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It is easy to take so many things we have for granted. Our heated home, freshwater, the friendly barista, the list goes on. However, one of the easiest things to overlook is the air we breathe.
When we think about what kills most people in the world, headlines point us towards Covid, breast cancer, and car accidents. However, this chart shows about 7 million people die a year from air pollution. For reference, Covid has killed about 5.5 million people over the past two years.
A more recent study estimates the number of people who die from air pollution is closer to 10 million human lives. Regardless of where the number lands, air pollution should garner more of our attention. This chart shows the four most common ways air pollution kills humans.
For example, 29% of lung cancer deaths are attributable to poor air pollution. There is a much more technical explanation for how air pollution causes that here, but essentially dangerous particles get into your lungs and mess stuff up.
Why is air pollution not making headlines? Part of the reason is most of the deaths occur in India, China, or developing countries. The air, like breathing, is such a part of our daily lives that we don’t stop to analyze it. All humans breathe it in every few seconds of every day. On top of that, around 99% of the world's population live in places where air quality levels exceed World Health Organization.
Living in California for the past 7 years, I have experienced the impacts of poor air quality every fire season.
The most common dangerous air pollutants are nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur, and ozone. Air pollution is classified into two sizes PM 2.5 microns and PM 10 microns. PM 2.5 microns are 100 times thinner than a human hair and are becoming more of a public health issue. The smaller PM 2.5 particles are more dangerous because they linger in the air longer and penetrate deeper in the lungs than larger particles.
Every fire season, Californians (and many others) reacquaint themselves with the chart below, which shows the different levels of air pollution severity.
For reference, during the wildfire season, it will often get in the 150+ range in San Francisco and people stop going outside. If we did venture out we always had masks on (imagine that!) and people would keep it to nothing more strenuous than a walk. Having unhealthy air for us in San Francisco happens for a few weeks a year, but in other parts of the globe, it is a part of daily life. India may be the country consistently hit the hardest by air pollution.
Here is a list of air quality in major cities around the world earlier this week. Three of the top seven are in India.
India gets hit with a double whammy, their indoor and outdoor pollution are both bad. When people think of air pollution, they picture smoggy skies, dusty fields, and smokestacks. However, half of air pollution-related deaths come from indoor air pollution. Most indoor air pollution in India comes from wood-burning stoves. Many westerners tried to solve this problem by donating “cleaner stoves”.
In 2011, over 28 million cookstoves were donated to Africa and Asia. Problem solved, right?
Not so much. A few weeks after the stoves were donated, air pollution was reduced. However, four years later those areas had returned back to high levels of air pollution. Researchers found that women had stopped using the stoves because they didn’t like the design or because the stoves broke, burned more wood (not less, as intended) or didn’t get foods hot enough. Food is ingrained with culture and culture is tough to change with a few donated stoves. For instance, in America, many people couldn’t imagine cooking brisket over anything but charcoal.
Outdoor air pollution still causes major problems globally. In the Spring of 2020 at the beginning of Covid lockdowns, many people were shocked at the clear skies. It was like a blurry pair of sunglasses had been pulled off our heads and we could see clearly. Below is a picture in Delhi. The left half of the image was taken in October 2019 and the right half was just 6 months later.
In the USA we may not have as many people dying from air pollution (estimated 60k annually), but it creeps into other parts of our lives. Air pollution affects crime, cognitive ability, and general day-to-day well-being.
Fighting air pollution deserves a lot more attention, policy, and innovation. China is infamous for its smoggy skies but has made a concerted effort in recent years to clean the air.
In 2013 they passed the Air Pollution Action Plan, their most aggressive environmental plan to date and it is paying off. One of the key solutions was prohibiting new coal-fired power plants and shutting down many old plants.
Recent research suggests that China’s fight against air pollution has laid the foundations for remarkable gains in the country’s life expectancy. The average citizen can now expect to live 2.4 years longer on average if the declines in air pollution persist.
This image from Beijing shows the difference between our hopes versus reality. Air pollution must get more focus from our policymakers in order for the blueprint to become reality.
My year in review
You can use this template from Tiago Forte’s annual review course I took last year. I found it fun to recap my memorable moments from the year. After doing a few more annual reviews, it will be interesting to see what patterns emerge.
Image I am pondering
More than half the world lives inside this circle. The world is so much bigger than our tiny little bubble. Seeing this reignited my interest in traveling abroad.
Tyler Cowen’s 12 rules for life
Tyler Cowen is an economist and writes a blog I love called Marginal Revolution. Here are a few of his rules that stood out to me.
Learn how to learn from those who offend you.
Marry well.
Cultivate mentors, and be willing to serve as mentors to others. This never loses its importance.
When shooting the basketball, give it more arc than you think is necessary. Consistently.
Pic of the Week
Jenny got Covid with mild symptoms and I’ve stayed negative (so far). As a result, we played a lot of our new favorite board game Wingspan. I highlighted Wingspan in the last Beach Bi-Weekly. It is similar to Settlers of Catan, but with beautiful bird designs.