Hardly a pea souper
FOR the past few days parts of London, the south-east and the Midlands have been covered by a milky, hazy smog. Environmental groups are angrily calling on Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, to reduce the pollution from cars in the city. - The Economist, 02.04.2014
03 April, 2014
FOR the past few days parts of London, the south-east and the Midlands have been covered by a milky, hazy smog. Environmental groups are angrily calling on Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, to reduce the pollution from cars in the city. Elderly people and asthmatics have been told to stay indoors or to avoid exercise. Newspapers quote residents with itchy throats, while photographs of David Cameron's car covered in dust have been posted online.
Certainly smog is unpleasant. It can also be dangerous: the World Health Organisation reported that in 2012 air pollution caused around 7m deaths worldwide (most were in South East Asia and the Western Pacific).
But smog is not that unusual. In April 2011 London saw some of the worst air pollution for four years (pictured, above). And London has experienced much worse. In 1952 the "Great Fog", as it became known, was thought to have directly caused around 3,500 deaths from asthma-related conditions—the figure for indirect deaths was probably far higher. Flares were lit to guide traffic. Ten years later, despite the Clean Air Act of 1956, the capital was enveloped in a sooty fog again, turning its streets into Dickensian highways and back-streets. (In perhaps Charles Dickens's greatest novel, "Bleak House", fog is described as "a London particular" and seems to creep throughout the pages of the book.) Even in the 1970s some Londoners recall having to grope at railings on pavements to guide themselves along.
Reasons for the smog this week differ from most of these episodes: no power stations are pumping out soot along the Thames and few, if any, residents are burning coal in an open fireplace to heat their homes. Despite the protestations of greener types, in nearly every London borough fewer people are driving to work. Instead light winds have caused pollution to gather over the city while fine dust from the Sahara has been blown over. But possibly the largest change is the way that these events are reported. On April 1st the Met Office, the national weather service, took over the responsibility of forecasting air pollution from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Unlike that beleaguered department, the Met Office is much better at getting publicity.
Update: Simon Moore of Policy Exchange, a think-tank, has responded to this blog here.
(Picture credit: AFP)