exist only on paper, because the officer himself wants some cash instead of making sure that people follow guidelines of pollution free nation.
BTW, India is huge population and it is easy to misunderstand India. (Please read blind men and elephant story).
Re:Too busy (Score:4, Insightful)
India's problem with pollution is 'people do not care'.
Isn't that the problem everywhere? Maybe not that they don't care *at all*, but that expediency outweighs the cost to others. And it's not just the kind of petty personal corruption you're talking about here. Sometimes it's systemic corruption.
Take China. On paper they have tough environmental regulations, but the party is on the Red Queen's racetrack, needing strong economic growth year after year after year to justify its legitimacy. So regional and higher level officials very carefully avoid looking at places where the law might be being violated, occasionally making an example of a local official who's drawn their ire.
Or the US; the US has low level corruption at the field inspector and regulatory official levels, but politicians take money from corporations to shape laws and regulatory priorities.
Also environment (Score:2)
India got hot and hazy (from the temperature inversion) long before industrialization.
So it is not just caring and regulation, but also the nature of the weather in a certain spot.
That said, China seems to be effectively tackling the worst of their pollution.
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Sure. You could say the same for Los Angeles; the air quality problems in that city ultimately drive standards for cars worldwide, but are the result of pollution meeting unfavorable local weather patterns.
China is tackling its worst air pollution problems because it is a political problem, which is not a put-down; a system has to be responsive to things that really tick people off. Air and water pollution that would be unthinkable today are what shaped modern US environmental expectations. But China is
Blame Benjamin Franklin (Score:2)
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Who's who (Score:2)
China Going Electric (Score:2)
China going electric for vehicles is a good thing. Not sure if India's problem is more vehicles or industry. I'm guessing industry but...? Article says they are measuring particle pollution, so I take it that is nanoparticles in the air. Smog?
I hope India can turn it around, that air is surely killing people. Tesla needs to get some cheap electric scooters over there or something to put a dent in it.
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Actually the article links to another article... talking about farm fires being the big problem at the moment. So a temporary major problem pointing to other problems that won't go away maybe?
https://www.indiatoday.in/indi... [indiatoday.in]
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They use buring as a regular farming practice. Dehli is constantly covered smoke from the field of Punjab afte the harvest season.
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Do we really want a country with over a billion people to have its population expand unabated?
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Are you really debating if choking millions is really a bad thing?
Fuckin *azism is in your gene man you can't help it.
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But China isn't named in the article, because the source is the WHO, and the WHO won't say anything that isn't approved by the Chinese Communist Party.
Nah, most polluted ever would be London... (Score:3)
During early industrialization and coal heating.
Look it up. It's dystopic. Even the most distorted photos from China (usually photographic morning fog because the actual pollution, albeit definitely harmful, cannot be seen) aren't able to hold a candle to their air.
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You are right the article is talking about London in the 18th century, pollution in London was likely much worse in the 19th century. From what I have heard London was still far better than the industrialized center of the country like Burmingham.
I do suspect the Indians are at least trying a little bit to reduce how much pollution is being produced by the things they are doing. Back then the number of pollution controls was absolutely zero. And the population density was the same (just not as big area in t
The big Pea Soups were in the 1950s (Score:2)
Due to people heating houses with coal. Plus a nasty inversion that happened from time to time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]