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10 Ways to Improve the Air You Breathe
Unlike climate change, air pollution is hyper-local — and somewhat in your control. Here’s how.
We often speak of climate change and air pollution in one breath, but while carbon emissions from one country contribute to the changing climate globally, the same is not so true of air quality. There are some transboundary air quality issues, with one country’s pollution blowing over their borders into neighboring states, but for the most part, air pollution is hyper-local. Their causes — and their solutions — are, however, two sides of the same coin.
The most dangerous particles to health are the smallest ones, nanoparticles, which only exist within meters of their source (typically traffic fumes). The lifespan of nitrogen dioxide is also typically no more than a day, and often much less, meaning it can’t get very far — you won’t find any in remote rural regions. Surface-level ozone is so highly reactive it can disappear within hours.
So, if you and your neighbors take certain preventative measures, you will breathe in cleaner air, irrespective of what your neighboring state does, or what countries on the other side of the world get up to. Even if you only convince the people on your street to follow these suggestions, while the rest of your town continues to pollute…
