Environment

The ABCs of pollution: Atmospheric brown clouds threaten environment, quality of life in China

This was originally posted on December 11 at  TheCityFix.com:

By Erica Schlaikjer

Man-made clouds of pollution, stretching from Beijing to New Delhi, are threatening the water and food security in Asia, according to a recent report from the United Nations Environment Programme.

These massive brown plumes of smog - known as atmospheric brown clouds or “ABCs” - consist of soot, sulfates and other aerosol components resulting from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass. Particles and pollutant gases trapped in the atmosphere, snow and ice both absorb and reflect the sun’s radiation, wreaking havoc on regional climate patterns. Countries like India and China are dimmer at the surface than they were before the industrial era. Glaciers and snow packs are retreating. And the atmosphere is heating up.

ABC “hotspots” include the following regions, according to UNEP:

• East Asia
• Indo-Gangetic Plain in South Asia
• Southeast Asia
• Southern Africa
• the Amazon Basin

The UNEP says ABCs are likely to affect human health, leading to chronic respiratory problems, hospital admissions and deaths.  It suggests “the main emphasis of the toxicological studies should be on long-term inhalation exposure studies of diesel and motor vehicle exhaust.”Indeed, earlier this year, researchers found that truckers who are regularly exposed to diesel exhaust have a higher risk of cancer than other workers. (More on that study in a future blog post.)

To read more about the link between the transport sector and dirty smog, read these related posts on TheCityFix.com:

• Air Pollution in China and India
• Delhi’s Deteriorating Air Quality

HIGHLIGHTS ABOUT CHINA:

The focus of the UNEP report was Asia, primarily China and India.

Did you know…

• ABCs have led to a north-south shift in rainfall patterns in eastern China?
• Between 1950 and 2002, soot emissions increased five-fold, while sulphur emissions increased ten-fold in China?
• There have been an estimated 380,700 total deaths for China from indoor air pollution attributable to solid fuel use?
• China is dimmer (at the surface) today by at least 6 per cent, compared with the pre-industrial values?
• And black carbon in ABCs has increased the solar heating at elevated levels in  China by as much as 20 - 50 percent?
• Annual mean surface air temperature in Mainland China increased by 1.1°C  during the past 50 years?
• There has been a 5 percent shrinkage since the 1950s in the volume of China’s 46,928 glaciers over the past 24 years, equivalent to the loss of over 3,000 square kilometers of ice?
• Health costs associated with ABCs in China could amount to 3.6 percent of the GDP?

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