How often do we hear warnings for people with respiratory conditions to stay inside to avoid high levels of poor or toxic air in their communities? There are good reasons for those warnings. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sees how damaging these sky-high air pollutant levels can be and, as a result, are focusing more closely on urban air quality (more…)

The combustion of fossil fuels are a huge health hazard as to a recent United Nations report, 3.3 million people died from outdoor air pollution in 2010. An additional 3.5 million people die early annually from indoor air pollution.

I had noted in a previous Cleantechies article that air (more…)

Air pollution contributed to the premature deaths of more than 1.2 million people in China in 2010, or about 40 percent of early deaths worldwide caused by dirty air, according to a newly released analysis.

The findings, based on data from a study on the distribution and causes of death globally, categorized (more…)

Bullet trains fuel real-estate booms, improve quality of life, reduce air pollution and traffic congestion, and provide a “safety valve” for crowded cities, especially in the developing world, according to a study by Chinese and U.S. economists.

The study was based on China’s rapidly expanding high-speed rail network, but the researchers said the (more…)

China’s new premier, Li Keqiang, has vowed aggressive government action to curb the rampant pollution that has provoked growing public outrage, saying the country would phase out “backward production facilities” that have contributed to dangerous health conditions in numerous regions. (more…)

As Beijing residents continue to endure choking air pollution that far exceeds safe levels, an online poll has found overwhelming support for new clean air legislation.

Ten hours after real estate mogul Pan Shiyi posted the poll on the popular social media platform Sina Weibo, 99 percent of respondents — more than 32,000 people — agreed that the government should (more…)

Here’s an article by Peter Lehner, Executive Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), who writes on the levels of air pollution in Beijing, which last week reached a level of 755–on a scale of 0 to 500 (the scale on which our Environmental Protection Agency here in the U.S. rates anything over 300 as “hazardous.”) The Internet is littered with (more…)

NASA’s Terra satellite acquired natural-color images of northeastern China on January 3 and January 14, highlighting a drastic shift in air quality for the region.

According to the images, the opaque, gray areas are clouds or fog, which are saturated with a gray or yellow tint as a result from the air pollution. (more…)

Putting a speed limit on cargo ships as they sail near ports and coastlines could cut their emission of air pollutants by up to 70 percent, reducing the impact of marine shipping on Earth’s climate and human health, scientists have found. Their evaluation of the impact of vessel speed reduction policies, such as those proposed by the California Air Resources Board, (more…)

There are many ways to harm your respiratory system such as smoking or breathing in asbestos. For urbanites living in cities across Europe, merely living and breathing in the city can be bad. A new study released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) found that most residents of European cities breathe toxic pollutants exceeding international health standards. The most (more…)