2 History of Global Air Pollution.

Air pollution has been a problem for people for thousands of years and there has been recognition that there is a problem. Although it has taken time to deal with these larger issue the topic of air pollution has evolved over time. (LM)

Pre 1700s

There has been evidence to suggest that people did understand that there were hazards from air pollution. This would have been in a different form compared to people today. There would have been an awareness from discomfort in the lungs from smoke and other gasses that would be inhaled. This would be the natural detection system that something is not right and that people should keep their distance. “Evidence from Greece shows that the problems of polluted air outdoors were being documented at least 2400 years ago. The book Airs, waters and places attributed to Hippocrates (ca 400 BC) suggested all sorts of illness as being related to the quality of air.” (Fowler, 2020). The fact that people were aware of these common issues centuries ago shows that there was a need for humans to adapt. A good example of that adaption would be chimneys in homes to direct the smoke out and away from the main area of the house. (LM)

1700 – 1950 and the industrial revolution

The industrial revolution can be seen as the largest rapid growth of air pollution in recent history. The industrial revolution was a period that took place from the 1760s into the 1840s and it can be seen as Britain’s economic development. Factories would be used to produce goods and services like never seen before while having little regard for the environment around it. This was the birthplace of consumerism, and it continued to drive growth into different nations. “Beginning in the UK in the late eighteenth century and spreading through Europe and North America, a rapid growth in coal combustion in the developing cities substantially increased emissions of SO2, NO2, NH3 and smoke” (Fowler, 2020). These new emissions were produced by the factories but also by local people. There was a large contribution from the newer urban population of factory workers who would need ways to heat food and stay warm. Most of these times they would use coal which generates high amounts of SO2. Although there is speculation to the amount produced, the total amount of emissions was not measured during that time period since many were not worried about the implications. (LM)

Manure was also a growing problem in its contribution to pollution. “for example 100 000 horses in New York producing 1000 tons of manure daily the ‘great manure crisis’ in New York and London, with a major problem projected into future decades” (Fowler, 2020). Having a large number of horses in concentrated areas created high levels of NH3 and combined with the burning of coal created a problem. This problem was later solved as automobiles started to replace horse drawn wagons. (LM)

Most European cities started to have problems with air quality in urban areas during this time. Although the creation of urban areas and cities allowed people to be closer and work together, it created their own problems. The air pollution from the higher amount of people in urban areas created a bad cycle that would feed off of itself. A good example of this time period would be in books. There are many famous books from this time period that would describe London as hazy and dark all the time. While it might be the feeling of the time it would also be a subtle hint of the air pollution taking place. (LM)

The Great London Smog

In 1952 a haze of lethal smog covered the city of London for 5 days. There were multiple conditions that came together perfectly to cause this. The weather that London experiences is usually cloudy and high pressure when a fog set in it starts. Combining the fog with all of the pollution from factories and other sites it created this lethal cloud of smog. Since the fog sat on the city the pollution be let into the air had nowhere to go as well. So, the more pollution being produced the worse things get. “Its severity was not fully appreciated until the registrar general published the number of fatalities a few weeks later, which amounted to about 4,000. The effects of the smog were long-lasting, however, and present-day estimates rank the number of deaths to have been about 12,000” (Britannica, n.d). This event was a kickstart to new British legislation that would aim to reduce the air pollution effecting these cities. In 1956 the British government passed the Clean Air Act as a response to the fog. It restricted the burning of coal in most domestic and industrial furnaces. It also tried to establish smoke-free areas throughout the city. There would be incentives to use cleaner sources of heating in homes such as oil, natural gas, and electricity. These incentives were grants offered to homeowners who would be affected by the different costs to turning away from coal. (LM)

(Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (n.d.). [Image of the Great Smog of London])

1950 – 1960s

During this time period there was a new found importance of air pollution that had not been considered before. There was a new focus on public health while before it was mainly focused on industrialization. In the 1950s Europe started to change the way they would produce energy and run their production plants. They would have large power plants located outside of the cities so that the pollution generated would not affect large amounts of people in those cities. They also started to have standards that would require technology on those power plants to lower the emissions on those stations. “Ecological effects were not considered sufficiently important to introduce further control measures, even though it was known that some industrial processes, especially smelting, produced striking examples of local damage from SO2 and metal deposition” (Fowler, 2020). There would be factories that would smelt metal and the areas around those plants would also have higher exposure to SO2. They also would have negative effects on natural wildlife and kill vegetation in rivers and lakes if production waste was dumped to those areas. “Worse sins through the night of future flashes of Britain’s suffocating coal dust is slowly descending over the countryside soiling all that is green strangling all that strives to grow creeping low and mixed with poison stealing sun and light from the valley pelting down as rain of ashes” (Fowler, 2020). Local people were aware of these damages to the environment and that is what started change in later years. (LM)

1970s

In 1972 the Stockholm Conference was held where they talked about different delivery methods pollutants across Europe. It was seen as a major turning point in environmental science. Previously, many did not think there would be a long-range transportation of the pollutants and people thought it was mostly localized transportation. (Transportation refers to the method that the pollutants move through the air). Most countries at the conference did recognize that there needed to be a scale to quantify the effects and how pollutants were being transported. They did not, however, work on legal policy that would reduce these problems. One major flaw they found was the tall stack design. They made taller stacks on plants to disperse the pollutants but did not think about where those pollutants would travel. “Research and monitoring activities expanded across Europe and the essential details of the emissions, atmospheric chemistry and deposition were presented at Dubrovnik in 1977” (Fowler, 2020). Being more aware of where these pollutants were traveling would create a sort of accountability that was not present before. (LM)

In 1975 the first international conference on acid rain was held in Columbus, Ohio. This meeting would be held every 5 years and researchers would present their finding on acid rain and ways to solve the problem. The first meeting brought up the problem of acid rain and talked about how they should move forwards. At the second meeting in 1980 research had been conducted and they had found the causes and effects of acid rain. They discussed different ways to reduce the problem and furth study the ongoing issues. “The development of the LRTAP Convention has proved a very effective process to bring together the process-based science, the monitoring and the modelling (within the EMEP) and policy development, ultimately leading to international agreements to reduce emissions of SO2 and subsequently NO2, VOC and other air pollutants.” (Fowler, 2020). It is seen that this conference started in 1975 has grown to be beneficial and countries started to take acid rain seriously. The last meeting that was held was in 2020 and the meetings have started to shift towards different air pollutants and not focus on acid rain as a number one problem. There have been large declines in acid rain and most counties have gained confidence in controlling the issue. Programs like the acid rain program started in the 70s have led to large environmental improvements and protection. (LM)