How Do Tobacco Smoke and Air Pollution Affect Asthma in Young Children?

Wreaths of tobacco smoke. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Air pollution, fetal and infant tobacco smoke exposure, and wheezing in preschool children: a population-based prospective birth cohort(23 page pdf, Agnes MM Sonnenschein-van der Voort ,Yvonne de Kluizenaar, Vincent WV Jaddoe, Carmelo Gabriele Hein Raat, Henriëtte A Moll, Albert Hofman, Frank H Pierik, Henk ME Miedema, Johan C de Jongste, Liesbeth Duijts, Environmental Health, Dec. 11, 2012) 

The key conclusion drawn by the study under review today is that early exposure to tobacco smoke makes the lungs of children more vulnerable to air pollution. Also short term exposure to air pollutants alone could affect development of respiratory while long term exposure has greater impact when combined with tobacco smoke  

Key Quotes: 

 “Higher exposure levels to air pollutants have been associated with increased risks of asthma exacerbations in adults and children aged older than 5 years” 

“We examined the associations of exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) with the risk of wheezing in preschool children, and assessed whether these associations were modified by tobacco smoke exposure.” 

“Our results suggest that short term exposure to air pollutants might be important for developing respiratory symptoms, whereas long term exposure to air pollutants might be important in the presence of tobacco smoke exposure.”

 “Our study suggests that long term exposure to higher levels of traffic-related air pollutants PM10 and NO2 are associated with increased risks of wheezing in the first 3 years of life among children who are exposed to tobacco smoke during fetal and infant life.”

Related articles

• Smoking and Asthma
• Secondhand Smoke Very Unhealthy for Kids in Cars
• Smoking in cars beats UN pollution threshold
• Children Often Exposed To Tobacco Smoke In Cars
• Air pollution may raise child's autism risk
• How Does Air Pollution Affect Your Thinking Ability?

How do Higher Congestion Charges at Traffic Peaks Reduce Pollution?

The control point at Liljeholmen, Stockholm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Variable Congestion Charges May Yield More Stable Air Quality and Improved Health(Science News, Dec. 14, 2012) 

Also discussed here: Variable congestion charges may yield more stable air quality and improved health(University of Gothenburg, Dec. 14, 2012) 

And here: Synergies and Trade-offs between Climate and Local Air Pollution: Policies in Sweden(Jorge Bonilla, Jessica Coria, Thomas Sterner, Working Paper in Economics #529, Goteborg University, Apr. 30, 2012) 

Today we review a report from Goteborg, the second Swedish city to implement congestion charging, that examines the impact of these charges on pollution levels by time of day and time of year. It found that pollution was worse in the morning and in the spring. This provides a good basis for having charges that change according to the resulting level of pollution, not necessarily to traffic volume which is usually the linkage made for dynamic charging. 

Key Quotes: “Higher congestion charges in the morning and in the spring would even out the negative health effects caused by air pollution from cars in large cities.” “Our analysis indicates that despite traffic flows being larger in the afternoon, NOx and NO2 pollution in the morning peak is larger than in the peak in the afternoon” “base their conclusion on observations of the levels of nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter and carbon monoxide in Stockholm, London and Santiago” “If the congestion charges are allowed to vary with the capacity of nature to handle pollution, then they may reduce not only global warming but also the dangerous health effects of urban air pollutants” “If people would choose to drive at different times than today, the levels of pollution would be evened out, which in turn would have positive health effects”

Related articles

• Studies Show Air Pollution May Be Even More Dangerous Than Thought
• London Looking To Alter Congestion Charge Exemptions By Lowering CO2 Threshold
• Beijingers Told to Stay Indoors as Pollution Hits Record - Businessweek

Climate Change, Life Expectancy and Human Development for the Next Century

Exploring future impacts of environmental constraints on human development(37 page pdf, Barry B. Hughes, Mohammod T. Irfan, Jonathan D. Moyer, Dale S. Rothman and José R. Solórzano, Sustainability, May 10, 2012)

Today we review a look at the long term impact of climate change on human development for the next century where the policy choices made to deal with climate change on the one hand (example carbon taxes applied globally) are combined in a model with varying degrees of possible environmental scenarios. Not surprisingly, the results do not produce a future or futures with a lot of hope and the road to global disaster “has a low probability”. The impacts on the economy, well-being and the environment, particularly for developing countries could be very useful in preparing the world for what lies ahead.  
Key Quotes:

 “describe three possible futures for the world (a base line scenario, an environmental challenge scenario, and an environmental disaster scenario) and their potential impact on the indicators of the Human Development Index (HDI)”  

Base Case scenario:

• ”Incomes continue to rise, driven in part by technological advances and diffusion globally. *Education and health levels rise as incomes improve and reinforce economic growth.
• Advances in infrastructure and improved governance further drive productivity gains.
• Policy orientations and technological advances generally reflect those of recent decades.
• does not build in carbon taxes or other significant shifts in global governance policy.”

Environmental Challenge scenario:

• ”increases the driving values for a number of known environmental risks that the Base Case already represents, but that could prove to be worse than we anticipate.
• represents environmental risks at the household (indoor solid fuel use), local (water and sanitation), urban and regional (outdoor air pollution), and global levels (especially increasing impacts of global warming on agricultural production)."

Environmental Disaster scenario:

• "Overuse of fossil water and falling water tables, changing run-off patterns from glacial melting, progressive deforestation and land degradation, species loss and dramatic declines in biodiversity, accelerated incidence of extreme weather events, peaking production of oil and gas
• “environmental constraints could indeed greatly slow progress and even, in disastrous conditions, begin to reverse it. Least developed countries are most vulnerable in relative terms, while middle-income countries can suffer the greatest absolute impact of constraints, and more developed countries are most resilient"

“The Environmental Challenge scenario still allows the HDI to rise globally and across all income categories, which is good news, but dramatically reduces the size of the gains and very significantly slows the movement towards global equity. The Environmental Disaster scenario almost stops progress on the index everywhere.”

“the Environmental Disaster scenario explored here did not lead to a Malthusian or Limits to

Growth-like collapse in IFs forecasts, but rather to a dramatic slowdown in the advancement of human well-being”

Related articles

• Perceived timings of economic crisis and climate change prevent action
• Will hottest year ever force US to confront climate change?
• Climate Change and National Security
• CLIMATE CHANGE: Migration not always a way to adapt
• Rethinking wedges
• Preventing climate change: the size of the energy challenge
• All nations will suffer effects of climate change, warns World Bank
• Climate Change in the Age of Truthiness
• Climate Change: Believing and Seeing Implies Adapting
• Obama: Climate change not priority

What Can London do to Improve its Air Quality?

English: view from Grange Road over parts of SE London Haze / air pollution is quite apparent even at 9/ 10 o'clock on a bright and breezy day (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Air pollution in London - issues paper(19 page pdf, Health and Environment Committee, London Assembly, Deec. 10, 2012) Also discussed here: Air pollution in London - issues paper(Health and Environment Committee, London Assembly, D3ec. 10, 2012) London’s air pollution continues to be a concern for local and national authorities following the 2012 Olympic Games when it was a major issue (as it was in Beijing China in the last summer games four years earlier) with over 4,000 premature deaths each year in the city and health impacts across the UK of to £20 billion a year. Today, we review a report from the City of London’s Health and Environment Committee on how bad it is from measurements by the 100 monitors and what is needed to have improvements. The focus of recommendations is to reduce particulate pollution by further controls on diesel vehicles, focus attention on NO2 vehicle emissions which exceeded the EU threshold of 40 ugm/m3 concentration at all roadside monitoring locations and find ways to increase walking and cycling instead of driving.  

Key Quotes: 

“over 4000 extra deaths each year in London are attributable to one kind of pollutant, microscopic airborne particles.. the man-made majority of these particles is responsible for a proportion of all deaths in London boroughs ranging from around 6% in the least polluted outer suburbs to over 8% in the most polluted boroughs of inner London” 

“The health costs of air pollution in the UK have been estimated at up to £20 billion a year10 – twice as much as obesity.” 

“London’s air quality is monitored by a network of instruments at over 100 locations across London – including kerbside, roadside and urban background..There were (on provisional figures) more than 35 exceedences [of PM10] in 2011 at six monitoring stations in London – one industrial, two kerbside and three roadside monitoring”

 “the annual mean NO2 concentration[(40ug/m3)] is being exceeded at the large majority of roadside and kerbside locations in London. Some kerbside locations and busy street canyons30 are exceeding the annual mean by a factor of two or three” 

“the mean NO2 concentration over an hour (200ug/m3]…is sometimes exceeded at all London’s kerbside monitoring stations, some of the roadside locations, and provisionally in 2011 at one urban background location” 

Summary of recommendations:

• “Concentrations of both PM and NO₂ remain too high in London and further action is needed to protect public health and prevent potential large fines^[5] from exceeding EU limits.
• The most polluting vehicles on London’s roads are diesel. Options for reducing emissions should be considered, such as imposing stricter standards for diesel vehicles within the Low Emission Zone.
• Retrofitting older buses with new technology could cut NO_x emissions by more than 70 per cent. Some Committee Members believe TfL should do more to find innovative and bold solutions to emissions from its fleet.
• Greater promotion of cleaner technologies, such as electric vehicles, walking and cycling, could also be considered.”

Related articles

• Monitoring and Mapping Roadside Emissions in London
• Vehicle Pollution Linked to Respiratory Illness in Children
• Air Pollution in Mediterranean MegaCities
• Legacy of London's Great Smog

Global Trends for Cities

Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds(160 page pdf, National Intelligence Council Annual Report, 2012)

Also discussed here: National Intelligence Council Releases ‘Global Trends 2030’: Prominent Roles Predicted for Demographic and the Environmental Trends(Schuyler Null & Kate Diamond, New Security Beat, December 11, 2012)

We review today a look at recent trends and the next 20 years for the world and in particular at what this means for urban centres. Some the key trends are the shift in middle class consumption and manufacturing from North America to the developing world, especially to mega-cities in China and India, the improvements coming from technology that range from smart city infrastructure to self driving cars. Much more is said about diplomacy, military power and security but for this review we concentrated on the urban aspects.  

Key Quotes:

 “In smart cities, advanced IT capabilities are the foundation of urban planning, governance, resource-management, physical infrastructure, communications infrastructure, building design, transportation systems, security services, emergency services, and disaster response systems.”

 “Governments around the world, especially in developing countries, could spend as much as $35 trillion in public-works projects in the next two decades….massive market opportunities for information technology, systems-integration, and sustainable-technology providers and integrators—to ensure that the megacities develop. Some of the world’s future megacities will essentially be built from scratch, enabling a blank-slate approach to infrastructure design and implementation.”

“With this heavy investment in smart-city infrastructure in African, Latin American, and especially Asian urban centers, the epicenter of smart-city innovation will begin by 2030 to move away from Europe and North America.”

 “Self-driving cars could begin to address the worsening congestion in urban areas, reduce roadway accidents and improve individuals’ productivity (by allowing drivers the freedom to work through their commutes) Mass-transit innovations will likely emerge from the fastest-growing urban areas of Asia.”

Related articles

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• Global Trends 2030 With America At The Center
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• US National Intelligence Council says China's global power more than EU and USA combined by 2030
• Asia 'set to eclipse' US by 2030
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How is Ontario Doing on Climate Change?

English: GHG emission per capita in metric tons per person for each country in 2005. Data is from the CAIT 8.0 dataset. CO2 equivalent emissions from land use change and emissions of CO2,CH4,N2O,PFC,HFC, and SF6 are included. Bunker fuel (aka ships) is not. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Question of Commitment - Review of the Ontario Government’s Climate Change Action Plan Results(88 page pdf, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Dec. 4, 2012) 

Today we review the annual report from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) to the provincial legislature. The 2012 report questions the government’s commitment to meet the goals it proposed in 2007, after assessing progress to date toward those goals. It is unfortunate that the role of cities which make up by far the greatest population of Ontario- the two largest cities, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and the City of Ottawa make up over 50% of the total. Most of the increased emissions in the transportation sector, a key emissions component, come from road traffic, an area where cities have most mandate and ability to control – with cooperation from the province. Road pricing comes to mind and here the ECO is only thinking of improved public transit without looking at revenue and air quality benefits.

Key Quotes: 

“With the release of its Climate Change Action Plan in August 2007, the Government of Ontario made a commitment to play a leadership role in the province’s transition toward a low-carbon future”

• "transportation sector, emissions resumed their upward trajectory in 2010
• industrial sector, development of the province’s planned cap-and-trade program remains stalled,
• building sector will likely see modest reductions
• agricultural sector, there is little evidence that the current voluntary approach… is having any demonstrable effect on emissions, particularly with respect to synthetic fertilizer use
• waste sector, the use of landfill gas capture systems is likely resulting in higher methane releases than are accounted for in the provincial greenhouse gas inventory
• conclusion..the current policy framework will only get Ontario just over half way toward the government’s 2020 target, leaving a projected ‘ambition gap’ of 30 megatonnes that will not be closed without new policy action in the eight short years that remain"

Recommendations:

• “ the Ministry of Energy establish electricity sector greenhouse gas intensity targets
• the Ministry of the Environment make all data submitted pursuant to the greenhouse gas reporting regulation publicly available on an annual basis
• the Ministry of the Environment develop a strategy to better control greenhouse gas emissions from substitutes for ozone-depleting substances in all applications throughout their life cycles….[and]implement a phased-in ban on the landfilling of all organic residuals
• the government conduct an analysis of the environmental, social and economic impacts of alternative carbon pricing mechanisms and release it to the public for discussion”

“Ontario has witnessed a rise in both the volume of motor gasoline sales and transportation-related GHG emissions since 1990…Of significance to GHG mitigation is the continued absence of a discussion of road pricing for the improved function and funding of public transit systems"

Related articles

• Ontario backing away from climate change commitments: watchdog
• Environmental watchdog says Ontario backing away from climate change commitments
• Ontario falling short in climate strategy goals
• How Can Northern Cities Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Change?
• Environmental cap-and-trade regulations come into force in Quebec and California
• Reaching our GHG goals thanks to a price on carbon
• The World Wants a Solution to Climate Change: Here It Is

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 42,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 10 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.