"I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States—and this Congress—have an important role to play. Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a culture of care and an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature." – Pope Francis
Interactive Map Lets You See the Air Quality of 1,000 Places Around the Globe. Nope, the smog capital of the world isn't in California.
So it’s no wonder that a Beijing-based environmental nonprofit, Air Quality Index China, is behind an interactive map that reveals real-time air pollution levels for 1,000 places worldwide.
There are smartphone apps that measure air quality but this map compiles data from official government agencies on the amount of ground-level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. All data for those five pollutants is assessed using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s air quality index scale, and new readings are uploaded to the map every 15 minutes.
A bird’s-eye view of the map shows icons with different colors on them, using the EPA’s traditional color coding. A green symbol means the air quality is “good”; yellow indicates the air is “moderate”—it’s acceptable to everyone but people who are unusually sensitive to pollutants.
(Map: Courtesy waqi.info)
However, places that are orange are “unhealthy for sensitive groups”—think folks with asthma. Red locations are considered “unhealthy,” purple is “very unhealthy,” and maroon indicates air that is “hazardous” to people’s health.On Tuesday afternoon, most of the United States had healthy air but the worst air pollution in the nation was—surprise, surprise—in the Los Angeles area. Reseda, a suburb in the San Fernando Valley with a bad reputation for smog, had an AQI ranking of 89, which is considered moderate but is just 11 points shy of the benchmark for unhealthy.
That’s not great but it’s certainly better than the air in Shahre Rey, a community on south side of Tehran, Iran. It had an AQI ranking of 238 on Tuesday afternoon—firmly in the “very unhealthy zone.” And then there’s Palangkaraya, Indonesia, which had a ranking of 999, according to the index. Haze from forest fires in the Southeast Asian country had blanketed the city.
(Data: Courtesy AQICN.org)
About 7 million people die every year from the ill effects of airborne particulate matter, according to the World Health Organization. And although this map shows air pollution for most of the world, a savvy user will notice that there's little information for large swaths of the Global South. Given the rapid industrialization and development across Africa, getting that data—and then doing something about it—certainly seems like it should be a priority. Momentum on Climate Like Never Before.
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"I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States—and this Congress—have an important role to play. Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a culture of care and an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature." –Pope Francis
We're seeing momentum on climate action like never before—and you can join the call for progress right now!
With just one click, you can raise your voice on all our current climate alerts.
This summer, the Obama Administration finalized America's first-ever national limits on carbon pollution from our fossil fuel-fired power plants. The EPA also proposed new limits on climate pollution from the oil & gas industry, as well as limits on the climate pollution spewing from the heavy-duty trucks and buses rolling down America's highways.
And just over the past week, Congress has taken steps to deal with our climate problem. Last Thursday, Rep. Gibson (R, NY-19) introduced a bill that acknowledges the basic science of climate change and that humans are causing it, calling on the House of Representatives to work on economically viable solutions—and he didn't stand alone. 10 other House Republicans signed on as cosponsors!
And this week, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced The American Energy Innovation Act of 2015, which the Senator calls "a technology driven pathway to a clean energy future." If passed, it would reduce greenhouse gases and save people money.
And today, thousands of activists echoed the Pope's call for climate action and environmental justice. You can add your voice by signing all of our current climate petitions with one click!
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Fossil-fuel
funded groups are working to undermine new pollution limits.
Lawmakers are back in session, and we need your help.
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You did
something amazing. Now we need you to defend it.
Right now,
no fewer than 22 fossil fuel industry-funded groups are trying to
dismantle the first-ever limits on power plant carbon pollution in the
U.S.—limits UCS members like you helped bring about.
They are an
army of lobbyists and pundits in states across the country pushing lawsuits,
legislation, and misinformation.
We're
going all out to stop them. Our experts are out in front of the media.
We're loudly debunking industry misinformation point by point. And our
state-focused staff are pushing leaders across the country to follow the law and
use cleaner sources of energy.
Congress and
state legislatures are in session right now. We need 1,500 member gifts
by the end of this month to strengthen our defense of these power plant
limits, and speed our transition to a clean energy economy. Don, it's
us, science, and the facts against 22 industry front groups flush with
cash.
So what
exactly are these corporate front groups doing to undermine the power plant
limits?
One
notorious operation—the American Legislative Exchange Council
(ALEC)—feeds lawmakers cut-and-paste bills that cripple a state's ability to use
clean energy to meet the new limits.1
Meanwhile,
the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a wildly
inaccurate assessment of these rules before they were even released, knowing it
would gain immediate attention and legitimacy. Journalists later found
it riddled with flaws, but the damage was done.2 And those are just
two of the groups out there spreading misinformation:
23 Front
Groups Attacking Clean Power Plan
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60 Plus
Association
American Encore American Legislative Exchange Council Americans For Prosperity Americans For Tax Reform Beacon Hill Institute Cato Institute Charles Steele Jr. Citizens' Alliance for Responsible Energy Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow Competitive Enterprise Institute Consumer Energy Alliance |
Energy &
Environment Legal Institute
Heartland Institute Heritage Foundation Independent Women's Forum Institute for Energy Research Libre Initiative Manhattan Institute National Black Chamber of Commerce National Federation of Independent Business Partnership for Affordable Clean Energy State Policy Network Sustainable Action Network (SAN) Taxpayers Protection Alliance U.S. Chamber of Commerce |
In state
after state, we're keeping these groups and their corporate backers—from
ExxonMobil to the Koch brothers—from functionally buying legislation, by
coordinating actions like having UCS supporters contact over 200 state
legislators who are members of ALEC just hours before they attended ALEC's
summer meeting and delivering more than 130,000 letters to one of ALEC's
corporate sponsors, Royal Dutch Shell. Our advocacy efforts were so
effective that we convinced major financial backers of ALEC like Shell and BP
(British Petroleum) to withdraw their funding.
Congress and
state legislatures are back in session, and we need at least 1,500 supporters to
pitch in with membership gifts to fight misinformation and protect the pollution
limits wherever challenges crop up.
We
need you in this fight, Don. Stand up for all the progress we've made on power plant
pollution—become a UCS member by September 30 >>
We solicit
no funds from corporations or the government. We are built by and rely on
supporters like you.
Please join us with a membership gift now. And thank you for standing
on the side of science, again and again and again.
1. http://blog.ucsusa.org/alecs-annual-meeting-to-feature-more-attacks-on-successful-clean-energy-policies-813
2. http://blog.ucsusa.org/how-media-outlets-covered-the-chamber-analysis-of-the-epa-clean-power-plan-843
2. http://blog.ucsusa.org/how-media-outlets-covered-the-chamber-analysis-of-the-epa-clean-power-plan-843
