Talking Elmo. Blocks. Puzzles. Another “Frozen” doll…Western kids can’t seem to live without the mountain of cheap toys, and it’s a habit killing millions of people by way of pollution-related deaths every year, says a new study.

According to the study published in the journal Nature earlier this week, nearly 3.5 million people die from air pollution-related illnesses every year, “and about 22% of these deaths are associated with goods and services that were produced in one region for consumption in another,” reports the Guardian. Those other regions are predominantly the U.S. and Western Europe.

The researchers noted that emissions are spreading far beyond the local industrial areas where the cheap toys, clothes, and electronics are produced, often affecting other countries including those thousands of miles away because of global air currents moving the toxic air around the globe.

“About 12% (411,100) of early deaths globally were related to air pollutants emitted in a different region of the world,” notes the Guardian.

The research team looked at 13 regions where factories and other industries dominate their exports, as well as data from 228 countries on air quality and deaths associated with pollution. They noted that fine particulate matter pollution accounted for more than 90 percent of pollution-related deaths, which includes “raising the number of deaths from heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and asthma,” says the Guardian.

“The tiny particles can trigger asthma attacks in the lungs and can cross from the air sacs in the lung into the bloodstream, where they can cause inflammation, alter the way blood clots, and make blood vessels more permeable. Particulates have also been shown to migrate into other tissues, such as the liver, kidneys and brain, although it is less clear what the health consequences are in these organs, and the effects also depend on the chemical makeup of the particulates.”

Not surprising, emissions originating in China, which produces an overwhelming number of toys sold in the U.S., caused twice as many pollution-related deaths than any other industrial region—as many as 64,800 worldwide, with 3,000 of those occurring in the U.S. and western Europe. China’s pollution output is followed by India, and the rest of Asia.

“If the cost of imported products is lower because of less stringent air pollution controls in the regions where they are produced,” the study authors wrote, “then the consumer savings may come at the expense of lives lost elsewhere.”

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

Related on EcoSalon

Global Warming’s Latest Victim: Medicinal Plants
5 Anti-Pollution Green Beauty Product Heroes for Your City Skin Woes
Is Curbing Global Warming a Patriotic Duty?

The post Cheap Toys Kill Millions of People Every Year, New Study Finds appeared first on EcoSalon.

Air pollution is everywhere… This we know. But some wonderful (very creative) French innovators have created a map that can now identify just how bad pollution in some cities is on any given day.

Sometimes big events can influence big change and thankfully, it looks like the Paris Climate Talks are inspiring climate action all over the world. In response to the talks, Plume Labs, a startup company, unveiled the Plume Air Report, a world air map that is able to estimate the “hourly air pollution levels in over 200 metropolitan areas around the world using half a million pieces of data from 11,000 measurement stations,” the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The company decided to debut its work at the Climate Summit to make an impact and show a “more global picture of air pollution levels,” Venture Beat reports.

The map is easy to decipher — light circles indicate that pollution levels are low while dark circles represent the areas that have the worst pollution. While the map doesn’t show all the cities in the world quite yet, the map’s creators are dedicated to do so. (If you can’t find your city on the map, all you need to do is scroll to the bottom of the page, click the link in the yellow box, and put in your region’s information.)

Romain Lacombe, the French company‘s founder, says that the startup’s goal is to “make information available to people in a way that helps them make decisions every day to protect their health,” Venture Beat reports. Lacombe also hopes that the map will help people visualize how air pollution impacts different countries around the world. (Hello, China!) He also hopes the map will add a “sense of urgency surrounding the negotiations to reduce emissions.” (We hope so, too.)

If you’re interested in getting the app for yourself, find it at the App Store.

Related on EcoSalon

Porsche Debuts its First All Electric Car, Combining Luxury and Performance

China’s Air Pollution is Making Its Way to the U.S.

U.S. Cities Embrace Transportation Alternatives, Imagine Fewer Cars in the Future

Air pollution image via Shutterstock

The post Air Pollution Visualized Thanks to This Real-Time Map appeared first on EcoSalon.

China’s air pollution is making its way across the Pacific Ocean to the western U.S., according to a new study.

The study, published in Nature Geoscience, shows that ozone pollution has been traveling across the ocean to the U.S. While the western U.S. has cut back on the nitrogen oxide, which combines with sunlight and volatile organic chemicals to form ozone air pollution, these reductions were however offset by China’s traveling pollution.

“The dominant westerly winds blew this air pollution straight across to the United States,” explained lead research Willem Verstraeten of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.

“In a manner of speaking, China is exporting its air pollution to the West Coast of America,” he said in a statement.

Researchers studied the trophosphere, the lowest layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, known to have the lowest levels of ozone. The study found that ozone levels had increased by 7 percent between 2005 and 2010.

Ozone pollution contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and closer to the ground it creates respiratory problems. It can make it more difficult to breathe, cause shortness of breath, scratchy throat, increase the frequency of asthma attacks, and cause lung infections. It can even damage the lungs once these symptoms have disappeared.

Another study last year showed that China’s traveling air pollution accounted for 12 to 24 percent of sulfate concentrations on the West Coast.

China poor air quality has already created major issues internally. Nearly 90 percent of the major cities in China failed to meet air quality standards in 2014, according to a report from the country’s Minister of Environmental Protection. The report found that 66 of 74 major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin did not meet standards. The Hebei Province, which surrounds Beijing, is home to the 10 worst cities in terms of air pollution.

The “pea soup” smog which blankets the northern cities is small enough to get into people’s lungs and bloodstreams, impacting public heath. And even tourism has felt the pangs of the dirty air with grounded flights and closed highways. It’s been described as looking like a nuclear winter. And much of it is due to manufacturing.

According to Think Progress:

Manufacturing for export was also responsible for 27 percent of its nitrogen oxide emissions, 17 percent of its black carbon and 22 percent of its carbon monoxide. Since the United States is among China’s top trading partners, that means that the country plays a role in these manufacture for export emissions. The United States has also exported much of its manufacturing to China, which means that the creation of products designed by U.S. companies happens there and not in the U.S.

While new federal standards have reduced ozone pollution in the Western U.S., partnering with China to reduce pollution is key. The U.S. also needs to recognize its role in China’s manufacturing.

Related on EcoSalon

China Builds Bus That Drives Over Cars: Be Very Afraid

Is There Actually Good News on Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

Soil Pollution Destroyed 8 Million Acres of Chinese Farmland

Image of air pollution coming from a coal-fired power plant from Shuttershock

The post China’s Air Pollution is Making Its Way to the U.S. appeared first on EcoSalon.

American driving habits are changing, with more people choosing transportation alternatives that could mean we see fewer cars in the future. City policy makers across the country have taken notice and adopted transportation plans that make room for bikers, walkers, and transit users. Los Angeles made headlines recently for jumping on the bandwagon.

The new policy in Los Angeles, called Mobility Plan 2035, aims to improve safety for other modes of travel and reduce the number of drivers by adding “hundreds of miles of new bicycle lanes, bus-only lanes, and other road designs,” according to the LA Times.

Ken Bernstein, principal city planner for Los Angeles, said in an interview that the long-term plan “creates new choices for Los Angeles residents.”

“Transportation policies pursued in recent decades aren’t working,” he said. “We cannot build our way out of our mobility crisis any longer.”

American Car Culture is Changing

Millennials and those coming up behind them are less concerned with driving cars, research in LA shows. They put off getting a driver’s license for years and some have joined the crowd of bike commuters. Between 2000 and 2010, LA saw a 56 percent increase in the number of people biking to work.

After years of saying the number of drivers in the U.S. would rise dramatically, the Federal Highway Administration majorly adjusted its estimated trajectory in January, saying that, actually, the number of drivers will stay pretty flat over the next three decades.

The adjustment “is important because excessively high estimates of future driving volume get used to justify wasteful spending on new and wider highways,” according to Streets Blog USA.

For communities improving their policies, the standard seems to be “Complete Streets.”

Complete streets is a city planning philosophy that prioritizes roadways that are safe for people of all ages and abilities, balance the needs of all road users, and “support local land uses, economies, cultures, and natural environments,” according to the National Complete Streets Coalition.

That translates to roads that make room for your bike with more than just a symbol on the pavement. It also mentions longer walk signals and shorter crosswalks. No longer must you wait at the mercy of a car to cross the road. In 2013, Chicago established a “pedestrian first” hierarchy that says, “All transportation projects and programs, from scoping to maintenance, will favor pedestrians first, then transit riders, cyclists, and automobiles,” according to a city statement.

Across 30 states, 712 communities have complete streets policies.

By walking, biking, and bussing, creative travelers can reduce air pollution, cutting back on the environmental and health impacts attributed to driving.

In California, 38 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation. Reducing smog could be as easy as walking or biking with your kids to the park or to the market – those little trips that take five minutes that wouldn’t be much worse if they took 15 and included some outdoor exercise.

Almost half of all trips in greater Los Angeles are less than 3 miles – within biking or walking distance. Currently, 84 percent of those trips are done by car, according to the city.

Walkers, Bikers Need Safer Streets

Opponents of the new plan in LA argue that there won’t be fewer cars in the future and reducing car lanes to add bike and bus lanes will create even more congestion for drivers.

“They feel that it is trying to force people to abandon the automobile,” Bernstein said. “That’s not the intention but that’s the perception.”

In reality, the city is trying to add choices “that don’t exist today,” he said.

But you can’t be expected to bike or walk if the streets aren’t safe, just like you don’t use the bus when it’s consistently late.

According to the LA Times, pedestrians represent only 10 percent of people involved in car crashes but more than 35 percent of overall road deaths in Los Angeles County between 2002 and 2013.

“Reducing all types of crashes, experts say, is possible if the city is willing to dramatically reshape streets by adding medians, widening sidewalks and putting in dedicated bus and bike lanes, at the expense of car lanes,” the Times reports.

Four U.S. cities are making major strides in protecting bikers at one of the most stressful points during an urban bike ride: intersections.

Just a few days before city officials passed the new plan in LA, Davis, California, opened the first protected intersection – a redesigned intersection that is hard to explain but apparently easy to use. The method is modeled after Dutch infrastructure.

Davis narrowly beat Austin, Texas, Salt Lake City, and Boston, which will open their own protected intersections soon.

Recent research by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities upholds the commonsense that more people are willing to bike in lanes that are separated from cars either by curbs, medians, or parked cars.

As cities of all sizes add infrastructure that makes biking, walking, and bussing a serious alternative to driving, we’ll see the effect of fewer cars on the road, less smog in the air, and healthier, happier people.

Related on Eco Salon

How Walkable is Your ‘Hood? 4 Benefits of Pedestrian-Friendly Communities

The Last Time Carbon Dioxide Levels Were This High, Humans Hadn’t Evolved

How Paris Reduced City Smog for One Day (and How You Can Reduce Air Pollution)

Bicycle photo from Shutterstock

The post U.S. Cities Embrace Transportation Alternatives, Imagine Fewer Cars in the Future appeared first on EcoSalon.

This tiny digital device offers a breath of fresh air, literally. Instead of tracking how many steps you took this morning, it tracks air pollution and air quality in your immediate vicinity.

Clip it onto your collar or a pocket on your backpack and it takes into account air pollution caused by smog from cars, buses, and factories. Then the information is crowd sourced and becomes part of an air quality mapped report, according to the International Business Times.

The device, which is called the TZOA (pronounced zoa), contains an advanced enviro-tracker with sensors that measure air pollution, temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, ambient light, and UV sun exposure. It tracks air quality by measuring particulate matter, which represents particles like dust, pollen, asbestos, and mold as well as smaller particles like woodsmoke, vehicle exhaust, and kitchen fumes.

“Even in some of the cleanest cities we have, the air pollution is still high enough that there are substantial health risks,” Anthony Wexler, who directs the Air Quality Research Center at the University of California, Davis said to the International Business Times. “This is difficult to communicate to people. They look outside and say, ‘It looks clean’ — but you can’t see the air pollution that’s killing you or damaging your lungs.”

But not only does it measure these various elements, it allows you to take actionable steps to avoid the pollution. You can chose the walk to work with the freshest air and the same goes for your running route or the best place for a picnic. And since it tracks UV exposure, you can see how much real sun you’ve gotten (either too much in the summer or too little vitamin D in the winter). Even compare neighborhoods in terms of air pollution.

According to TZOA:

There are many applications for your TZOA. As it is a wearable, you can attach it to your clothing, purse, bag or backpack as you move about your day. It will collect data and update your smartphone via Bluetooth regularly. When you are at home, you can leave your TZOA in its charging cradle and have it monitor the air quality in your family’s home. We recommend leaving it either in the kitchen, a living area, or a bedroom.

It gives a much more specific idea into what air pollution looks like on the ground in your city so you can do something about it for your health, like buying an air purifier, changing your commute, changing the filters on your HVAC system, turning on the hood fan while you cook, and even choosing the least polluted times to exercise outdoors.

“Poor monitoring is the dirty little secret of clean air programs,” John Walke, the clean air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C., said to the International Business Times. “Air pollution in our surroundings is so geographically dispersed that [standard monitors] provide a very poor picture for the public of local air quality.”

Related on EcoSalon

Wearable Technology: Can It Really Improve Your Health?

Hype or Must-Have? The Samsung Galaxy Altius Smart Watch

7 Cool Gadgets Every Woman Wants (and Probably Actually Needs)

Image of woman biking to work from Shuttershock

The post Wearable Device Tracks Air Pollution So You Can Find the Perfect Spot for Breathing appeared first on EcoSalon.

According to a recent study, “badly tuned” cars and trucks are huge polluters. Though they makeup just one quarter of the vehicles on the road, they’re responsible for most vehicular air pollution. 

Air pollution is linked to a host of health ailments, many of which can be fatal. From asthma in children to heart disease, cancer, and overall increased rates of premature death in adults — the problem is worth public attention, especially in places with particularly poor air quality. And the new study found that controlling the problem may be easier than we first thought, considering that just 25 percent of cars on the road are responsible for a whopping 90 percent of vehicular air pollution.

According to the study, published in the journal Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, “badly tuned” cars are responsible for most of the air pollution. Researchers at the University of Toronto looked at 100,000 cars as they drove past air sampling probes on one of Toronto’s major roads.

The study found that 95 percent of black carbon, also known as soot, 93 percent of carbon monoxide, and 76 percent of volatile organic chemicals (like benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes), were caused by just one quarter of cars on the road. Volatile organic compounds are often carcinogenic.

“We used to think that living near a major road meant that you lived near a lot of air pollution,” Greg Evans, a chemical engineer at University of Toronto said in a statement. “But what we’re finding is that it’s not that simple, someone living right on a major road in the suburbs may not be exposed to as much pollution as someone living downtown on a side street near many major roads.”

Evans and his team found that policy changes need to better target cars that are causing the majority of the air pollution.

“The ultrafine particles are particularly troubling,” says Evans. “Because they are over 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, they have a greater ability to penetrate deeper within the lung and travel in the body.”

The researchers also found that building roadways near those that are particularly vulnerable to air pollution is also problematic. Busy roadways near schools, hospitals, daycare centers, and senior residences may put people at risk to some of the health problems associated with poor air quality.

“The most surprising thing we found was how broad the range of emissions was,” says Evans. “As we looked at the exhaust coming out of individual vehicles, we saw so many variations. How you drive, hard acceleration, age of the vehicle, how the car is maintained – these are things we can influence that can all have an effect on pollution.”

Unless we see smog in our everyday lives, we often forget about the impact of poorly tuned vehicles, but this research is a good reminder that air pollution can take its toll and poorly maintained cars can have a larger effect than we ever could have imagined.

Related on EcoSalon

Toxic Air Pollution: 90% of Chinese Cities Fail Quality Standards

3 Ways China Is Working To Clean Up Its Air Pollution

Beijing Air Quality Prompts Artist to Sell ‘Fresh Air’ in a Jar

Image of car exhaust from Shuttershock

The post 25 Percent of Cars Cause 90 Percent of Air Pollution, Study Finds appeared first on EcoSalon.

Paris did a great thing a few weeks ago to combat city smog. The European city’s officials banned all cars with license plates ending in even numbers from its roads for one day (March 23, 2015). City officials made this decision to combat Paris’ insane amount of city smog.

To help ease the pain for commuters, the city made public transportation free to encourage people to get around via other means. This isn’t the first time the city has done something like this. According to the NPR article, the city took “similar measures” in 2014.

While Paris’ city smog reduction tactic is impressive, it’s rather depressing it had to make this desperate move to combat its troublesome air pollution issues.

According to the NPR article, Paris made this move because pollution had recently “spiked” in the city, as well as in northern France.

All cities are plagued with air pollution and could do the world and its inhabitants a favor if each metropolis did its part to reduce city smog. Now, we know not every city will do this, so we’ve rounded up a few suggestions to help you cut down the smog in your city. After all — each small step counts!

Walk or bike to work: A great option if you live close to the office. Also: Biking or walking every day will help you keep your weight in check, and leave you feeling energized and less stressed once you get home.

Carpool: Not everyone lives close to the office. And some cities (I’m looking at you, Kansas City, Mo.) have shameful public transit. So, when you can’t catch a train or bus, go ahead and “drive in” with co-workers.

Related on EcoSalon

Toxic Air Pollution: 90% of Chinese Cities Fail Quality Standards

3 Ways China Is Working To Clean Up Its Air Pollution

For Pregnant Women, Air Pollution Just As Bad As Cigarettes

Image: Evan Bench

The post How Paris Reduced City Smog for One Day (and How You Can Reduce Air Pollution) appeared first on EcoSalon.

Nearly 90 percent of the major cities in China have failed to meet air quality standards in 2014, according to a new report by the country’s Minister of Environmental Protection. The report found that 66 of 74 major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin did not meet standards. The Hebei Province, which surrounds Beijing, is home to the 10 worst cities in terms of air pollution.

The only positive was that according to the report, 2014 had 3.7 percent fewer “severely polluted” days compared to 2013. The bulk of the country’s most polluted cities are located in the north. On the other hand, the Hainan Province, an island in southern China, boasted the nation’s best air quality and the least air pollution.

China is well known for its urban pollution, which in some cases is at toxic levels. The pollution measures include regular readings of particles found in the air as well as carbon monoxide and ozone. Chinese scientists have already warned that the toxic soup of pollution is slowing photosynthesis and as a result, hurting agricultural production.

The “pea soup” smog which blankets the northern cities is small enough to get into people’s lungs and bloodstreams, impacting public heath. And even tourism has felt the pangs of the dirty air with grounded flights and closed highways. It’s been described as looking like a nuclear winter.

One man, Li Guixin, is even suing the government as a result of the pollution. “Besides the threat to our health, we’ve also suffered economic losses, and these losses should be borne by the government and the environmental departments because the government is the recipient of corporate taxes, it is a beneficiary,” he told the Yanzhao Metropolis Daily, according to The Guardian.

The problem is enough to motivate real change in a country that has grown at an astonishing rate. Reducing smog in China will take huge acts like tightening control over power plant emissions and capping coal consumption. Inefficient coal fired industrial boilers need to be shut down and cleaner fuel standards need to be introduced. China is also ideal grounds for the growth of the electric car. And finally, improved urban planning needs to include more green space.

Coal causes the majority of China’s emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. So what better place to expand zero emission energy sources like wind and solar? This expansion, along with phasing out coal power, would make the biggest difference in air quality in these highly populated areas. I hope this motivates China to take steps in the right direction to get a hold on smog, especially in the northern cities.

What do you think of China’s pollution problems and what would you do to fix them? Do you take your air quality for granted and have you ever lived with bad air quality?

Related on EcoSalon

E-Waste Recycling: Families Living on Trash in China

5 Fashion Brainds from China Challenging the Traditional Fast Fashion Ethos

Beijing Air Quality Prompts Artists to Sell Clean Air in a Jar

Young Chinese boy wearing air pollution mask from Shuttershock

The post Toxic Air Pollution: 90% of Chinese Cities Fail Quality Standards appeared first on EcoSalon.

Beijing artist sells a glass jar of fresh French air at auction for $860. The move signifies the problems with Beijing air quality.

Can we put a price tag on something as invaluable as fresh air? Apparently, yes. And it happened.

Beijing-based artist Liang Kegang auctioned off a small glass jar filled with fresh air from Province, France. And the going price? $860.

While on a recent trip to the south of France, Liang couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a statement in response to the detrimental state of Beijing’s air quality issue. He photographed himself ‘filling’ the ‘clean south of France air’ into the jar on March 29, 2014. The jar sold at an auction on March 30 to Chengdu-based artist and entrepreneur Li Yongzheng.

Beijing, a city home to twenty-one million people, is one of the world’s most polluted cities. Extremely highs levels of thick smog constantly pose serious health issues to Beijing’s citizens. As the chart below shows, since April 2008, there has only been 184 days total where air quality levels were considered good.

Six years of Beijing air pollution summed up. image: Quartz

“Air should be the most valueless commodity, free to breathe for any vagrant or beggar,” Liang said in an interview. “This is my way to question China’s foul air and express my dissatisfaction.”

featured image: Sunset Noir and Home Naturals

Related on EcoSalon

Three Ways China Is Working To Clean Up It’s Air Pollution 

10 Tips To Reduce Toxins and Indoor Pollution In Your Home

For Pregnant Women, Air Pollution Just As Bad As Cigarettes

The post Beijing Air Quality Prompts Artist to Sell ‘Fresh Air’ in a Jar appeared first on EcoSalon.

With air pollution on the rise around the world, just breathing could put pregnant women at risk.

Most women realize that certain behaviors are bad for fetal health, so those who use cigarettes or drink regularly often stop during pregnancy. One thing pregnant women can’t stop doing though, is breathing, and according to a recent study about air pollution, that could increase their risk of developing deadly complications such as preeclampsia.

Researchers from the University of Florida found that pregnant women who endure constant exposure to air pollution are significantly more likely to develop a high blood pressure disorder during pregnancy, which causes big problems for mother and fetus.

There are very few places on Earth where air pollution isn’t an issue…even inside our homes. For many years, coal-fired power plants and fossil-fuel powered cars have been chugging air pollution into the atmosphere. This is bad news for any creature that breathes, but researchers found that heavy exposure to four of these air pollutants is especially bad for pregnant women.

“The pollutants include two specific types of fine and coarse particulate matter, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. These inhalable particles are released from industries and forest fires and can form when gases react with each other in the air. Sulfur dioxide is emitted from power plants and industries. Most carbon monoxide is produced by car exhaust,” explains a University of Florida press release.

During the study, the researchers examined data from more than 22,000 women who gave birth in Jacksonville, Florida, between 2004 and 2005, along with environmental data from their communities. More than four percent of these women developed a hypertensive disorder during pregnancy, and even after controlling for factors like socioeconomic status, exposure to co-pollutants and smoking during pregnancy, exposure to air pollutants throughout the first two trimesters of pregnancy was found to increase risk of developing hypertensive disorders such as gestational hypertension, preeclampsia and the deadly condition it leads to, eclampsia.

On the basis of these findings, the researchers say more air pollution control is necessary to prevent dangerous complications in pregnant women and babies. Which makes it even more disheartening to learn that the U.S. Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment recently killed a bill that would have allowed the Division of Air Quality to adopt rules that are more stringent than federal regulations.

Apparently when it comes to air pollution, our government thinks the status quo is good enough.

Related on EcoSalon

TV Sunrise is a Fraud, But Extreme Air Pollution in China Isn’t

10 Quick Ways To Detox Your House

Commit Airocide: NASA’s Revolutionary Air Purifier

Image: blmurch

The post For Pregnant Women, Air Pollution Just As Bad As Cigarettes appeared first on EcoSalon.