-
80
Indoor air pollution
It was wood fires for cooking and heating in ancient homes, the effects of which have been found in the blackened lungs of mummified tissue from Egypt, Peru and Great Britain. -
400
Outdoor air pollution with the rise of cities
"We saw the harmful effects of air pollution even in Roman times," says Mark Z. Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University.
Outdoor air pollution became one of the major issues with the rise of cities. The residents of ancient Rome referred to their city’s smoke cloud as gravioris caeli (“heavy heaven”) and infamis aer (“infamous air”). -
535
Clean air as a birthright
Emperor Justinian proclaimed the importance of clean air as a birthright.
“By the law of nature these things are common to mankind—the air, running water, the sea,” he wrote. -
May 7, 1285
Coal burning in London
By 1200, London had been deforested and a switch began to "sea-coal," coal that washed up on beaches. Coal burning so bad in medieval London that a comission was established to investigate and remedy severe pollution. -
Mar 10, 1572
Amalgamation technique - ore plumes
Europeans imported air pollution to the New World. Spanish conquistadors mining silver in what is now Bolivia in 1572 used amalgamation, a technique that grinds ore into powder and that shot lead plumes into the air.
“This evidence supports the idea that human impact on the environment was widespread even before the Industrial Revolution,” says Paolo Gabrielli, a research scientist at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at Ohio State. -
Steam engines in London
By the 1600s, smoke from burning coal was damaging the architecture in London. The invention and eventually widespread use of the steam engine accelerated pollution. Centralized factories that changed artisan shops dispersed throughout a city meant even more air pollution. -
Invention of device counting dust in the atmosphere
Scottish meteorologist, phisicist and engineer John Aitken, a founder of cloud physics and aerosol science, builds an "apparatus for enabling us to count the number of particles of dust in the atmosphere". -
Smog in Los Angeles
Los Angeles is so thick with smog that residents mistake it for a daytime eclipse. -
Massachusetts' first state regulation of air pollution
Massachusetts enacts the first state regulation of air pollution to try to clean up smoke in Boston. -
Meuse Valley, Belgium
A buildup of pollution in Meuse Valley, Belgium, caused severe respiratory ilnesses in 6,000 people, and led to 63 deaths. -
Los Angeles "chemical attack"
Just around the corner was a new source of air pollution: the automobile.
By 1940, Los Angeles had more than a million cars. At the time, no one realized the effect of all that exhaust. When the city was smogged on July 26, 1943, residents feared it was some kind of Japanese chemical attack. -
California first Air Pollution Control Act
California passes Air Pollution Control Act, becoming a pioneer in addressing air pollution. -
Donora, Pennsylvania
Thick smog began to cover the river town of Donora, Pennsylvania. A storm rolled in four days later that cleared the air, but 20 people died and 6,000 were sickened. In 1963, the U.S. Congress enacted the first Clean Air Act. Two years later, national emissions standards for cars were set tied to public health. -
Great Smog in London
Fog enveloped London, killing 4,000 people before it dissipated four days later. In some sources it is said about 8,000 victims. -
New York City
A week of New York City air befouled with soot and lead kills 25-30 New Yorkers a day. -
Los Angeles
Los Angeles' the smoggiest day record. -
U.K. Clean Air Act
Parliament passed the U.K. Clean Air Act, effectively reducing the burninng of coal. -
U.S. Clean Air Act
The U.S. Clean Air Act becomes the first federal legislation to focus on air pollution control.
Legislation in the United States, Great Britain and other countries has generally improved air quality. Even Los Angeles and London started breathing easier. -
New York City
A killer thanksgiving 6-day smog in New York City leads to an increased rate of 24 deaths a day. -
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
President Nixon establishes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to tackle "the pollutants, which debase the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land that grows our food." -
Bhopal, India
A gas leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant injures over a hundred thousand, killing more than 20,000 people. -
Beijing
The Olympics showcase China's severe pollution problem, prompting Beijing to scramble for last-minute cleanup measures and some aathlets to eschew competition. -
Beijing
Off-the-chart air pollution in Beijing so bad that the U.S. Embassy's Twitter feed called it "crazy bad". -
Beijing "airpocalypse"
Pollution is so bad in Beijing that residents called it "airpocalypse". They were told to avoid going outdoors. -
New Delhi, India
High "very unhealthy" levels of particulate pollution in New Delhi for thwo months. It's estimated that pollution leads to one-sixth of all Indian deaths.