A new one tool shows how much air quality has changed since the Industrial Revolution in cities around the world. It generates a single composite image Different colored stripes represent the pollution each year in each major city.
Stark contrasts can be seen from place to place, showing how much work remains to be done to clean up pollution and also how well those efforts can pay off in the long term. Air pollution has fallen dramatically in wealthy Western countries, but it remains a serious health risk in many places around the world.
“These images make the invisible visible.”
“Air pollution is often described as the ‘invisible killer’, but these images make the invisible visible,” said Kirsty Pringle, co-director of the project based at the University of Edinburgh, in an article. Press release.
The project was a collaboration between the University of Leeds, the University of Edinburgh, North Carolina State University and the UK Met Office. The researchers used data from the UK Met Office to estimate average annual concentrations of fine particulate matter pollution, or PM2.5. This takes into account particles with a diameter less than one-30th the width of a human hair – small enough to potentially enter the lungs and bloodstream. This type of pollution, which can include dust, soot and smoke, comes from chimneys, exhaust pipes and increasingly due to forest fires aggravated by climate change.
Image: airqualitystripes.info
The researchers created coloured bands for each country's capitals, along with other major cities and their university campuses. Each image It represents changes in air pollution from 1850 to 2021.Satellite and ground-level readings of PM2.5 provide data for roughly the past two decades. Since there was not enough data before 2000, they also rely on computer model simulations to go back in time.
The stripes range in color from light blue to dark brown or black to represent “extremely poor” air quality. The scientists worked with artists Ethan's Brain to create a colour palette, based on around 200 images collected through a Google search for “air pollution”.
Lighter blue indicates air quality below levels set by the World Health Organization. recommendation of less than 5 micrograms of fine particle pollution per cubic meter of air (5 ug/m³). London and Los Angeles can be seen starting to approach those levels in recent years after decades of efforts to control pollution from industry and transportation. In the U.S., pollution levels began to fall after the enactment of the landmark Clean Air Act of 1970.
However, air quality can be very different from neighborhood to neighborhood, and communities of color in the U.S. often bear a heavy burden. disproportionate amount of air pollution from roads and nearby industrial facilities.
Image: airqualitystripes.info
The sad reality is that 99 percent of the world’s population lives in places with air quality worse than the World Health Organization’s recommended PM2.5 guidelines. Cities in low- and middle-income countries in parts of South Asia and Africa are the most affected, according to Air Quality Stripes researchers. For example, since the 1970s, air quality in Delhi, India, and Abuja, Nigeria, has been climbing toward “extremely poor” and “very poor” levels, respectively.
Image: airqualitystripes.info
You can check the Air Quality Stripes website to see visualizations of each city. The images look similar Warming stripes which have become a popular way of showing rising temperatures as a result of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.
Fortunately, measures to combat climate change could also improve air quality in this decade. At least 118 countries Last year, during the United Nations' annual climate summit, it pledged to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030. To stop climate change, the transition to renewable energy cannot leave any country behind. Activists around the world are calling on rich nations and Wall Street to stop financing new fossil fuel projects and cancel the debt that makes it harder for less wealthy nations to invest in clean energy.
Image: airqualitystripes.info
After all, hope can still be found in the streaks of blue sky.
“The images show that it is possible to reduce air pollution; the air in many cities in Europe is much cleaner now than it was 100 years ago, and this is improving our health. We really hope that similar improvements can be achieved around the world,” said Pringle.