In new estimates, WHO (World Health Organization) reports that in 2012 around 7 million people died - one in eight of total global deaths – as a result of air pollution exposure. This finding more than doubles previous estimates and confirms that air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk. Reducing air pollution could save millions of lives.
* Since particulate air pollution is the primary health risk it should be a primary focus for improving global public health
* particulates also impact global warming by making ice and surface darker which cause more heat to be absorbed
* 80% of the warming effect of carbon dioxide is attributed to particulates
* particulates can be mitigated for 20 times lower cost than the same warming impact of carbon dioxide
* getting smoke free cookers to people in the developing world will save millions of lives
* new and old cars and trucks need to have devices that reduce particulates
City scale water spraying from skyscrapers and towers is something that can be deployed in 2-4 years to blunt the worst air pollution days and save lives and improve health while waiting for other slower pollution reduction measures to be deployed.
Fixing air pollution is one of the quickest ways to save the most lives at the lowest cost and the fastest way to reduce global warming. If someone were seriously concerned about global warming then particulates and soot should be the first and primary focus because it would have the biggest and fastest impact. Carbon dioxide mitigation costs 20 times more and takes decades longer to bend the temperature curve.
Nextbigfuture has shown that reducing soot is the most cost effective and fastest way to improve the environment and reduce global warming.
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A package of 16 measures could, if fully implemented across the globe, save close to2.5 3.7 million lives a year; avoid crop losses amounting to 32 million tonnes annually and deliver near-term climate protection of about half a degree C by 2040.
Fixing soot would be as good as fixing 80% of the CO2 problem and could be done for 10 to 20 times lower cost, it would save about 5 million lives that are already known to be lost each year and it would impact climate about 30 to 50 years faster than CO2 fixes.
In particular, the new data reveal a stronger link between both indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure and cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and ischaemic heart disease, as well as between air pollution and cancer. This is in addition to air pollution’s role in the development of respiratory diseases, including acute respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.
The new estimates are not only based on more knowledge about the diseases caused by air pollution, but also upon better assessment of human exposure to air pollutants through the use of improved measurements and technology. This has enabled scientists to make a more detailed analysis of health risks from a wider demographic spread that now includes rural as well as urban areas.
Regionally, low- and middle-income countries in the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions had the largest air pollution-related burden in 2012, with a total of 3.3 million deaths linked to indoor air pollution and 2.6 million deaths related to outdoor air pollution.
Here is a 17 page report with more references.
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Indoor (household) air pollution by region
Environmental Health Perspectives - An Integrated Risk Function for Estimating the Global Burden of Disease Attributable to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter Exposure
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* Since particulate air pollution is the primary health risk it should be a primary focus for improving global public health
* particulates also impact global warming by making ice and surface darker which cause more heat to be absorbed
* 80% of the warming effect of carbon dioxide is attributed to particulates
* particulates can be mitigated for 20 times lower cost than the same warming impact of carbon dioxide
* getting smoke free cookers to people in the developing world will save millions of lives
* new and old cars and trucks need to have devices that reduce particulates
City scale water spraying from skyscrapers and towers is something that can be deployed in 2-4 years to blunt the worst air pollution days and save lives and improve health while waiting for other slower pollution reduction measures to be deployed.
Fixing air pollution is one of the quickest ways to save the most lives at the lowest cost and the fastest way to reduce global warming. If someone were seriously concerned about global warming then particulates and soot should be the first and primary focus because it would have the biggest and fastest impact. Carbon dioxide mitigation costs 20 times more and takes decades longer to bend the temperature curve.
Nextbigfuture has shown that reducing soot is the most cost effective and fastest way to improve the environment and reduce global warming.
A package of 16 measures could, if fully implemented across the globe, save close to
Fixing soot would be as good as fixing 80% of the CO2 problem and could be done for 10 to 20 times lower cost, it would save about 5 million lives that are already known to be lost each year and it would impact climate about 30 to 50 years faster than CO2 fixes.
In particular, the new data reveal a stronger link between both indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure and cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and ischaemic heart disease, as well as between air pollution and cancer. This is in addition to air pollution’s role in the development of respiratory diseases, including acute respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.
The new estimates are not only based on more knowledge about the diseases caused by air pollution, but also upon better assessment of human exposure to air pollutants through the use of improved measurements and technology. This has enabled scientists to make a more detailed analysis of health risks from a wider demographic spread that now includes rural as well as urban areas.
Regionally, low- and middle-income countries in the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions had the largest air pollution-related burden in 2012, with a total of 3.3 million deaths linked to indoor air pollution and 2.6 million deaths related to outdoor air pollution.
Here is a 17 page report with more references.
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Environmental Health Perspectives - An Integrated Risk Function for Estimating the Global Burden of Disease Attributable to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter Exposure
Read more »
