Posts tagged with 'Particulate Matter'
6 Takeaways from Indore’s New Air Quality Monitoring Stations
6 Takeaways from Indore’s New Air Quality Monitoring Stations
Research around the world shows that pollution levels can vary enormously within the same city and even within the same neighborhood. Local monitoring data can thus prove essential to understanding air pollution sources, how they affect different communities and groups, ...
Grassroots Action Against Polluted Skies: How Jakarta's Urban Villages Tackle Air Pollution 
Grassroots Action Against Polluted Skies: How Jakarta’s Urban Villages Tackle Air Pollution 
On a Sunday afternoon in September 2023, a group of about 30 individuals, including a group of mostly female neighbors from nine kampungs (a common term for “urban villages” or “informal settlements” across multiple languages and nations in Southeast Asia) ...
The Impacts of El Niño Go Far Beyond Water
The Impacts of El Niño Go Far Beyond Water
Over the past several months, the climate pattern El Niño has disrupted different regions and sectors across the world. Zimbabwe recently declared a state of disaster, due largely to El Niño-induced drought. The city government in Bogotá, Colombia, announced water rationing as reservoir levels ...
Solar-Powered Battery Swap Stations Could Speed Rwanda’s Shift to Electric ‘Motos’
Solar-Powered Battery Swap Stations Could Speed Rwanda’s Shift to Electric ‘Motos’
Like many parts of Africa, motorcycles are the most popular form of transportation among Rwanda’s 13.3 million people. Whether they’re commuting to work or school, transporting jugs of water from the local taps or just running everyday errands, people on ...
Optimizing Electric School Buses for Cold Weather Climates 
Optimizing Electric School Buses for Cold Weather Climates 
As electric school buses hit the road across the United States, it’s important for school districts and school transportation providers to prepare for how these clean-running buses will perform in different climates. The good news? Electric school buses are tested ...
How Data and Integrated Planning Approaches Can Help Cities Fight Air Pollution 
How Data and Integrated Planning Approaches Can Help Cities Fight Air Pollution 
In Bogotá, Colombia, over 3,000 people die prematurely each year due to exposure to air pollution—namely from PM2.5, a fine particulate matter produced by vehicle exhaust, burning and industrial outputs. Bogotá is not alone: According to 2021 data, of 174 ...
Delhi’s Air Quality Needs Data-Driven Action
Delhi’s Air Quality Needs Data-Driven Action
The issue of Delhi’s poor air quality resurfaces periodically in public consciousness. It garners attention on social media, in newspapers and in scientific studies, largely during winter months. During this period, Delhi’s air quality index drops from “poor” to “severe” ...
Southeast Asian Cities Have Some of the Most Polluted Air in the World. El Niño Is Making it Worse
Southeast Asian Cities Have Some of the Most Polluted Air in the World. El Niño Is Making it Worse
Residents of Jakarta, Indonesia woke up on August 31, 2023, to a thick blanket of haze and news that their city was again ranked the most polluted in the world — one of many times during the last several months when air quality became ...
5 Car-Free Day Myths Debunked: Unveiling the True Benefits of Open Streets
5 Car-Free Day Myths Debunked: Unveiling the True Benefits of Open Streets
As cities become more congested, traffic fatalities continue to rise and the impacts of climate change escalate, the need for sustainable and safe transportation solutions has reached a critical juncture. The World Health Organization reports an alarming statistic: 186,300 children ...
New Data Dashboard Helps Cities Build Urban Resilience in a Changing Climate
New Data Dashboard Helps Cities Build Urban Resilience in a Changing Climate
Climate change is impacting cities and their residents in many profound ways, from poor air quality to flooding to biodiversity loss and extreme heat. Now, with the help of a new tool, select cities can access localized, integrated data to ...
Clean Indore Making Strides for Clean Air
Clean Indore Making Strides for Clean Air
Indore is known as India’s cleanest city, having secured the title seven years in a row in Swachh Bharat National Cleanliness Surveys, and it is now determined to clean its air too. On February 15, the “Clean Air, Clean Indore” ...
The Most Successful Air Pollution Treaty You’ve Never Heard Of
The Most Successful Air Pollution Treaty You’ve Never Heard Of
International consensus on cross-border environmental issues has been difficult to achieve, but the 40-year-old Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (or LRTAP as it is known to development professionals) has enjoyed great, if largely unsung, success in the fight against air ...
Here’s What Smoke from California’s Wildfires Looks Like from Space
Here’s What Smoke from California’s Wildfires Looks Like from Space
Several wildfires are still burning through California. The Camp Fire in Northern California has killed at least 48 people and is now the deadliest ever recorded. The fire has burned 130,000 acres near Paradise, 80 miles north of Sacramento. Near Thousand Oaks, Woolsey Fire ...
Independence Haze: Data Shows Air Pollution Spikes from July 4th Fireworks
Independence Haze: Data Shows Air Pollution Spikes from July 4th Fireworks
Fireworks, block parties and barbeques: Those are the first things that come to mind when the 4th of July rolls around. But what’s least talked about is the quality of breathable air on the nation’s birthday. Data shows that levels of fine ...
A type of fine particulate matter, black carbon causes millions of premature deaths in cities worldwide and is considered the second most important human emission contributing to climate change. Photo by Eduardo M.C./Flickr.
Cities fighting black carbon to achieve public health and climate benefits
Black carbon – a short-lived climate pollutant emitted into the air by incomplete combustion of fuels – is a both major contributor to climate change and a concern for public health in cities. At the global scale, black carbon has ...
Right Menu Icon