The scourge of air pollution 29 Mark Walsh “When I was on that boat, there was nothing. Just the familiar occurrence. However the severity of this event sound of the ocean and the waves crashing. But that was unprecedented, penetrating indoors and offering was it. No smells. So the first thing I noticed when I no respite. It was thought at the time to have directly came into the harbour was that, I woke up and sudden- killed about 4,000 people, although modern reanalysis ly it smells. And that was pollution.” Greta Thunberg’s puts that figure at about 12,000.5 Many people simply description of her first encounter with New York City, suffocated in their beds. Over the following weeks and having spent two weeks crossing the Atlantic in a yacht.1 months thousands more succumbed and those left with permanent respiratory tract damage numbered in the ncountering one of the world’s great cities having hundreds of thousands. spent a fortnight in the extreme isolation of a zero- The ‘Great Smog of London’ led to an enormous pub- emissions racing boat in the North Atlantic, must lic outcry. Initially, Winston Churchill’s government rank as one of the more formidable assaults on the dragged its feet, denying any link between the deaths Esenses. It is also a juxtaposition most of us will never and pollution. Eventually, after immense public pres- experience. Flying from from city to city is hardly the sure, a Clean Air Act was passed in 1956. Domestic coal same thing. Thunberg’s striking description, like much was to be replaced by `smokeless’ fuels such as coke, of what she says, should give us pause for thought. electricity and gas and a major clean-up of UK cities was For most of us, breathing dirty air is unavoidable and to follow. Leaving aside for now that such smokeless fu- something we are all too often oblivious to. Moreover, els were produced by the burning of coal somewhere not all air pollutants smell and much of the time such else, this (along with subsequent acts) did lead to a sig- pollution is effectively invisible. But it is still deadly. nificant improvement in air quality in UK cities. Despite significant improvements in air quality in the In recent decades, similar reductions in coal-based United States, since the passage of laws such as the smog have taken place throughout most European cities 1970 US Clean Air Act, it is estimated that every year and in the United States. Such improvements typical- 100,000 Americans have their lives cut short due to ly came only after strenuous public demand and often air pollution.2 Here, despite our island status, the re- lengthy political debate. In Dublin for example, smog freshing influence of the Atlantic and despite legislation from domestic coal burning was a very serious prob- limiting the use of smoke producing fuels, polluted air lem until as late the mid 1990s, before 1990 legislation is thought to kill about 1,200 Irish people every year. 3 banning the use of bituminous (smoke producing) coal Worldwide, the figure is more like 5 million.4 began to take effect. One barrier was the increased cost In December of 1952, a combination of cold weather, for people of heating a home with smokeless fuel, some- windless conditions and airborne pollutants caused by thing which required state intervention such as finan- the burning of coal, lead to a four day period of intense cial aid in the form of a smoke free fuel allowance, to smog in the city of London. London was no stranger to rectify. It is worth noting that this allowance was abol- smog. The mix of soot, smoke and “pea-soup” fog was a ished in 2011 as a part of a raft of austerity measures. IRISH MARXIST REVIEW 30 Modern day air pollution, in the western world at to damage human health. In particular its minute size least, no longer takes the form of the dense black smoke means that once inhaled such a particle can access all we might associate with Dickensian London. But that parts of the human body, including the fetal side of does not mean that dirty air, though less visible than in the human placenta! 6 The general problem of under- the past, is not still a serious problem in the so-called standing and classifying which among the plethora of advanced nations. Meanwhile in China and India, the particles labeled PM2.5 is harmful is an ongoing and modern day “workshops of the world”, the problem of challenging research problem. What is certain however air pollution is front and centre. Though the wealthy is that when levels of PM2.5 increase in a region, so do have means to minimise their exposure, for the great levels of cardiovascular and respiratory disease and all majority life takes place amid a toxic haze. the suffering this entails. Without food, a human might survive for three In 1987, the WHO established Air Quality Guidelines weeks. Without water, the limit is about three days. in an attempt to determine safe and varying unsafe Without air, death will occur in minutes. Thus, air pol- levels of PM2.5. These guidelines (which are continually lution scientist Dr. Gary Fuller points out in his book, updated) deem that anything beyond an average of 10 The Invisible Killer, it is astonishing how little attention micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic metre of air is unsafe. many of us pay to the quality of our air, in comparison As with most of these sorts of guidelines such a cut- to what we eat or drink. Consider the outcry if 1,200 off is somewhat arbitrary and many scientists argue Irish people were dying yearly from toxic impurities that there is no such thing as a safe level of PM2.5, just in our food. According to the World Health Organisa- varying degrees of harm. In 2017, about 92% of the tion (WHO), over 90% of people worldwide live in ar- world’s population lived in areas which exceeded the 10 eas which fall short of their recommended standard for micrograms guideline.7 Over 50% lived in areas which clean air. More than half live in places which fall below exceeded average PM2.5 counts of over 35 micrograms even the most minimal standard. So what form does this per cubic metre. In South Asia for example, exposure to pollution take? There are of course a multitude of sub- levels of PM2.5 in the 100s of micrograms is common. stances of all manner of shapes and sizes which pollute According to one WHO report, one day of breathing the our air. Some are naturally occurring. Most result from air in Dehli was the equivalent of smoking 45 cigarettes!8 human activity. Roughly, these can be divided into two What is more, these figures do not take into account groups: particulate matter and what for the purpose of indoor particulate matter caused by burning of wood, this article we will call chemical pollution. coal and other fuels for cooking and heating. This is an especially serious problem in the developing world. In Particulate Matter (PM) This is made up of all many African countries, the burning of biomass for fuel manner of stuff including soot from industry and power leads to PM2.5 levels of between 200 and 300 within plants, dust from construction sites, road building and the family home.9 brick production, airborne sand and sea-salt, particles of rubber and metal from worn tires or break pads, Chemical Pollutants. Along with the amorphous airborne debris from forest fires, burning landfill or collection of relatively larger pieces of matter that scorched agricultural fields. Within this collection, sci- fall under the PM category, there are various gaseous entists denote by PM10: airborne particles with a diam- pollutants. The most abundant of these are Sulphur eter of less than 10 microns, and by PM2.5: the subset Dioxide (SO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen of those particles with diameter less than 2.5 microns. Dioxide (NO2) and Ozone (O3). The pungent suffocating To give an idea what this means, a particle of fine beach smell of SO2 is indicative of its caustic effect and the sand is about 90 to 100 microns in diameter while the damage inhalation can cause to the human respiratory diameter of a human hair is approximately 50 to 70 mi- system. As well as an emittance from coal burning power crons. So PM2.5 particles are very small. This actually plants, it is a common byproduct of industrial processes. makes them more dangerous. Some of these particles, It is particularly reactive with other compounds which such as Black Carbon (found in soot), are well known can lead to the formation of sulphuric acid and most 31 notoriously acid rain. on CO2 emissions. This favoured diesel engines, which The asphyxiating properties of the odourless and co- produced lower CO2 emissions than their petrol based lourless CO are a well known and deadly consequence counterparts. Similar efforts promoted diesel across of burning a fuel too rapidly or with insufficient oxygen. Europe. While it is true that modern diesel engines emit This happens in an internal combustion engine and is less CO2 than their petrol based counterparts, the emis- why many countries now require cars be fitted with cat- sions in NO2 and PM2.5, despite the claims once made alytic convertors, designed to reduce these emissions. by the industry, are significantly worse. Apart from This has lead to some improvement, although the con- highlighting the hardly surprising fact that a major cor- struction of catalytic convertors (requiring the mining poration would be prepared to lie so brazenly (and in of certain precious metals) and the temperature re- turn inflict unquantifiable environmental and human quired for effective operation (leading to increased Car- harm), this episode teaches us one other thing.