Clearing the Air
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY INSIGHT INVESTMENT SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2019**
'Read this book and join the effort to terminate air pollution.' Arnold Schwarzenegger
Air pollution has become the world's greatest environmental health risk, and science is only beginning to reveal its wide-ranging effects. Globally, 19,000 people die each day from air pollution, killing more than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and car accidents combined.
What happened to the air we breathe?
Sustainability journalist Tim Smedley has travelled the world to try and find the answer, visiting cities at the forefront of the fight against air pollution, including Delhi, Beijing, London and Paris. With insights from the scientists and politicians leading the battle against it, and people whose lives have been affected by it,
Clearing the Air tells the full story of air pollution for the first time: what it is, which pollutants are harmful, where they come from and – most importantly – what we can do about them.
Air pollution is a problem that can be solved. The stories uncovered on this journey show us how.
Clearing the Air is essential reading for anyone who cares about the air they breathe. And this much becomes clear: in the fight against air pollution, we all have a part to play. The fightback has begun.
'Compulsory reading' Chris Boardman
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist and first-time author Smedley challenges readers to take charge of their breathing space in this disappointing layperson's guide to how ozone, ammonia, nitrogen dioxide, and other pollutants are poisoning the air and causing extreme health problems smaller brain volumes, premature births, DNA damage around the world, particularly in urban areas. He blames paddy fires, Diwali firecrackers, diesel engines, coal plants, wood fires, and just about everything that humans ignite or eat. "The reality is that most of us don't know what pollutants we are exposed to on a daily basis," Smedley warns, offering a crash course on particulate matter, "the tiny particles that float in the air, from road dust to soot, and cause the most damage to our health." He discusses clean air battles in France, Germany, India, and the U.S., and visits Helsinki wielding a hand-held pollution monitor, but the predominantly British sources and interviewees give a lopsided feel to a global problem. Meanwhile, Smedley's recommended fixes for commuters to "quit our car habit," cities to increase "green space," and be more pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly, and governments to pass more stringent regulations tend to the tiresomely obvious. This well-intentioned call to action is, unfortunately, unlikely to have much effect on an important public health issue.
