Air Pollution

A new study co-published by researchers at the University at Albany and National Central University (NCU) has linked air pollution to the worst drought that Taiwan has experienced in more than a half-century. The study, published in the Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, analyzed 13 years' worth of satellite...

Designed to help quell everything from allergies to dust particles and keep bad air at bay, this Scandi-style air purifier is as stylish as it is effective. Air pollution has never been more topical than it is right now. With the long hot summer fast approaching we’ll be spending even more time indoors, so it’s vital we ensure the air we breathe is both fresh and clean. As such, air purifiers are becoming more common in everyday living spaces, meaning it makes sense that companies start incorporating style into their designs, as well as substance.

India rejoiced in the silver lining of clear skies during the COVID-19 resultant lockdown in 2020 and 2021 but an analysis showed pollution levels remained above permissible limits in Delhi and Lucknow. The analysis is done by the New Delhi-based climate communications initiative, Climate Trends. However, Mumbai's PM 2.5 concentration...

Use of the toxic pollutant in fuel was curbed in the 1980s, but it lingers in airborne particles. More than 20 years after UK officials banned leaded car fuel, lead from historical petrol use still lingers in the London air. Atmospheric concentrations of the toxic pollutant fell markedly in Europe...

It’s no surprise industrial polluters see the world differently than public health advocates. It is also not a news flash that money talks. In fact, it often shouts so loud in Utah no other voices can be heard. It’s one reason our elected officials are far too cozy with our industrial polluters.

When China announced its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, there was criticism. Many wanted more details or more ambition, but no one thought it was an easy goal to achieve. As the world’s largest emitter of CO2, China has a very high mountain of carbon to dump. And...

Over the past 30 years, guess what kind of weather disaster has killed more Americans than any other? It’s not hurricanes or tornadoes. It’s not flooding or lightning. It’s heat. And like many other environmental dangers, it disproportionately kills people of color. As our climate continues to change and heat...

May was a busy month for climate change activism. On May 15, 2015, JPMorgan Chase announced steps it was taking in its effort to align its financing activities with the climate goals of the Paris Agreement by use of its Carbon Compass Methodology, and set targets for the auto manufacturing, electric power, and oil and gas industries to reach a reduction in carbon “intensity” by 2030. Then on May 26, 2021, shareholders of Exxon Mobil elected two board candidates — and a third was later elected on June 2 — who intend to steer the company away from oil and gas and toward cleaner energy, and Chevron investors supported a resolution to further reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — signaling that the American oil and gas industry may be ready to join its European counterpart in investing in energy sources that do not emit GHGs. That same day, a Dutch court ordered Shell to slash its carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2030.

As the resident sourpuss, I make it my business to complain about every industrial hypocrisy that crosses my path and the automotive sector has kept me so busy that there’s hardly any time left to address my own failings. Though I do have to confess that I sometimes feel guilty about how frequently I’m compelled to gripe about electric vehicles. Provided that you’re willing to work with their charging limitations and less-than-impressive ranges, EVs have a lot to offer even in their current state. But the way they’ve been marketed has been so consistently disingenuous that I often end my days on the cusp of a frustration-induced aneurysm.

Young people who feel "hopeless and paralysed" by fears about climate change need help and support, mental health experts have said. Place2Be - a charity offering counselling in schools - said the issue was becoming "more and more prominent". Plaid Cymru said it wanted new guidance for teachers and funding...

The pandemic changed how we think about indoor air quality—here are five lessons we've learned. COVID-19 has changed so many of our behaviors, from how we deal with germs to how we deal with people. It has altered the way we work and the way we view our homes. It has even made us rethink the air we breathe. Prior to the pandemic, air quality was something people generally talked about in the context of air pollution or seasonal allergies. That all changed over the past year.

Air quality varies greatly within regions and cities around the world, and exposure to air pollution can have severe health impacts. In the U.S., people of color are disproportionately exposed to poor air quality. A cover story in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, highlights how scientists and community activists are using new technologies to gather data that could help address this inequity.

It’s hard to change the outcome of the climate crisis by individual action: we’re past the point where we can alter the carbon math one electric vehicle at a time, and so activists rightly concentrate on building movements large enough to alter our politics and our economics. But ultimately the climate crisis still affects people as individuals—it comes down, eventually, to bodies. Which is worth remembering. In the end, we’re not collections of constructs or ideas or images or demographics but collections of arteries and organs and muscles, and those are designed to operate within a finite range of temperatures.

Almost half of the lead polluting London’s air comes from leaded petrol that fuelled cars more than half a century ago, a study has found. Although leaded petrol was banned in 1999, the toxic metal has stuck around in the form of lead-laden dust on the UK capital’s streets, kicked up by wind and traffic.

Across the world, millions of people run marathons and other endurance races every year, and the vast majority of them experience no adverse health effects. Still, every so often you hear a tragic story of a runner who did not make it to the finish line. As with any physical activity, there are certain risks associated with participating in a marathon, but should runners be concerned? Recent research from France took a deep dive into the health risks of endurance running, and concluded that most runners needn’t give up their marathon dreams just yet.

This content was written by Avocado Mattress; it was not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Mother Jones’ editorial staff. See our advertising guidelines to learn more. Amy Ziff was so sick as a child that doctors diagnosed her with a progressive neurological disease and predicted...

Early in the pandemic, it was expected that satellite imagery around the world would show cleaner air as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns. But not all pollutants were taken out of circulation. For tiny airborne-particle pollution, known as PM 2.5, researchers using NASA data found that variability from meteorology obscured the lockdown signals when observed from space.

Southwest Airlines chief Gary Kelly will step down as CEO early next year. Kelly, 66, will be succeeded by Bob Jordan, currently Southwest’s executive vice president of corporate services. Want more airline-specific news? Sign up for TPG’s free new biweekly Aviation newsletter!. “Bob and I have worked side by side...