Typical smog on a typical day - Shanghai. Image by Flickr user Corinna A. Carlson.
A quick look at some of the things that makes air pollution in your city tolerable (or not):
Percentage Americans living in cities with breathing air that’s dangerous to their health: 50
Number of top 10 most polluted cities in US located in California: 8
Most polluted American city: Bakersfield
Number of premature deaths due to air pollution per year in California: 9200
Levels of air quality on an air quality chart: 0 (excellent) – 500 (very poor)
Maximum level for mega polluted air: 500
Air pollution level in Beijing: 595
Number of world’s top 20 most polluted cities located in China: 16
Percent of Chinese cities not meeting air quality standards: 70
Most polluted city in the world: Linfen, China
Linfen’s nickname 20 years ago: Fruit and Flower Town of Shanxi
One of the top air pollutants in the world: Cigarette smoke
Jogging in Manila: Smoking a pack of cigarettes
Breathing one day’s worth of Linfen’s air: Smoking 3 packs of cigarettes
Number of times more particulate matter produced by cigarettes than a Ford Mondeo: 10
Cost to clean up the world’s most polluted cities: $500 million
Prolonged exposure to urban air pollution: Increased chances of lung cancer
Prolonged exposure to traffic congestion: Road rage
Prolonged exposure to London Tube air: “Tube rage”
1 Comment
Annually 9200 people die prematurely in California with a population of 36,900,000.
Annually 1100 people die prematurely in New Zealand with a population of 4,300,000.
Therefore New Zealand is more polluted than California.
New Zealand’s main source of pollution – domestic wood burning, and is 100% preventable.