Posts Tagged: air pollution

21
Aug

2011

Sunday Morning Statshot with Nick Chu: Urban Air Pollution

Typical smog on a typical day - Shanghai. Image by Flickr user Corinna A. Carlson.

A quick look at some of the things that makes air pollution in your city tolerable (or not):

Percentage Americans living in cities with breathing air that’s dangerous to their health: 50

Number of top 10 most polluted cities in US located in California: 8

Most polluted American city: Bakersfield

Number of premature deaths due to air pollution per year in California: 9200

Levels of air quality on an air quality chart: 0 (excellent) – 500 (very poor)

Maximum level for mega polluted air: 500

Air pollution level in Beijing: 595

Number of world’s top 20 most polluted cities located in China: 16

Percent of Chinese cities not meeting air quality standards: 70

Most polluted city in the world: Linfen, China

Linfen’s nickname 20 years ago: Fruit and Flower Town of Shanxi

One of the top air pollutants in the world: Cigarette smoke

Jogging in Manila: Smoking a pack of cigarettes

Breathing one day’s worth of Linfen’s air: Smoking 3 packs of cigarettes

Number of times more particulate matter produced by cigarettes than a Ford Mondeo: 10

Cost to clean up the world’s most polluted cities: $500 million

Prolonged exposure to urban air pollution: Increased chances of lung cancer

Prolonged exposure to traffic congestion: Road rage

Prolonged exposure to London Tube air:  “Tube rage”



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