#air-pollution

#air-pollution

Ahead of the March 10 deadline for state officials to finalize construction plans, we believe it is essential that you hear directly from residents whose health and well-being will be massively impacted by this $900 million project,

The logic behind electric vehicles benefiting public health has long been solid: More EVs means fewer internal combustion engines on the road, and a reduction in harmful tailpipe emissions. But now researchers have confirmed, to the greatest extent yet, that this is indeed what's actually happening on the ground. What's more, they found that even relatively small upticks in EV adoption can have a measurably positive impact on a community.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Italian scientists documented something interesting: in areas with more trees per capita, the number and severity of COVID-19 cases were lower than in places with fewer trees, even when accounting for differences in human population density. This work is part of a growing body of research around the world investigating whether time spent in forests and nature can provide protection from infections, such as COVID-19 and pneumonia; inflammatory conditions, such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis; and even cancer.

The conventional approach to evaluating the impact of air pollution is to focus on a single exposure during a fixed period of time. But evidence suggests that contaminants work together, magnifying the damage to people's lungs. Conventional studies fail to probe synergistic effects. They also ignore the cumulative effects of lifelong exposures to pollutants, known as the exposome. Researchers need to shift away from single-pollutant studies and towards those involving a broad range of exposures.

For decades, he's lived in Homer City, a southwestern Pennsylvania town that was once home to the largest coal-fired power plant in the state. The plant, which shares its name with the town, closed nearly three years ago after years of financial distress. Dudash, 89, has lived in the shadow of its smokestacks-said to be the tallest in the country before they were demolished-for much of his life.

Ethylene oxide was once considered an unremarkable pollutant. The colorless gas seeped from relatively few industrial facilities and commanded little public attention. All that changed in 2016, when the Environmental Protection Agency completed a study that found the chemical is 30 times more carcinogenic than previously thought. The agency then spent years updating regulations that protect millions of people who are most exposed to the compound.

At 79, he's been a smoker most of his life but quit a decade ago, the day he was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He was struggling to breathe to such an extent it was impacting his ability to work his director of conventions sales job at the local visitors' bureau, unable to show potential clients around venues.

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The angry rumble of a speeding SUV. The metallic smog of backlogged traffic. The aching heat of sun-dried neighbourhoods baking in an oven of concrete and asphalt. For most people, the mundane threats that plague our environments are likely to annoy more than they spark dread. But for scientists who know just how dangerous our surroundings can be, the burden of knowledge weighs heavy each day.

A 400-mile blanket of fog has socked in California's Central Valley for weeks. Scientists and meteorologists say the conditions for such persistent cloud cover are ripe: an early wet season, cold temperatures and a stable, unmoving high pressure system. But take a stroll through X, Instagram or TikTok, and you'll see not everyone is so sanguine. People are reporting that the fog has a strange consistency and that it's nefariously littered with black and white particles that don't seem normal.

New details emerged this week about the massive February fire that erupted at the Martinez Refinery Company and released more than 7,000 gallons of hydrocarbon materials into the air, as officials revealed that oil crews had been using incompatible radio systems that prevented immediate contact with local public safety agencies. While county firefighters arrived on the scene 14 minutes after being notified of a fire at MRC, crews were stalled outside, unable to contact the refinery operators on site - a communication gap that delayed the establishment of a unified command center by nearly two hours.

The agency previously estimated that the higher standards set in 2024 would collectively save Americans $23 billion in fuel costs over the years, or about $600 for each passenger car and light truck owner over the lifetime of their vehicle. The rules were expected to cut down gasoline use by 70 billion gallons through 2050. That would avoid 710 million metric tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide pollution, equivalent to taking more than 165.6 million gas-guzzling passenger vehicles off the road for a year.

Air pollution has reached "alarming" levels in the Iranian capital, Tehran, leading authorities to close schools and universities and ban truck travel in the region in the latest environmental crisis to strike the Middle East nation. The Air Quality Index in Tehran and surrounding cities on November 29 climbed to between 170 and 200 -- considered to be "unhealthy" for all age groups, Iranian media reported.

Each day, Kiran Kasbe drives a rickshaw taxi through his home neighbourhood of Mahul on Mumbai's eastern seafront, down streets lined with stalls selling tomatoes, bottle gourds and auberginesand, frequently, through thick smog. Earlier this year, doctors found three tumours in his 54-year-old mother's brain. It's not clear exactly what caused her cancer. But people who live near coal plants are much more likely to develop the illness, studies show, and the residents of Mahul live a few hundred metres down the road from one.

Nearly 59,000 Iranians die prematurely due to air pollution in year to March, according to officials. Tehran, Iran Iranians in the capital and many other cities across the country are breathing in toxic fumes as authorities resort to burning dirty fuel to produce electricity and cope with multiple ongoing crises. At 14 power plants, authorities for years have burned mazut, a dark residue of petroleum high in sulphur and other impurities, whenever they run out of natural gas to feed the electricity generators.

Or at least that's what's supposed to happen, as the end result is not really what was suggested in the early concept image sent to other publications. The impression would be of a simmering, partially translucent screen that would be lit from behind. To show off the church through a veil. In fact, it's a painted fabric hung over scaffolding and lit from the outside by a handful of spotlights at the bottom.

Every day. Nearly. Every. Damn. Day. Maybe twice a day. Shooting rigidly awake from blissful sleep into the literal warzone of bleating death engines. My complex is surrounded sometimes by several dudes just running their nozzles over the same already clean patch of grass. It sends my dog into a mania. It sends me into a depression. Running a commercial gas-powered leaf blower for one hour

Only one prosecution for illegal wood burning has been made in the past year despite 15,195 complaints across England, data shows. Additionally, just 24 fines were issued by local authorities between September 2024 and August 2025, responses to freedom of information requests by the campaign group Mums for Lungs revealed. In smoke control areas alone, 9,274 complaints were made a 65% increase on the previous year.