Tag Archives: pollutants
300 million children are breathing toxic air right now.
That’s according to a new report by UNICEF, which found that nearly one in seven children in the world live in areas where outdoor air pollution is at least six times higher than international guidelines set by the World Health Organization.
The report also found that air pollution — primarily caused by fossil fuel burning, vehicle emissions, waste incineration, and dust — contributes to the deaths of about 600,000 kids under the age of 5 each year. The statistics are most dire in South Asia, where an estimated 620 million children live with dirty air.
Air pollution is especially harmful to children as their lungs are still developing and their respiratory tracks are more permeable than adults’. But as UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake points out, “Pollutants don’t only harm children’s developing lungs, they can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains — and, thus, their futures.”
UNICEF is calling for countries to take several steps to minimize risk to kids, including reducing pollution, increasing access to health care, monitoring air pollution levels, and keeping polluting facilities away from schools and playgrounds.
“We protect our children when we protect the quality of our air,” Lake says. “Both are central to our future.”
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Posted in alo, Anchor, Everyone, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Ringer, The Atlantic, Uncategorized
Tagged anchor, article, children, executive, executive-director, organization, pollutants, protect-the-quality, Ringer, south, under-the-age, unicef
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Awesome necklaces are an air pollution visualization
Awesome necklaces are an air pollution visualization
By Suzanne Jacobson 30 Jul 2015commentsShare
Statement necklaces are so hot these days, but those giant neck shackles are nothing compared to these bad boys.
London-based artists Stefanie Posavec and Miriam Quick designed three in-your-face necklaces to reflect air pollution levels in Sheffield, U.K., a former steelmaking city with notoriously bad air. According to Posavec’s website, the duo felt that a necklace was appropriate because air pollution impacts the heart and lungs. Here’s more from Wired:
Posavec and Quick mapped three nonconsecutive weeks of unusual air-quality patterns onto flat plastic beads. Each bead represents an eight-hour period. The more pollution during that period, the larger and spikier the disc, and the more aware you are of how necklace touches your skin. The outlying data is particularly evocative: One of the necklaces has a big, prickly orange bead depicting the highest level of particulate matter during those few weeks, which took place on Guy Fawkes Night, a UK holiday during which celebrants light nighttime bonfires.
The designers also made three pairs of sunglasses, each with three lenses that represent different air pollutants in Sheffield. The lenses all have designs etched into them — the more prevalent the pollutant, the larger the design. Altogether, the lenses make the glasses pretty hard to see through, which is the point: Pollutants make the air hazy.
I never really knew what “statement necklaces” were supposed to be saying, but I’m pretty sure these accessories — called Touching Air and Seeing Air, respectively — are saying something more important. How about earrings that reflect noise pollution? Or toe rings that reflect soil toxicity? Maybe if we were all walking manifestations of the toxins in our environments, the world would be a cleaner place! Just kidding — that’ll never happen.
Source:
Funky Accessories That Visualize Invisible Air Pollution
, Wired.
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Posted in Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized
Tagged altogether, anchor, g & f, invisible, pollutants, sheffield, special, whats-next, wired
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Safe Drinking Water Elusive for Many in California
Bureaucratic and technical obstacles have slowed the distribution of federal aid in places where water is laced with nitrates and other pollutants. View post: Safe Drinking Water Elusive for Many in California ; ;Related ArticlesCarbon Dioxide Level Passes Long-Feared MilestonePolitico to Test a Pay Wall With Some Readers of Its SiteRepublicans Block Vote on Nominee to Lead E.P.A. ;
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Posted in eco-friendly, FF, G & F, GE, Monterey, ONA, solar, solar power, Uncategorized
Tagged california, central valley (calif), distribution, federal aid (us), image, monterey, national, Ona, pollutants, second, Square
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