Landmark ruling that toxic fumes killed nine-year-old
December 16, 2020 12:31 PM Subscribe
From The Guardian: Until now, the statistics on air pollution deaths have been presented in black and white – numbers on a page that estimate between 28,000 and 36,000 people will die as a result of toxic air pollution every year in the UK. But the life and death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah is in full colour: from the pictures of her wearing her gymnastics leotard hung with medals, to the image of her mother and siblings holding aloft her photograph, when they no longer had her to hold on to, as they campaigned for the truth.
As Prof Sir Stephen Holgate told the coroner, behind the often-quoted statistics lie individuals whose lives have been cut short. “Every single number that goes into these studies is a single person dying,” he said.
Holgate paid tribute to the resilience of Ella’s mother, Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, for her tenacity, which on Wednesday helped to make legal history when for the first time air pollution was recorded as a cause in an individual death in the UK.
...Ella and her family lived just 25 metres from South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London, where levels of nitrogen dioxide air pollution from traffic constantly exceeded the annual legal limit of 40µg/m3 between 2006 and 2010.
The scale of the crisis was a public health emergency, the hearing was told, and the efforts of the authorities to tackle it were glacial.
As Prof Sir Stephen Holgate told the coroner, behind the often-quoted statistics lie individuals whose lives have been cut short. “Every single number that goes into these studies is a single person dying,” he said.
Holgate paid tribute to the resilience of Ella’s mother, Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, for her tenacity, which on Wednesday helped to make legal history when for the first time air pollution was recorded as a cause in an individual death in the UK.
...Ella and her family lived just 25 metres from South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London, where levels of nitrogen dioxide air pollution from traffic constantly exceeded the annual legal limit of 40µg/m3 between 2006 and 2010.
The scale of the crisis was a public health emergency, the hearing was told, and the efforts of the authorities to tackle it were glacial.
When I realized, years ago, that cars produced pollution that killed people I was aghast. Also, surprised, at first. Because I had never connected the dots between "air pollution contributes to the deaths of ..." and the fact that cars emit fumes that are toxic and lead to cancer, among other things, that literally kill people. Until recently, no mainstream US public figures covered by mainstream media spoke or wrote about it so directly. That is why this ruling is so important, IMHO.
“Every single number that goes into these studies is a single person dying,” he said.
Amen and god help us.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:33 PM on December 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
“Every single number that goes into these studies is a single person dying,” he said.
Amen and god help us.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:33 PM on December 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
Correction: I missed any mainstream coverage of this and I am an old person who used to read and watch mainstream US media fairly comprehensively. So maybe this has been coverage substantially but I don't think so. It is, after all, in the interests of the polluters to keep a low profile.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:35 PM on December 16, 2020
posted by Bella Donna at 1:35 PM on December 16, 2020
It's disheartening how murdering children for profit is acceptable in our society as long as it's just a high statistical probability over and over and not 100% attributable.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:50 PM on December 16, 2020 [14 favorites]
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:50 PM on December 16, 2020 [14 favorites]
The burden of knowledge that you could have done something, if only you'd known. You could have not picked that apartment, for example.
The fault is not the mother's for living in that apartment. The fault is the owners of the power plant who saved money by allowing their plant to spew poison into innocent people's homes.
Air pollution isn't a natural disaster like a blizzard or an unexpected random occurrence like an aneurism. If air pollution is officially the cause of this young person's death, then it follows that the people who created that pollution are also responsible for her death, and they should pay -- and what's more, they and their ilk should not be allowed to kill people to protect their profits.
posted by Gelatin at 2:16 PM on December 16, 2020 [43 favorites]
The fault is not the mother's for living in that apartment. The fault is the owners of the power plant who saved money by allowing their plant to spew poison into innocent people's homes.
Air pollution isn't a natural disaster like a blizzard or an unexpected random occurrence like an aneurism. If air pollution is officially the cause of this young person's death, then it follows that the people who created that pollution are also responsible for her death, and they should pay -- and what's more, they and their ilk should not be allowed to kill people to protect their profits.
posted by Gelatin at 2:16 PM on December 16, 2020 [43 favorites]
Gelatin, flagged as fantastic. Thank you for articulating what I could not.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:31 PM on December 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Bella Donna at 2:31 PM on December 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Air pollution from automobile traffic. We need a fuel tax that captures both road construction/maintenances and pollution externalities. We'd still kill children if we had that, but at a much lower rate.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:34 PM on December 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:34 PM on December 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
Fuel, brakes, tires - the latter two are mostly particulate, not vapors, but still terrible for living things. Tires poison waterways, brakes wear into nanoparticles.
posted by clew at 2:42 PM on December 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by clew at 2:42 PM on December 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
The fault is not the mother's for living in that apartment. The fault is the owners of the power plant who saved money by allowing their plant to spew poison into innocent people's homes.
Gelatin, I was not for a moment attributing fault to the mother. I didn't articulate it well because in my many re-writes of my comment, I omitted this information but I have also lost a child where I fear that a location in which I chose to live resulted in a toxic exposure that caused their brain cancer. The sense of fault and responsibility a bereaved parent has for their child - even when really they could never have predicted it and it was never their fault - is IMMENSE. I was empathizing with that sensation from personal experience with it, and I realize how unclear that was.
Quoting the poet in this thread, the other day - "What is the first duty of a mother to a child? At least to keep the wretched thing alive..."
Oh the fear I have - what if I put my second child on the bus one day, and he gets murdered at school that day? If I let him ride his bike on the street, and in one moment he is gone. If a not-necessary car trip is the day we get t-boned. It is truly a terrible thing to be a mother who could not keep her child alive, and who thinks or knows or berates herself that she could have made a different decision .... no matter how much she did not know, or could not know, or was not at fault for the causes and conditions that existed at the time.
Of course, you could not have known this was my perspective because I omitted it from my comment except in the most subtle oblique reference.
posted by MustangMamaVE at 2:45 PM on December 16, 2020 [33 favorites]
Gelatin, I was not for a moment attributing fault to the mother. I didn't articulate it well because in my many re-writes of my comment, I omitted this information but I have also lost a child where I fear that a location in which I chose to live resulted in a toxic exposure that caused their brain cancer. The sense of fault and responsibility a bereaved parent has for their child - even when really they could never have predicted it and it was never their fault - is IMMENSE. I was empathizing with that sensation from personal experience with it, and I realize how unclear that was.
Quoting the poet in this thread, the other day - "What is the first duty of a mother to a child? At least to keep the wretched thing alive..."
Oh the fear I have - what if I put my second child on the bus one day, and he gets murdered at school that day? If I let him ride his bike on the street, and in one moment he is gone. If a not-necessary car trip is the day we get t-boned. It is truly a terrible thing to be a mother who could not keep her child alive, and who thinks or knows or berates herself that she could have made a different decision .... no matter how much she did not know, or could not know, or was not at fault for the causes and conditions that existed at the time.
Of course, you could not have known this was my perspective because I omitted it from my comment except in the most subtle oblique reference.
posted by MustangMamaVE at 2:45 PM on December 16, 2020 [33 favorites]
Fuel, brakes, tires - the latter two are mostly particulate, not vapors, but still terrible for living things. Tires poison waterways, brakes wear into nanoparticles.
Okay, fuel tax for the carbon/NOx pollution, and tax on the new vehicle at time of sale for the present value of whatever tire/brake/road destruction it will generate over the next 180,000 miles or so.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:05 PM on December 16, 2020
Okay, fuel tax for the carbon/NOx pollution, and tax on the new vehicle at time of sale for the present value of whatever tire/brake/road destruction it will generate over the next 180,000 miles or so.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:05 PM on December 16, 2020
...levels of nitrogen dioxide air pollution from traffic constantly exceeded the annual legal limit of 40µg/m3 between 2006 and 2010.
In the year 2000 there were just 3.1 million diesel cars in the UK
by 2006 that was 6.08 million, by 2010 we had 8.2 million, in 2017 over 12 million diesel cars.
2020 is the first year that the number of diesels has started to decline, but only by a couple of percentage points.
I don't understand why anyone thought that increasing diesel use in city centres was a good idea, but I suspect the rise of cheap airline flights and a consequent need for high octane aviation fuel must have played a big part in the lobbying that went on.
posted by Lanark at 3:08 PM on December 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
In the year 2000 there were just 3.1 million diesel cars in the UK
by 2006 that was 6.08 million, by 2010 we had 8.2 million, in 2017 over 12 million diesel cars.
2020 is the first year that the number of diesels has started to decline, but only by a couple of percentage points.
I don't understand why anyone thought that increasing diesel use in city centres was a good idea, but I suspect the rise of cheap airline flights and a consequent need for high octane aviation fuel must have played a big part in the lobbying that went on.
posted by Lanark at 3:08 PM on December 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm a little surprised people – presumably people who spend an awful lot more time driving cars in urban areas than I do – are so keen to attribute this to a “power plant” and greedy corporations seeking profit. Of course the problem is people who are too lazy to find a way to get around cities other than by selfishly using as much public space as possible and filling it with noise, gas, metal dust and rubber dust.
I don't need people bleating here about how it's impossible for them to avoid driving or using cars. Because it clearly is possible to avoid driving in Lewisham, and yet, still the roads killed this girl. And I've spent enough time on the internet this summer fighting against people who want to overturn road closures in residential areas, including Lewisham.
The mother here has done amazing work for 7 years to get her daughter's original inquest overturned. It's spectacular work, all led by her. She may save tens of thousands of lives in the UK alone.
posted by ambrosen at 3:28 PM on December 16, 2020 [20 favorites]
I don't need people bleating here about how it's impossible for them to avoid driving or using cars. Because it clearly is possible to avoid driving in Lewisham, and yet, still the roads killed this girl. And I've spent enough time on the internet this summer fighting against people who want to overturn road closures in residential areas, including Lewisham.
The mother here has done amazing work for 7 years to get her daughter's original inquest overturned. It's spectacular work, all led by her. She may save tens of thousands of lives in the UK alone.
posted by ambrosen at 3:28 PM on December 16, 2020 [20 favorites]
My asthma has been mostly controlled the past 12 years so I don’t normally have to take any asthma medicine when I’m in Southern California. Whenever I would visit my Grandparents in India I would have to take full doses of my inhalers, otherwise I would probably end up in the hospital. The air quality is so poor in many Indian cities, as well as tons of other cities around the world, including the United States. Some of the most polluted cities in the U.S. are in agricultural heavy Central California. My fate could have easily been the same as this 9 year old childs if I was born or grew up in another city.
posted by mundo at 3:34 PM on December 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by mundo at 3:34 PM on December 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
That reminds me — I need to find out when my next city council meeting is so I can advocate for including light rail in my town’s ten year plan.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 4:30 PM on December 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Big Al 8000 at 4:30 PM on December 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
I suspect the rise of cheap airline flights and a consequent need for high octane aviation fuel must have played a big part in the lobbying that went on.
Jet fuel has a very low octane rating, around 15, substantially lower than even diesel. Aviation gas, used for propeller driven planes, is very high octane, but I don't think that's commonly used in cheap airline flights.
The main reason diesel vehicles became so popular is that turbo diesels were supposedly a cheap high fuel efficiency alternative to hybrids and electric vehicles, but it turned out that much of that was a massive intentional fraud perpetrated to boost automaker profits.
posted by jedicus at 5:16 PM on December 16, 2020 [10 favorites]
Jet fuel has a very low octane rating, around 15, substantially lower than even diesel. Aviation gas, used for propeller driven planes, is very high octane, but I don't think that's commonly used in cheap airline flights.
The main reason diesel vehicles became so popular is that turbo diesels were supposedly a cheap high fuel efficiency alternative to hybrids and electric vehicles, but it turned out that much of that was a massive intentional fraud perpetrated to boost automaker profits.
posted by jedicus at 5:16 PM on December 16, 2020 [10 favorites]
.
posted by quiet coyote at 6:31 PM on December 16, 2020
posted by quiet coyote at 6:31 PM on December 16, 2020
well, biodiesel is a thing. Not sure what its noxious footprint is, but my third-hand Mercedes used it for years. So not just a fossil fuels/auto company plot.
posted by Windopaene at 8:15 PM on December 16, 2020
posted by Windopaene at 8:15 PM on December 16, 2020
Ok but before we go hiking up taxes on cars can we fix public transportation so that everyone who isn't wealthy can have some way to get to work?
posted by dazed_one at 11:28 PM on December 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by dazed_one at 11:28 PM on December 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
Something clearly needs to change. If the only solution is tax, though, then people who can afford it will pollute, and people who can't will be eternally have yet another big disadvantage.
That said, subsidizing some kind of remedy isn't a necessarily bad idea. We just need to maybe subsidize coming up with better ideas.
We need totally new thinking. Badly.
posted by amtho at 11:53 PM on December 16, 2020
That said, subsidizing some kind of remedy isn't a necessarily bad idea. We just need to maybe subsidize coming up with better ideas.
We need totally new thinking. Badly.
posted by amtho at 11:53 PM on December 16, 2020
“ can we fix public transportation so that everyone who isn't wealthy can have some way to get to work”
This is really not a problem for most of the drivers in London. It’s the wealthy who have the cars. My kids school has a catchment area of maybe 1 mile with easy walking from that whole area and yet still people drive their kids to school and sit idling their engines on the kerb side while the wait for the gates to open.
posted by tomp at 12:14 AM on December 17, 2020 [14 favorites]
This is really not a problem for most of the drivers in London. It’s the wealthy who have the cars. My kids school has a catchment area of maybe 1 mile with easy walking from that whole area and yet still people drive their kids to school and sit idling their engines on the kerb side while the wait for the gates to open.
posted by tomp at 12:14 AM on December 17, 2020 [14 favorites]
Indeed, a bit odd to bang on about the need for public transport in a place that has excellent public transport already.
The reason that we now have lots of diesels is twofold:
-First, there was a big push to be seen to do something about automotive carbon emissions in the early 2000s and EV technology was much less advanced that it was now.
-Second, European carmakers had a lot of diesel engine IP but not much hybrid IP.
As a result, a series of increasingly stringent diesel emissions standards (which are hard to meet, thus creating a competitive barrier) and privileged fuel tax treatment for diesel were introduced.
There are two ways of burning diesel relatively cleanly:
-Using a urea based liquid injected into selective catalytic reducer, this is what buses and trucks use but it requires remembering to refill a second reservoir tank
-Having extremely tight control of your combustion parameters
The latter reduces road performance and is what VW was caught cheating on (btw - everyone has been cheating on this, they're just the ones who did it most egregiously).
As a result of this policy decision and the dishonesty of car manufacturers, pollution has gotten worse in many European cities. It has actually gotten better in other areas because of the closure of coal power plants but in the densest parts of cities there weren't any of those to begin with.
All of London is covered by a Low Emissions Zone which covers heavy vehicles.
From last year, inner London has an Ultra Low Emission Zone and this will be extended to the whole area between the South and North circular from next year, it costs £12.50 for a small vehicle and £100 for a large vehicle a day to drive a noncompliant vehicle inside the zone. In the area inside the zone, NOx dropped by 20% right after it was introduced so although it wouldn't cover the South Circular which was so close to their house, it would have reduced emissions coming from other directions. Also the size of the expanded zone would have meant much of the traffic on the North and South Circulars would have been compliant as only vehicles which never went into the zone could economically be operated on those roads.
NOx in London has dropped 40% since 2017 and PM2.5 has also dropped. I imagine that ten years from now, NOx will be much lower, PM2.5 is harder to crack because it's only 30% from transport and a lot is actually from construction, cleaning products, and cooking but that will also be lower.
Too late for Ella and for thousands of others though.
posted by atrazine at 2:51 AM on December 17, 2020 [10 favorites]
The reason that we now have lots of diesels is twofold:
-First, there was a big push to be seen to do something about automotive carbon emissions in the early 2000s and EV technology was much less advanced that it was now.
-Second, European carmakers had a lot of diesel engine IP but not much hybrid IP.
As a result, a series of increasingly stringent diesel emissions standards (which are hard to meet, thus creating a competitive barrier) and privileged fuel tax treatment for diesel were introduced.
There are two ways of burning diesel relatively cleanly:
-Using a urea based liquid injected into selective catalytic reducer, this is what buses and trucks use but it requires remembering to refill a second reservoir tank
-Having extremely tight control of your combustion parameters
The latter reduces road performance and is what VW was caught cheating on (btw - everyone has been cheating on this, they're just the ones who did it most egregiously).
As a result of this policy decision and the dishonesty of car manufacturers, pollution has gotten worse in many European cities. It has actually gotten better in other areas because of the closure of coal power plants but in the densest parts of cities there weren't any of those to begin with.
All of London is covered by a Low Emissions Zone which covers heavy vehicles.
From last year, inner London has an Ultra Low Emission Zone and this will be extended to the whole area between the South and North circular from next year, it costs £12.50 for a small vehicle and £100 for a large vehicle a day to drive a noncompliant vehicle inside the zone. In the area inside the zone, NOx dropped by 20% right after it was introduced so although it wouldn't cover the South Circular which was so close to their house, it would have reduced emissions coming from other directions. Also the size of the expanded zone would have meant much of the traffic on the North and South Circulars would have been compliant as only vehicles which never went into the zone could economically be operated on those roads.
NOx in London has dropped 40% since 2017 and PM2.5 has also dropped. I imagine that ten years from now, NOx will be much lower, PM2.5 is harder to crack because it's only 30% from transport and a lot is actually from construction, cleaning products, and cooking but that will also be lower.
Too late for Ella and for thousands of others though.
posted by atrazine at 2:51 AM on December 17, 2020 [10 favorites]
Diesel engines are good for fuel economy, but not so good for the lungs if you want to make them economically. Gasoline vehicles can be made much more clean in terms of tailpipe emissions and with a little extra work even the VOCs from fuel evaporation, but you're still stuck with the particulates from brakes and tires along with the vast amount of silicate dust that gets lofted into the air as they drive down the highway. EVs reduce the brake dust, but do nothing for the tires and general shit on the road.
A lot of that could be ameliorated by having fewer cars on the road driving at slower speed and doing so without stopping, but that isn't really possible in a city of any size.
Public transport is better because it reduces the per person emissions, but it still isn't a panacea because buses still have brakes and tires and often diesel engines, vehicles that run on grid electricity still create oxides of nitrogen and ozone every time the shoe sparks. Battery powered vehicles eliminate that, but move the pollution to the battery manufacturing. On the gripping hand, it's a lot easier to clean up a point source or just not have people living nearby.
Still, any form of public transport is better than individual autos anywhere there is significant population density and out where population density is low, so is the density of auto traffic and its pollution so it is much less likely to cause harm. The question eventually becomes how low can we go and when do we call it good enough. Forests pump out a bunch of VOCs that have proven harmful to respiratory health, after all, but it's nothing compared to cars in cities or coal fired power plants, so it's definitely a premature concern given where we are now.
posted by wierdo at 3:45 AM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
A lot of that could be ameliorated by having fewer cars on the road driving at slower speed and doing so without stopping, but that isn't really possible in a city of any size.
Public transport is better because it reduces the per person emissions, but it still isn't a panacea because buses still have brakes and tires and often diesel engines, vehicles that run on grid electricity still create oxides of nitrogen and ozone every time the shoe sparks. Battery powered vehicles eliminate that, but move the pollution to the battery manufacturing. On the gripping hand, it's a lot easier to clean up a point source or just not have people living nearby.
Still, any form of public transport is better than individual autos anywhere there is significant population density and out where population density is low, so is the density of auto traffic and its pollution so it is much less likely to cause harm. The question eventually becomes how low can we go and when do we call it good enough. Forests pump out a bunch of VOCs that have proven harmful to respiratory health, after all, but it's nothing compared to cars in cities or coal fired power plants, so it's definitely a premature concern given where we are now.
posted by wierdo at 3:45 AM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
First, there was a big push to be seen to do something about automotive carbon emissions in the early 2000s and EV technology was much less advanced that it was now
Between 2001 and 2017 there was a massive difference in VED (annual road tax) between diesel and petrol cars because they were rated based on nominal CO2 emissions. The scale was non-linear and especially punitive at the top end (SUVs, vans, larger/luxury cars) and meant manufacturers and buyers were pushed towards diesel by government policy.
A lot of those vehicles are still on the road, and they still get the same very low road tax rates, but whatever emissions systems they had from new are clogged, disabled or inoperative. So they're even worse now.
The other thing in London is that for most of that period the only black taxis that drivers could buy had awful diesel engines that at their peak were responsible for 30% of NOx emissions in Zone 1.
I don't think any developed country has fucked up its own air quality quite so badly as the UK did.
posted by grahamparks at 4:09 AM on December 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
Between 2001 and 2017 there was a massive difference in VED (annual road tax) between diesel and petrol cars because they were rated based on nominal CO2 emissions. The scale was non-linear and especially punitive at the top end (SUVs, vans, larger/luxury cars) and meant manufacturers and buyers were pushed towards diesel by government policy.
A lot of those vehicles are still on the road, and they still get the same very low road tax rates, but whatever emissions systems they had from new are clogged, disabled or inoperative. So they're even worse now.
The other thing in London is that for most of that period the only black taxis that drivers could buy had awful diesel engines that at their peak were responsible for 30% of NOx emissions in Zone 1.
I don't think any developed country has fucked up its own air quality quite so badly as the UK did.
posted by grahamparks at 4:09 AM on December 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
It's not just pollution. Building society around the automobile makes it dangerous for kids to just go out and socialize with other kids https://youtu.be/ul_xzyCDT98 and the kind of infrastructure it encourages shrinks tax revenues https://youtu.be/VVUeqxXwCA0 (Both of those are more appropriate for countering American and Canadian-style suburban development, but there are still a lot of good ideas in there) and for anyone thinking "But we're not Amsterdam", no, you're right, it's probably _easier_ for you to put in good cycling infrastructure than it is in Amsterdam: https://youtu.be/hGnt5YhEu4E (Yes, I love this channel, how could you tell?) And also, sure, not everyone can bike, which is why there are small vehicles here that you can drive on the bike path if you have a qualifying disability, and they are even customizable so you can open the back and roll your wheelchair into driving position. Yep, there's a video for that, too, if you want to see one in action: https://youtu.be/B9ly7JjqEb0
When I lived in NYC whenever I rode a bike I arrived at my destination shaken, angry, and exhausted. Here in the Netherlands it's the opposite -- I take a bike if I want a relaxing commute.
posted by antinomia at 4:16 AM on December 17, 2020 [9 favorites]
When I lived in NYC whenever I rode a bike I arrived at my destination shaken, angry, and exhausted. Here in the Netherlands it's the opposite -- I take a bike if I want a relaxing commute.
posted by antinomia at 4:16 AM on December 17, 2020 [9 favorites]
Important also to remember that one of the factors which led to the Netherlands becoming more bike friendly is the Stop the Child Murders movement which had as its manifesto that the number of children being killed by cars was far too high a price to pay for convenience.
posted by vacapinta at 4:54 AM on December 17, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by vacapinta at 4:54 AM on December 17, 2020 [9 favorites]
The scale of the crisis was a public health emergency, the hearing was told, and the efforts of the authorities to tackle it were glacial.
To be fair though, glaciers are moving really fast these days. Because of all the air pollution.
posted by sexyrobot at 6:02 AM on December 17, 2020 [3 favorites]
To be fair though, glaciers are moving really fast these days. Because of all the air pollution.
posted by sexyrobot at 6:02 AM on December 17, 2020 [3 favorites]
The burden of knowledge that you could have done something, if only you'd known. You could have not picked that apartment, for example. The self-blame. In a way, I'm glad I don't know what it was for us.
MustangMamaVE, your comment also flagged as fantastic. It was obvious to me that you were not holding the mother responsible. Many (most?) parents would move heaven and earth to save their children if only they knew the right thing to do. A lot of times there isn't one right thing to do and no way to save that child. In this case, moving away would have saved Ella's life but the family did not have the information it needed in order to make that decision because that information was either kept from the public or glossed over. And that part ain't new. Also, when it comes to the US:
From NPR in 2019: Scientists and policymakers have long known that black and Hispanic Americans tend to live in neighborhoods with more pollution of all kinds, than white Americans. And because pollution exposure can cause a range of health problems, this inequity could be a driver of unequal health outcomes across the U.S.
A study published Monday in the journal PNAS adds a new twist to the pollution problem by looking at consumption. While we tend to think of factories or power plants as the source of pollution, those polluters wouldn't exist without consumer demand for their products.
The researchers found that air pollution is disproportionately caused by white Americans' consumption of goods and services, but disproportionately inhaled by black and Hispanic Americans.
No part of that is surprising but it is fucking appalling. Something something white supremacy.
posted by Bella Donna at 9:53 AM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
MustangMamaVE, your comment also flagged as fantastic. It was obvious to me that you were not holding the mother responsible. Many (most?) parents would move heaven and earth to save their children if only they knew the right thing to do. A lot of times there isn't one right thing to do and no way to save that child. In this case, moving away would have saved Ella's life but the family did not have the information it needed in order to make that decision because that information was either kept from the public or glossed over. And that part ain't new. Also, when it comes to the US:
From NPR in 2019: Scientists and policymakers have long known that black and Hispanic Americans tend to live in neighborhoods with more pollution of all kinds, than white Americans. And because pollution exposure can cause a range of health problems, this inequity could be a driver of unequal health outcomes across the U.S.
A study published Monday in the journal PNAS adds a new twist to the pollution problem by looking at consumption. While we tend to think of factories or power plants as the source of pollution, those polluters wouldn't exist without consumer demand for their products.
The researchers found that air pollution is disproportionately caused by white Americans' consumption of goods and services, but disproportionately inhaled by black and Hispanic Americans.
No part of that is surprising but it is fucking appalling. Something something white supremacy.
posted by Bella Donna at 9:53 AM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
I was born in 1966 in Calcutta, India. In the last 10 years I have lost more relatives living in Delhi to various cancers - industrial pollution levels are infamous - than in the previous 45. Cancer was not a thing that killed Indians, we had enough other diseases to do that. This is directly related to cars, fossil fuels, and toxic emissions.
My youngest uncle, my father's youngest brother, is only 7 years older than I am and 20 years younger than my father. He's just been diagnosed with cancer, and its already terminal and aggressive. Fuck corporate greed and the manipulation of science to boost profits.
posted by infini at 12:28 PM on December 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
My youngest uncle, my father's youngest brother, is only 7 years older than I am and 20 years younger than my father. He's just been diagnosed with cancer, and its already terminal and aggressive. Fuck corporate greed and the manipulation of science to boost profits.
posted by infini at 12:28 PM on December 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
Somehow “poison everyone in an area a little bit and some of them die while many fail to thrive” is more acceptable to most people than “randomly kill or mame someone occasionally” but in fact we put up with that as well. I should read TFA, and will, so this is probably covered there but the harms of pollution are highly skewed to the economically disadvantaged and racially dispossessed.
The decline in crime rates is highly correlated with removing lead from gasoline. It holds up worldwide and tracks with the dates different countries eliminated lead. But it was hard to see because crime rates also correlated to the areas with the most exhaust and the decision-making class already had an explanation for why Those People tended to be more criminal.
posted by sjswitzer at 3:30 PM on December 17, 2020 [5 favorites]
The decline in crime rates is highly correlated with removing lead from gasoline. It holds up worldwide and tracks with the dates different countries eliminated lead. But it was hard to see because crime rates also correlated to the areas with the most exhaust and the decision-making class already had an explanation for why Those People tended to be more criminal.
posted by sjswitzer at 3:30 PM on December 17, 2020 [5 favorites]
Sadly, even in the US, we are still affected by childhood lead exposure every day. In addition to all the lead paint in homes where poorer people are more likely to live, most of our ruling class grew up when lead was coating everything. Hell, I'm not yet 40 and I remember gas stations still selling ethyl when I was a kid.
posted by wierdo at 4:05 PM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by wierdo at 4:05 PM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
I had diagnosed "allergies" for 30 years that vanished when I stopped living in DC. There is crabgrass here too. That wasn't it.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 8:23 PM on December 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Mr. Yuck at 8:23 PM on December 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
Man...the callousness of the government, that should be protecting us but is failing so badly, it makes me so fucking angry. I’m so glad the court ruled the way it did. I’ve started monitoring the AQI where I live and it’s consistently above 50. I have an 18 month old and a six year old and I am really upset about them growing up with poor air quality. Does anyone have suggestions on what to do about air quality at a local level, activism-wise?
posted by lagreen at 6:24 AM on December 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by lagreen at 6:24 AM on December 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
It depends where you are, but London has a strong coalition of overlapping campaigning groups - established cycling and walking groups, "clean air parents" groups, school-based groups and Extinction Rebellion and its offshoots. Some of those should exist in your area.
If not, talk to your councillors and talk to other parents. There is a current big opportunity with funding for Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and School Streets and other Covid related local initiatives available from the government.
posted by grahamparks at 9:07 AM on December 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
If not, talk to your councillors and talk to other parents. There is a current big opportunity with funding for Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and School Streets and other Covid related local initiatives available from the government.
posted by grahamparks at 9:07 AM on December 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
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In heartrending evidence, Kissi-Debrah, a former teacher, told the coroner that had she known the air her daughter was breathing was killing her, she would have moved house immediately.
“We were desperate for anything to help her. I would have moved straight away, I would have found another hospital for her and moved. I cannot say it enough. I was desperate, she was desperate,” she said.
The burden of knowledge that you could have done something, if only you'd known. You could have not picked that apartment, for example. The self-blame. In a way, I'm glad I don't know what it was for us.
Her power in reliving this loss, testifying, and pushing for this ruling is immense.
posted by MustangMamaVE at 1:07 PM on December 16, 2020 [30 favorites]