Clearing the Air: The Beginning and the End of Air Pollution

✍ Scribed by Tim Smedley

• Publisher: Bloomsbury SIGMA; Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
• Year: 2019
• Tongue: en-US
• Weight: 226 KB
• Category: Fiction
• City: London
• ISBN: 1472953304

✦ Synopsis

'Read this book and join the effort to terminate air pollution.' Arnold Schwarzenegger

Air pollution has become the world's greatest environmental health risk, and science is only beginning to reveal its wide-ranging effects. Globally, 19,000 people die each day from air pollution, killing more than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and car accidents combined.

What happened to the air we breathe?

Sustainability journalist Tim Smedley has travelled the world to try and find the answer, visiting cities at the forefront of the fight against air pollution, including Delhi, Beijing, London and Paris. With insights from the scientists and politicians leading the battle against it, and people whose lives have been affected by it,
Clearing the Air tells the full story of air pollution for the first time: what it is, which pollutants are harmful, where they come from and – most importantly – what we can do about them.

Air pollution is a problem that can be solved. The stories uncovered on this journey show us how.

Clearing the Air is essential reading for anyone who cares about the air they breathe. And this much becomes clear: in the fight against air pollution, we all have a part to play. The fightback has begun.

'Compulsory reading' Chris Boardman **

Review

“Air pollution is a serious problem that we all have the power to solve. Tim Smedley's book, Clearing the Air , shows how the fightback against air pollution works. Tim's book is action-packed and his global journey of discovery uncovers the real heroes who are taking a stand and fighting for their right to breathe clean air. Read this book and join the effort to terminate air pollution.” ― Arnold Schwarzenegger, 38th Governor of California “ Clearing the Air sets out in simple terms the monumental damage that dirty air is causing to us and our environment. It also gives us the remarkably simple, logical solutions that need embracing across the world. Compulsory reading. ” ― Chris Boardman, Olympic Gold Medallist and Greater Manchester's Cycling and Walking Commissioner “Tim Smedley's indignation about the years of cover-ups and lies by governments and corporations is well founded. There are scientific details packed between the covers of this personal account – atmospheric chemistry, automative engineering, health effects and much more. The technical details are woven seamlessly into the story. It left me with a growing feeling of hope: people around the world are demanding breathable air! ” ― Mary Nichols, Chair of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) “ A wonderfully written book that takes you through the fascinating and terrifying story of air pollution, and explains how billions of people unwittingly ended up breathing toxic air. What Tim does so well is to articulate a simple truth that ultimately leaves you with hope: it doesn't have to be this way. Air pollution is a man-made problem and Clearing the Air sets out the simple steps that governments and individuals must take to ensure that everyone can breathe clean air. Read it and take action! ” ― James Thornton, CEO, ClientEarth “ A thoughtful, worthwhile book that fulfils the important role of observing air pollution across widespread regions of the world. China is not the first country to experience the environmental impacts of industrialization, and it will not be the last.” ― Ma Jun, Director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, Beijing, China

About the Author

Tim Smedley is an award-winning sustainability journalist. After ten years in London--first as a business journalist, latterly as a freelancer writer covering the environment--he left in 2014, fleeing the polluted streets for Oxfordshire where he is now based. At first, air pollution was just another environmental story to file. But air pollution seemed to get under his skin and into his veins--literally, as it turned out--and the more he researched, the more concerned he became. Never before had an environmental story come as close to home as this. Tim has written for the Financial Times , the Guardian , The Sunday Times , New Scientist , and most recently the BBC. Clearing the Air will be his first book. www.timsmedleywriter.com / @TimSmedley

✦ Subjects

Air -- Pollution -- Prevention