Outdoor air pollution is, according to the World Health Organisation, responsible for 3.2 million premature deaths every year. We have always known that air pollution, usually caused by burning usually of fuel, is dangerous and that those who are exposed to pollution from vehicles or industry become ill and end up with diseases which affect their breathing as their lungs act as air filters. What was not known until now is that even a few months’ exposure to pollution is likely to increase the risk of premature death, as a study at the University of Utrecht, published in the Lancet, shows.
It is the fine particles that cause the most damage. Particles of 2.5 microns or less in the air you breathe for a few months will make many people ill and eventually kill them. The European Union’s prescribed levels of safe air pollution seem to be set at levels which when maintained will be responsible for around 8% of those who breathe such air dying prematurely.
The EU level of pollution is set at 25 microns per cubic metre and researchers believe that this level is too high and should be set to 10 microns per cubic metre. I cannot see this rest happening, however desirable or however many lives may be improved or saved. There are too many vested interests in burning stuff, whether it is burning car fuel in internal combustion engines, burning to create electrical power or heat energy or burning for industrial processes.
As a species we are burning too much and too carelessly. Of course, Sir Walter Raleigh was such a stupid git, but those that smoke tobacco do so now knowing what they do. Those who breathe have no choice in the matter.
Filed under: climate change | Tagged: air pollution, Outdoor air pollution, pollution, premature deaths, safe levels of air pollution, Sir Walter Rayleigh, World Health Organisation |
Robert Kyriakides's Weblog 
There are a myriad of alternative energy devices that are not being given the light of day, nature thrives in this light, so could humans, why is this Rob.
I was talking to an engineer from Germany last year, he was doing a survey on a local river where a huge water wheel used to drive a large mill of many dozens of textile workers, in fact the wheel is still there, today there lies an open screw hydro plant producing electricity for the national grid.
That engineer, a told me with confidence, that if we used all viable rivers and streams in the UK, that we would only need one decent power station for all of the countries electrical needs.
All such devices produce no pollution after their initial manufacture and there after produce free energy, however, the water that drives these devices is being levied at a cost that prevents them from being viable, here is another stark warning to who is preventing the alternative energy market from doing some goodness against visible particulate pollution. And creating a paradigm where almost free energy could become the norm
Did one know that during the Chinese Olympics, around 300 factories had to be closed down for the duration of the games in order of the air being clean enough for the athletes lungs, also dramatic weather modification were deployed to create a seeding effect of the clouds with added pollution further afield to prevent it raining on the games.
Has anyone tried finding out what the PPM are in the major manufacturing areas of China as of now, take a look in our homes to see where the products arise.
We are all being led down a dirty road where only the few benefit from the energy policies forced upon society.
When I say dirty, I mean visible pollution folks, not Co2, there is a marked difference, a really big one.
There is a difference; marked pollution kills people relatively quickly; excessive CO2 kills generations over hundreds of years.