Global warming, urban wildfires and clean air

The burning of garbage in New Delhi, India, produces a small amount of its electricity as well as a toxic stew that is highly unhealthy to breathe. The toxic chemicals released during burning include nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) and polycyclic organic matter (POMs). Burning plastic and treated wood also releases heavy metals and toxic chemicals, such as dioxin.

In neighboring Pakistan, the smog afflicting Lahore is sometimes worse. Recently the smog was so bad that 2 million people were sickened, and its ambulances “have been equipped with breathing equipment,” according to a government minister. (nytimes.com, Nov. 20)

In both countries, the standard Air Quality Index often goes over 1,000. An AQI over 400 is generally considered as extremely unhealthy.

In the United States, the Clean Air Act of 1970, as amended in 1990, which is enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency, has kept the AQI within a reasonably healthy limit. The national average for 2021 was 48.6, Arizona being the only state with an unhealthy rating.

Cities like Los Angeles and regions like the Finger Lakes region of New York can have better or worse AQIs.

Wildfires’ effects in the U. S. Northeast   

Why is the air quality crisis in Southeast Asia being covered in the U.S. media? It serves to draw attention away from the dangerous wildfires spreading in and around New York.

While the Clean Air Act has kept catastrophic pollution from occurring in the U.S., the hundreds of wildfires that have popped up because of global warming are creating a worrisome trend.

This year the fairly humid summer weather promoted a very vigorous plant growth. Then the dry spell that began in the end of August when the air was hot and dry pulled moisture out of all the new growth, leaving ideal conditions for fires to spread. And spread they did in the New York City area, from Upper Manhattan in the Inwood neighborhood and East Harlem to Prospect Park, Queens and New Jersey.

The Jennings Creek fire, which spread over a wooded area about 30 miles northwest of New York City, stood out because it took several days and a few hundred fire fighters to control.

On the WNYC radio show “Morning Edition,” Dr. Barbara Mann, a pulmonologist at Mount Sinai, explained: “In the short term, the biggest effects people might feel are itchy eyes, runny nose, wheezing, coughing — effects like that. But more serious effects can include things like asthma exacerbations, increased risk of respiratory infections. We also see an increased risk of cardiovascular issues like heart attack and arrhythmias.” (gothamist.com, Nov. 20)

For people who have to work outside, Mann recommended a good face mask and for inside, a good quality air purifier. She warned that the effects of these wildfires, made much more common by global warming, are cumulative and are slowly negating the effects of the Clean Air Act, which is also in danger of reversal under the new Trump administration.

What workers need — and what many low-wage workers don’t have in the U.S. and certainly not in India and Pakistan — is the cash to afford quality face masks and air purifiers to ameliorate these effects of global warming. 

Widespread campaigns to increase air filtering for indoor air quality improvement to prevent infection by COVID-19 and other airborne pathogens are happening right now – in socialist China – where other measures are underway to reduce carbon emissions and negate the impact of global warming. 

The real solution to reversing toxic air will in fact require a systemic change.