the pea soup problem

 

It’s not unusual to have fog in London. On occasion, it is said to be “as thick as pea soup” and visibility is very limited. However, the fog that hit London in December of 1952 was a lot worse than normal.

The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from Friday 5 December to Tuesday 9 December 1952, then dispersed quickly when the weather changed. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London#:~:text=A%20period%20of%20unusually%20cold,quickly%20when%20the%20weather%20changed.

 The smog caused major disruption by reducing visibility and even penetrating indoor areas, far more severely than previous smog events, called "pea-soupers". Government medical reports in the weeks following the event estimated that up to 4,000 people had died as a direct result of the smog and 100,000 more were made ill by the smog's effects on the human respiratory tract. More recent research suggests that the total number of fatalities may have been considerably greater, with estimates of between 10,000 and 12,000 deaths.

The natural disaster triggered some legislative attempts to prevent future events like the Great Fog. Environmental legislation since 1952, such as the City of London (Various Powers) Act 1954 and the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968, led to a reduction in air pollution. Financial incentives were offered to householders to replace open coal fires with alternatives (such as installing gas fires), or for those who preferred, to burn coke instead which produces minimal smoke. Central heating (using gas, electricity, oil or permitted solid fuel) was rare in most dwellings at that time, not finding favor until the late 1960s onwards. Despite improvements, insufficient progress had been made to prevent one further smog event approximately ten years later, in early December 1962

Gradually, the United States became more aware of problems of poor air quality.

The Air Pollution Control Act of 1955 was the first federal legislation involving air pollution. This Act provided funds for federal research in air pollution. It was not too many years before that that the city of Pittsburgh, surrounded by steel plants, looked a lot like this.

The Clean Air Act of 1963 was the first federal legislation regarding air pollution control. It established a federal program within the U.S. Public Health Service and authorized research into techniques for monitoring and controlling air pollution. In 1967, the Air Quality Act was enacted in order to expand federal government activities. In accordance with this law, enforcement proceedings were initiated in areas subject to interstate air pollution transport. As part of these proceedings, the federal government for the first time conducted extensive ambient monitoring studies and stationary source inspections.

The Air Quality Act of 1967 also authorized expanded studies of air pollutant emission inventories, ambient monitoring techniques, and control techniques.

The enactment of the Clean Air Act of 1970 (1970 CAA) resulted in a major shift in the federal government's role in air pollution control. This legislation authorized the development of comprehensive federal and state regulations to limit emissions from both stationary (industrial) sources and mobile sources. Four major regulatory programs affecting stationary sources were initiated: the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS, pronounced "knacks"), State Implementation Plans (SIPs), New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs). Furthermore, the enforcement authority was substantially expanded. The adoption of this very important legislation occurred at approximately the same time as the National Environmental Policy Act that established the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA was created on December 2, 1970 in order to implement the various requirements included in these Acts.

https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/evolution-clean-air-act

Due to its location between the ocean and a mountain chain, the city of Los Angeles has long been plagued with “temperature inversion”, which caused severe air pollution. In 1970, the city of Los Angles looked like this.

Today, it is much improved, but it is still the most polluted city in the country.

When The Former Guy was in office, his administration rolled back 98 environmental laws, and were attempting to roll back 14 more. The transition to the Biden administration means that those environmental rollbacks are gradually been undone.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks-list.html

Even before Biden took office, though, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had proposed the Green New Deal, which lays out a grand plan for tackling climate change. Although not all its goals will ever be reached, it’s a step in the right direction. 

For that, we can all breathe a little easier.

(The link below provides more detail on the Green New Deal)

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/climate/green-new-deal-questions-answers.html