Tag: air pollution

How prioritizing human health can help stop climate change

October 31, 2020 / / 0 Comments
The clean air of the Hydroelectric Reservoir at Buntzen Lake, British Columbia, Canada

The rising atmospheric CO2 levels and the climate change it leads to is often framed as a towering, existential threat – one which threatens the stability of vast ecosystems and the vulnerable species therein. Setting aside the devastating ecological impacts the overproduction of CO2 results in, there is another benefit to reducing CO2 production that is often overlooked.

Over a third of CO2 production is due to energy generation, and the burning of fossil fuels often results in the production of not just pollutants with global warming potential, but pollutants with strong, direct negative impact on human health (Sergi et al, 2020). Sulfur dioxide results in acid rain, while nitrogen oxides and particulate matter (soot) are respiratory toxins. Transitioning away from fossil fuels not only helps the global fight against climate change, but protects the health of individuals living near facilities which produce noxious chemicals as a result of energy generation.

A study has shown that prioritizing human health along with reducing global warming, can highlight the need for transition to greener technologies more effectively. This suggests that benefits to human health and the reduced economic harm caused by poor air quality should not be an afterthought in this conversation. Learn more from this press release on the study examining this problem here!

Summer Skies and Smoke Pollution

September 11, 2020 / / 0 Comments
A photograph of a West Kelowna beach during the daytime taken September 8 2020. The sky is visibly smokey, completely grey with no visible horizon. The sunlight reaching the beach looks darker than normal and red-shifted because of the smoke.
Smokey skies in West Kelowna (Brady Strachan/CBC)

As summer fades to fall, many of us might be hoping to walk outside (while physically distancing, of course) and soak up the remnants of sunny blue skies – only to be disappointed with grey smoke overhead. While British Columbia has had its fair share of wildfires, the current smoke blanketing southern BC is largely credited to our neighbours south of the border.

Throughout the summer, fires from Washington state and California have resulted in the dispersion of smoke into Canada as well as people out of their homes. Furthermore, a recent study from the University of Colorado Boulder has found that many areas in California and Colorado are becoming less resilient to fires, and that many affected forests are projected to become permanent grassland. The study highlights the importance of battling climate change before changes become permanent (read the press release here).

Increasingly severe fire seasons in North America are starting to serve as a near-annual reminder that the changing climate is a global problem and that disasters in one part of the world tend to have negative impacts elsewhere. Here’s how you can protect your lungs from smoke this fall (hint: the advice is largely one that’s been echoed throughout 2020 – stay inside!).