Clearing the Air: The Beginning and End of Air Pollution

"Tim Smedley, an award-winning sustainability expert, has brought us a cracker of a book with his Clearing the Air: The Beginning of the End of Air Pollution . He has travelled the world to understand its impact and what we might do to solve this urgent problem. He pulls no punches in this forensically written and evidenced book. He introduces us to the problem through three historical examples: the London smog of 1952, with its 8,000 to 12,000 deaths; the 2013 Beijing ‘Airpocalypse’, in which air pollution in China’s capital resulted in its Children’s Hospital dealing with 7000 admissions a day; and Delhi, where in 2017 visiting royals could not see the guard of honour. The data suggests that worldwide air pollution is killing 19,000 people a day. This is an environmental emergency. “The data suggests that worldwide air pollution is killing 19,000 people a day. This is an environmental emergency.” It is a book that lays out in compelling detail the causes and effects, impact and consequences of air pollution. The author points out that in many parts of the world, whilst our air may not have the look of a 1950s pea-souper, its quality may be just as injurious. This is due to the microscopically fine particles that are the result of a multitude of processes. He tells us that nine out of ten people breathe air with high levels of pollutants. Tim Smedley provides reams of data, cases studies galore and stories of bad policies and bad behaviour that make for an urgent call to action. He points out that much of the real damage is being done by particulates that are much smaller than current legislation deals with, and he provides real solutions to these wicked problems. Reading this book will change your behaviour. It should change the behaviour of policy makers, too. This book contains a blueprint for saving our cities, which includes banning all petrol and diesel cars in city centres, replacing diesel buses and trains with electric vehicles, and an end to wood-burning stoves and coal fires. These are practical, achievable goals—but we have to be aware of the scale of the problem. It’s a problem that is increasingly revealed by new technologies and devices that can sense the quality of the air we breathe. That data, and this book, will turn out to be enormously important in dealing with the challenge we all face."