From the “EPA helped export the problem overseas” department, comes this press release from Berkeley Earth:
![Smog hangs over a construction site in Weifang city, Shandong province, Oct 16. 2015. Air quality went down in many parts of China since Oct 15 and most cities are shrounded by haze. [Photo/IC]](https://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/chinese-haze-city.jpg?quality=83)
It’s winter, and that’s the worst air pollution period for Europe and China. The levels over much of the continent are in the unhealthy range. In the figure we show a map of the pollution of particulate matter in Europe, “PM2.5”, the most lethal of the common air pollutions.
The map was taken from our website: http://berkeleyearth.org/air-quality-real-time-map/, where it is updated hourly. Grey areas (such as in Italy and Russia) are regions in which hourly updates are not publicly available.
The scale of “cigarettes per day” is used to make the levels easiest to understand. They were calculated by comparing the known health risk of cigarettes to the known health risks of PM2.5 as estimated by the World Health Organization. Throughout much of Europe the pollution levels give a health effect equivalent to that of every man, woman and child smoking 5 cigarettes per day; in the worst regions of Europe, the level exceeds 7 cigarettes per day equivalent. For more information on PM2.5 and cigarette equivalence, see our memo: http://berkeleyearth.org/air-pollution-and-cigarette-equivalence/
The second plot shows yesterday’s air pollution around the world. The worst pollution is in India and China, where levels reach over a pack of cigarettes per day (PM2.5 above 400 micrograms per cubic meter). It was not a good day for much of the world, except for the US, Japan, and some small scattered regions. The pollution tends to be exacerbated in winter, when more fuel is burned for heat (even renewables such as wood and biomass contribute to air pollution) and when atmospheric conditions are likely to trap the pollution.
For more detailed information on Berkeley Earth’s work on air pollution, see: http://berkeleyearth.org/air-pollution-overview/.
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In Europe you go 700 meters above sea level and air quality is quite different.
Never trust alarmistic charts. Sole problem:
The Greens don’t allow Industries other than in crowded cities.
So in the rush hours everyone is sitting in the cars heading the same direction.
Other than the Greens insinuate –
since ‘industrialization’ life expectancy worldwide elongated by min. 20 years.
Since cancer as dementia needs time to build up it’s a competition between: cancer or dementia.
Hard to choose what to prefer, and not in everybody’s choice.
Sure, just as some people like to measure energy in units of Hiroshima Bombs. No agenda at all. lol.
Oh, and was it Marlboros or Gauloises?
If Berkeley Earth authors were truly interested in furthering understanding then maybe they might provide information about the normal background levels inside old-growth forests, expressed in terms of “cigarettes per day”.
And also maybe not label axes on graphs with things like “PM2.5 Air Pollution Concentration (μg / m3)”. A true scientist would not describe it as pollution, but the measured physical quantity of defined particulates. In open corn fields and inside old-growth forests far from human activity, the level of PM2.5 is not zero, but is this “pollution”?. Of course not. It is what it is. Pollution is a subjective term.
Now, it is genuinely possible that Berkeley Earth are not just environmental activists taking money to pretend that they are scientists, but they need to up their game.
Standard cigarette
If you want to argue that pm25 is safe then do it.
“Life expectancy in Beijing and Shanghai has reached 80 years and it’s 82 in Hong Kong. All have massive pollution problems. Life expectancy in Berlin is 79.8, San Francisco and New York are barely 80 ”
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/china-health-miracle
Life expectancy doesn’t address the issue. The issue is life expectancy with high levels versus life expectancy with low levels controlled for all other variables. Studies show a shortened life expectancy. Peroid.
Studies seem to be different to the actual facts. Period.
“68% of Chinese men are smokers”
Controlling for that we still see that pm25 levels still cause shorter life expectancy. Sorry. Dirty air is not a benefit.
If it were smart people would choose to live in the worst polluted places.
and yet it in china it seems to be having no impact in the polluted cities compared with cleaner cities in the West.
The main problem with the information in the study is you are associated with supporting it, Mosher. I remember when the man who released the Climategate files actually called you by name, and asked you if you still thought the fake science of AGW is real.
You’ve never overcome – and never will – the fact you think that shi*’s real.
What kind of adult human being buys a story about rocks heated by fire, made warmer by having insulation between the rock and the fire?
Apparently – computer programmers.
Who – in spite of perhaps having science degrees,
are distinctly separate from natural scientists.
Natural scientists know when a story’s so stupid it’s impossible no matter how many programmers swear it’s real.
Surprised no-one has mentioned the fact that as we, in developed countries, have shut our heavy industries down (steel, paper making, aluminium, etc) production has moved offshore, to China especially. It’s not that we don’t use these products anymore, we just import them. But production in these areas has very poor pollution control, (and I mean real pollution) and CO2 prodction is probaly higher too – these plants in developing countries tend to be less energy efficient. So the global pollution load (real and imagined) is increased, and air quality in these countries is much worse – because we have shipped production out of our countries. And here in the UK the governemnt and greenies crow about reducing CO2 production in the UK – but that’s only because we don’t count the CO2 in the products we import. It is a “green” fiasco.
How do I know this to be true – been there, done all that.
By the by – I think the idea of the map is neat, but the extrapolation of pollution spoils it. I can assure everyone that the air in the Surrey Hills (where I live) is a lot cleaner than the air in central London. For the moment anyway, until this government gives permission to concrete over it and bring London’s pollution out here.
“the known health risks of PM2.5 as estimated by the World Health Organization”
Sorry but if the risk is KNOWN then what are they estimating?
It is estimated because they DON”T know the health risk. In fact they don’t even know if PM2.5 poses any health risk.
And before ‘someone’ whines about Chinese emergency rooms again. First correlation is not causation and second the Chinese smog/pollution is much more than PM2.5, it is also a whole host of chemicals which DO have know risks. But ‘someone’ has been told this multiple times in these comments yet hasn’t gotten around to answering the critique of his claims.
Pm25 from industry is loaded with heavy metals. Yes there are low levels of natural pm25. But the shit with heavy metals is not a friend to your health. I’m in korea now. The levels are moderately bad. One hour outside was enough. Buying a dust mask.
Add to that dead birds at wind mill farms and deforestation and you have the real tally of the cost of the great climate change diversion of the world’s environmental priorities.
Mexico City used to have world class (Beijing-grade) smog, but was relatively clear last time I was there (about 10 years ago). Did they relocate a lot of industry and clean up their vehicles, or was it just luck of the draw?
The EPA has admittedly done a lot to clean up US air pollution, even if only by forcing our smog-producing industries to move to Asia. It is unfortunate that it has discredited its work against true pollution by identifying CO2 as a “pollutant” when in fact it would be more justly called a “calorigen”.