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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Chris Michael, Francesca Perry and Tess Riley

One day in the life of a suffocating planet – as it happened

Mongolian activists demonstate against worsening air pollution in the capital, Ulan Baatar.
Mongolian activists demonstate against worsening air pollution in the capital, Ulan Baatar. Photograph: Byambasuren Byamba-Ochir/AFP/Getty

We’ve reached the Pacific Ocean, where air pollution blissfully drops away to near zero.

Thanks for joining us for a snapshot of air pollution on this otherwise unremarkable Monday in February 2017. The results have been worrying.

Air pollution is one of the leading preventable causes of death in the world, killing nearly 7 million people a year – mostly in urban areas. Indoor air pollution is responsible for roughly half those deaths. And exercising outdoors in several cities is actually worse for your health than doing nothing at all.

We started the day in Beijing’s evening, where we learned that some Chinese have started referring to smog as “the weather” and saw this disturbing video:

In Delhi, Michael Safi showed us his cigarette-packet-warning-esque air filter ...

... and we strapped an air pollution monitor to a rickshaw:

How bad is Delhi’s air? We strapped a monitor to a rickshaw to find out

We visited Almaty, Kazakhstan ...

Holy shit #thatview #smog #almaty #kazakhstan #koktobe #incredible #sun #air #bluesky #cityscape

A photo posted by KIRILL BUKKA - DJ - PRODUCER (@kirillbukka) on

... Lagos ...

... and Stockholm:

What time is it? Smooth breathing time, my friend ... a handout for the Swedish air mask company Airinium
What time is it? Smooth breathing time ... handout for the air mask company Airinium

And finished up by passing through Manchester, London, Rio ...

... the South Bronx’s infamous “Asthma Alley”, Mexico City and our last stop: the Los Angeles house that is literally next door to an oil refinery.

Stay with us tomorrow as our air pollution series The Air We Breathe continues with an interactive on how air pollution increases your chance of death, an exclusive investigation of a steel scandal in Bosnia and a look at the “Trump effect” in Bakersfield, California, the worst city in the US for air pollution.

And due to popular demand we’ll get to the bottom of whether you’re going to have to get used to the fact that air masks are going to become trendy. Which, given today’s results on our portable air pollution monitors, you almost certainly are.

Thanks for joining us.

Updated

Los Angeles: 9.45am. I’m in a neighborhood called Wilmington, in the far south end of the city, which is home about 60,000 people – and some of the worst air quality in southern California.

It’s an unlucky part of town, nestled in between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. There’s a major complex of oil wells and refineries, and a heavily used diesel truck and rail shipping corridor. The port complex is America’s largest. Some homes are right next door to oil wells and refineries.

I’m monitoring the air quality from a few different locations, and posting readings via Twitter – here’s the first:

Compare that to recent readings I took in LA – one during rush hour on Sunset Boulevard, and the other in the morning in the heart of downtown:

Wilmington’s numbers aren’t looking so bad today. And, compared to other days I’ve been here, the smell of oil is barely detectable.

The air isn’t even too bad at this house that’s literally next door to an oil refinery:

Across town, near the Alameda Corridor, one of the major trucking routes from the ports, the air quality gets significantly worse – and the smell of diesel engines, oil and general unpleasantness are unavoidable.

Efforts have been made to try to improve the air quality here, and to reduce emissions from the ports, but progress is slow. But now the regional air agency, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, is hoping to make bigger improvements throughout southern California with a new Air Quality Management Plan – a 15-year blueprint for a four-county area that aims to reduce smog-forming NOx emissions by 20 tons per day within 15 years.

Some have criticised it for seeking only voluntary commitments on some elements from the goods-movement industry, which has a large impact on the air in Wilmington especially. The plan is expected to be voted on early next month. For now, parts of this neighbourhood will be left to suffer though some of the state’s worst air.

Los Angeles: 9.30am

Hello from Los Angeles – our last stop on today’s journey, following the sun through the hazy air of the world’s cities.

This multi-centric, car-dominated metropolitan area of roughly 13 million people has been a notorious den of poor air quality for decades, and its famous smog has been a stand-in for the problems of freeway-enabled suburban sprawl.

The air is getting better in LA, but it’s still not great. The American Lung Association’s 2016 State of the Air report ranked Los Angeles as the worst metropolitan area in the US for ozone pollution, and the fourth worst for PM2.5 particulates. Last summer was particularly bad.

Recent rains have helped clear out some of that stagnant air. But the issues facing the city, and particular pockets, remain hard to solve.

Air pollution in your city: stories from our readers around the world

We’ve been collecting your experiences, pictures and stories of how urban air pollution issue impacts your daily life. Here’s a selection from the many contributions we’ve received – please keep sharing using this form or tagging #guardiancities on social media!

Medellín, Colombia

London, UK

“I live in southeast London. I used to enjoy doing lots of running but haven’t since I moved to London because it is not healthy. I have to wear a PPF3 filter when cycling to work each morning which is really annoying as it makes it harder to breathe. It also does nothing to protect me against NOx or ozone, and my eyes sting when the pollution is bad, such as this morning.” (Shov)

Yueyang, China

“There’s constant smog in my small city in Hunan (Yueyang), although nothing like as bad as some other Chinese cities. I’m leaving, in part because of the pollution, and locals were astounded to hear that it bothers me. ‘But the air is so clean here! It’s just fog!’ is a common response on days when the AQI registers at over 150.” (Audrey Schoeman)

Delhi, India

Kraków, Poland

“Recently I’ve decided to get fit. To give myself some motivation I entered the marathon here in Krakow. My training has been restricted to indoors on a running machine because the smog has been so bad that medical guidance says that strenuous activity outdoors is highly dangerous. I tried a little run outdoors and I could taste the soot in my throat.

Smog masks are a common sight here, my daughter wears one whenever she’s out. There’s been a bit of a shortage of them, such has been the demand. There is an ongoing plan to phase out the remaining coal and wood burning heating in some of the older buildings (some people burn rubbish, plastic and the like). I live in an attic flat. The Velux windows are covered in a black, oily, gritty film. On the worst days the city council has allowed free travel on public transport if you show your car registration document (a bit unfair to regular users who don’t have a car).” (Polana)

Mexico City, Mexico

Mexico City: 11.30am. While air quality is much better in Mexico City than it was in the 1980s and 90s, things are going in the wrong direction.

On the plus side, the city is much more bicycle-friendly, with new dedicated lanes and the Ecobici bike hire scheme, is the fourth biggest after Huangzhou, Paris and London. But I was an avid cyclist in London and never cycle here: the five-lane avenues, kamikaze driving and pollution put me off.

In some good news, mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera has made a pact, together with the mayors of Madrid, Athens and Paris, to ban diesel vehicles by 2025. And the new wildly unpopular 20% petrol tax might stop people using their cars so much.

But there’s no credible plan to tackle industry emissions, which requires state governments, from different political parties, to work together, and a commitment from federal government to make companies comply with regulations.

Mexico City: 11.15am. I’m in Colonia Doctores, a run-down neighbourhood just south-west of the historic centre, and so-called because most streets are named after renowned doctors.

It’s famous for lucha libre (Mexican freestyle wrestling) at Arena Mexico; homemade soup stalls; traditional cantinas; and the sprawling general hospital, where hundreds of people are streaming in this morning.

Ironically, Doctores regularly registers the worst air quality in the whole city, although both patients – and doctors – seem unaware of this.

The neighbourhood is 2.5 miles from my house where the air quality was 95 this morning; right now in front of the General Hospital, it’s 147, which is officially “unhealthy”.

Mexico City: 11am

Hello from Mexico City – the world’s fourth biggest city, with 21 million people, 5.5m cars and at least 64,000 factories. In the 1980s, it was also the world’s most polluted city, and even in the late 1990s I remember frequently feeling faint.

Air quality has improved since then, but pollution resurfaced as a major problem in 2016, forcing authorities to issue the first health alert in 11 years. Since then, warnings have come thick and fast. Protective masks are increasingly common.

While things aren’t anywhere near as choked-up as the bad old days, most people have suffered allergies or respiratory problems such as sinusitis, bronchitis, worsening asthma and generally feeling tired and icky. I try to keep my windows shut and limit the hours I wander around the city.

It hit me how bad it was when I went on holiday to Costa Rica at Christmas after three weeks of feeling terrible (irritated eyes, breathing difficulties at night, annoying cough, sinusitis), and felt normal within 24 hours of arriving. Coming back, the plane passed through two layers of black polluted clouds, and the same symptoms returned the following day. Scary stuff.

In response, the city government reintroduced no circular, effectively banning all cars on one weekday each week and one weekend each month. It’s unpopular and hasn’t worked, which experts say is largely because cars only produce 30% of hydrocarbons; industrial pollution hasn’t been tackled.

There have been huge protests since the government imposed a 20% petrol tax on 1 January, but a few protesters I interviewed admitted that a positive consequence could be a reduction in cars.

South Bronx: 11.55am

OK, so the pollution readings near the highway fluctuated wildly – from 17 to 206, which is the level where they tell you to get inside and shut the windows. The problem was trucks: every time one would pass the meter would spike. Imagine living here and not being able to open your windows

Conclusions?

It’s hard to unbuild things. The Bronx was zoned so that industry, highways and residential structures are right on top of each other. And as the city’s population booms, you can bet that more people will be jammed into every corner, regardless of the air quality.

Changing pollution and people’s proximity to it here would require a massive rethinking and rebuilding of urban infrastructure that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon.

South Bronx: 11.45am

Several people I’ve spoken with have thought about moving because of how bad the pollution is here.

“I’m looking at moving back to Brooklyn,” says Dee Rivera, 33, who has lived in the Bronx for five years. She’s asthmatic; her friend who lives in her building has an asthmatic son. “It’s cleaner there. I don’t want my daughter [who is five] to develop asthma.”

Amanda Hernandez, 23, fears the same thing. She has family in Florida and Pennsylvania. “You can tell the difference as soon as you land at the airport. You breathe the air here and it’s different. Dirty.”

Bennett Andrew, 48, a cook at a French restaurant on the upper west side of Manhattan, has lived here seven years. He too is asthmatic: he developed it before moving to the Bronx but his attacks are triggered more frequently here. He lives next to the Bruckner Expressway, one of the huge highways rammed through the Bronx.

“It’s really bad where I live. I don’t want to live like that.” He’s thinking of moving to Connecticut to get away from the pollution.

My meter reading shows a respectable 25 (which is what I meant to say in the tweet) – but it’s windy, which reduces the stagnant pollution, and this reading isn’t close to the highways and trucking facilities. Going to go closer to those now, to see the difference ...

Updated

New York City: 11.30am

Greetings from the South Bronx – a diverse, low-income area of New York City that some people call Asthma Alley.

The Bronx has the second highest rate of asthma in the state – about 130 out of 1,000 130 out of 1,000 residents. Nearly 60 people die each year in the Bronx due to asthma-related health problems.

The problem is racially stratified: whites experience a death rate about four times lower than Hispanic New Yorkers, and five times lower than black New Yorkers. One in four children is hospitalised for asthma.

The main problem is trucks and cars. The South Bronx is surrounded by multiple highways that carry suburbanites into Manhattan during rush hour, and are the main arteries for trucks entering the city. A 2006 NYU study recommended curbing truck pollution, but officials nonetheless proposed tax breaks for a new facility for Fresh Direct, a food delivery company, that would add thousands more truck trips through the area in 2012.

The community galvanised around blocking the Fresh Direct facility, holding protests and testifying at hearings, but it was built anyway.

“You don’t have to look beyond this city to see that environmental racism is real,” activist Mychal Johnson said at the time. “In Brooklyn Heights, a fantastic public park sprung up along their waterfront overnight, but there’s not a single quality-of-life improvement project slated for the south Bronx. All we get is everyone’s garbage.”

Updated

Rio de Janeiro: 2.20pm

But that’s not to say the cariocas don’t still feel the ill effects of Rio’s air pollution.

Updated

Rio de Janeiro: 2pm

Welcome to Copacabana!

The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Jonathan Watts, reports live from Copacabana beach, Rio de Janeiro

It may be beloved by tourists from around the world, but today the beach resort has the worst levels of particulate matter in Rio de Janeiro.

According to the latest readings from the municipal government’s 40 monitoring stations, Copacabana has 55.2 micrograms of PM10, which is likely to “cause coughs and weariness to people in sensitive groups”.

Air pollution readings in Rio de Janeiro on 13 February 2017.
Air pollution readings in Rio de Janeiro on 13 February 2017.

Even so – as the blue skies overhead testify – this is an enviably low level compared to many of the world’s big cities, thanks to the sea breezes that disperse air pollution before it can build up.

Officials say air quality in the city is generally “good”, though levels of PM10 and PM2.5 have increased in recent years. This is partly because of last year’s Olympic Games. Up until last August, a major pollution hotspot was the Olympic Park in Jacarepagua/Barra de Tijuca because the construction work on the stadiums generated enormous amounts of dust and traffic.

Elsewhere, there are longer-term problems of sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone. Bangu – which is next to the busy Avenida Brasil and trapped between two ridges – usually has the worst overall air quality. On the worst days, this can reach extremely unhealthy levels and create a dirty “double horizon”.

Updated

London: 3.40pm

I spoke to some Londoners about the deteriorating air quality in their city. Spot the theme.

No points for guessing what all these folk agree on.

Updated

London: 3.30pm

Hello from London, where the UK capital wondrously managed to breach its air pollution limit for all of 2017 in just the first five days of January.

The Guardian offices are in Kings Cross, where the busy Euston road artery causes some of the city’s worst smog.

We stepped out to take some readings in front of the train station.

For the record, an AQI of 137 is “unhealthy for sensitive groups, including people with respiratory or heart disease, children and the elderly”. People are recommended to limit outdoor exertion.

Let’s go find some.

Your questions answered: 'What can I do?'

Traffic in Delhi, India’s capital.
Traffic in Delhi, India’s capital. Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

A question that keeps coming up across our air pollution coverage is what people can do to reduce air pollution. Experts Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King’s College London, and Claire Holman, chair of the Institute of Air Quality Management, have been online to help us out.

Q: What’s the best thing we can do to reduce air pollution in cities?

The main source of air pollution in urban areas is traffic, particularly diesel cars. The best way to improve air pollution would be to remove older diesel vehicles from the road. At an individual level, the choice of car is important, petrol cars are much cleaner than diesel cars, particularly regarding nitrogen oxide emissions. (Claire Holman)

Q: Are there any bio-solutions people are considering to help clean up this pollution? (@katie_mayboyd)

Planting trees can help reduce pollution, but its effectiveness depends on the pollutant and the species of tree. It is also important to consider the effect planting vegetation can have on the dispersion of traffic pollution. If poorly designed it can make the situation worst. (Claire Holman)

Q: What impact do cookstoves have on air quality?

There are many cookstove replacement programmes in place in developing countries that aim to reduce pollution. Although decreasing exposure to cooking emissions must be a good thing it is often difficult to demonstrate directly linked health effects because of other confounding pollution sources. (Frank Kelly)

Q: What can and should local authorities do to enforce against wood burners, which breach the Clean Air Act? (@AQcouncillor)

Wood burners sold in the UK should comply with legal requirements. If used in a smokeless zone, they need to be an exempt appliance and only burn the permitted fuel. This is difficult for local authorities to enforce, especially given their limited resources. However, there is a need for much greater public understanding of the health effects of domestic wood burning, and how to minimise emissions. Local authorities may have an important role with their Trading Standards Officers taking action against any illegal stoves being sold or fitted in smokeless zones. (Claire Holman)

Updated

Air mask fashion: Gap meets Mad Max

A promotional image for Airinium, a Swedish company that makes air masks.
What time is it? Smooth breathing time, my friend ... a promotional image for the Swedish air mask company Airinium

The Guardian’s online fashion editor, Morwenna Ferrier, is exploring the phenomenon of the fashion air mask for us. Here’s what she’s found so far.

The market for pricier, soundly designed masks has been growing steadily in the past few years. Sales are not notable but Freka, a British brand, had the monopoly for a while. And rightly so given that they tapped into the trend for minimal sportswear, almost Céline like in design, seeking to become more of a background accessory than anything standout. Which sets the Airinum M90 – launching today, entirely by coincidence – apart. While the design is typically Scandinavian design, these face masks are neon camo.

As for the fashion appraisal, trad camo is having a moment – particularly in menswear. But neon camo, nothing short of an eyesore, is unchartered territory. It’s also oxymoronic. But that’s the point: if the aim is to raise awareness of the problem then it’s unlikely you’ll miss one of these on the street.

Oxymoronic ... the ‘neon camo’ M90 Purple.
Oxymoronic ... the ‘neon camo’ M90 Purple

Updated

On the wires

  • As Beijing prepares itself for another week of heavy smog, Chinese cities have been told to coordinate efforts to reduce airborne pollutants, according to Reuters
  • In contrast, Greenpeace East Asia has a new report out about China’s steel capacity, which grew in 2016 despite promises to cut excess capacity in the sector. “Global markets are awash with steel and the people of northern China continue to choke on the industry’s major byproduct, smog,” says Lauri Myllyvirta, Greenpeace global coal campaigner.
A steelworker at a plant in Inner Mongolia, China.
A steelworker at a plant in Inner Mongolia, China. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty
  • In the UK, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has been commenting on the need to transpose more than 1,100 EU environmental laws, ranging from air pollution limits to energy efficiency, into UK law. A new report [pdf] by Lucas – called Exiting the EU, Not the Environment – is out today.

Updated

'How much air pollution can plants endure?' – your questions answered

A Volkswagen Golf is measured for diesel emissions.
A Volkswagen Golf is measured for diesel emissions. Photograph: Patrick Pleul/AFP/Getty

Air pollution experts Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King’s College London, and Claire Holman, chair of the Institute of Air Quality Management, are here today to take your questions.

User avatar for latestvictim

Could someone invent something to put on diesel engines to prevent bad emissions?

Holman responds:

The main emissions of concern for health are particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). PM emissions have been cut dramatically from newer diesel vehicles by fitting diesel particle filters. For NOx, the use of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) has reduced emissions from the most recent diesel cars – but they still remain higher when driven on the road than when tested in the laboratory tests used in the legislation. It is likely that a combination of technologies will be needed to make diesel car NOx emission as low as those from petrol cars. This will include the use of SCR with lean NOx traps.

User avatar for randomguydeaustralie

Ok, question for Prof Kelly and/or Dr Holman. How much air pollution can plants endure?? Because it seems to me that some animals may peg out before plants do, but once the plants shuffle off this mortal coil there would not be much going on for anything else. Cheers

Kelly responds:

Plants, like ourselves, are sensitive to pollutants in the air. Our cities are not polluted enough to stop plants surviving, but like us they probably do not live as long as they could do. Plants are particularly sensitive to ozone pollution and in many warm countries crop yields are affected.”

User avatar for Stellaboy

Surely nothing will change until towns and cities are forced to monitor their own pollution levels and act accordingly. At the moment in the UK, nobody really knows. Well done The Guardian for pushing on and informing us.

Holman responds:

Local authorities are already required to review and assess air quality in their areas, and declare an “air quality management area” (AQMA) if concentrations exceed the air-quality objectives. Where an AQMA is declared, local authorities must prepare an action plan. Most local authorities already monitor air pollution in their areas; however, with the current pressure on resources, many local authorities have cut back their monitoring. They need to do more, not less – but to do so they need more money.

The air in Lagos today? Not good.

A reading of 178 is classified as “unhealthy ... reduced outdoor activity for everyone”.

Nor is it much better in Port Harcourt. Soot has enveloped the city for about a month now, as panic-stricken residents wake up to a black sky and black dust on plants, cars, and rooftops. The soot is being blamed on carbon emissions from an asphalt plant that was only just shut down two days ago.

The images are grim.

Shabi Adebola is the general manager of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (Lasepa).

He says the government is well aware of the effects of transportation and industrial activities on Lagos, and is doing all it can to keep the air clean.

“The Lagos of today is a far cry from what it was decades ago. There is an obvious improvement when it comes to environmental issues,” he said. He confirmed that the state government has recently begun vehicle emission tests. It’s a start.

Updated

At the very busy scrap market at Ladipo, Mushin, I meet Ayelumosi packing waste from the road side.

Ayelumosi works for the Lagos Waste Management‎ Authority, and comes in contact with dirt and rubbish on a daily basis. “Whenever I don’t have my nose mask on, I feel a tingling sensation in my chest. But when I do have it on, I fare OK,” she says.

Asked how she copes with handling waste on a daily basis, she says it is a means of livelihood that she has to put up with.

Lagos: 1pm

Hello from Lagos! On my commute to work three days ago, I sat seething in a commercial bus as it crawled slowly behind a degenerating rapid transit bus whose exhaust pipes were billowing black dense clouds of smoke.

We had been behind the bus for about five minutes. I watched irritably as the driver ignored every opportunity to switch lanes and save us from inhaling the toxic air.

Sadly, this is typical in Nigeria’s largest city. If you are lucky enough to escape choking on your commute, the fumes from your neighbour’s power generators are bound to get you.

The ingenious ways Lagos copes with blackouts

As an industrial hub and commercial powerhouse, Africa’s fastest-growing metropolis is plagued by transportation, power, housing and pollution issues. Providing more than 50% of all manufacturing employment in Nigeria, the rapid pace of industrialisation here is both a blessing and a curse.

And apart from the more obvious sources of air pollution – power generators, industrial emissions and car exhaust – other sources include dumpsites, landfills, random waste/bush burning, and open incinerators.

Updated

With London breaking air pollution records last month, Amy Fleming rounded up some of the best advice for what, exactly, you can do to protect yourself during a peak pollution alert. Hot tip? Eat vegetables, walk one street back ... and pray for rain.

Readers have also been feeding in from around Britain today. General consensus: it’s a high-pollution day. Break out the broccoli.

For those of you looking to help, meanwhile, Defra is hosting an #AirHack in Leeds on 24-25 February at ODI Leeds, 3rd Floor, Munro House LS9 8AG.

This two-day event explores the problems, the data and the solutions to air pollution, and is looking for “anyone and everyone, no matter what your background or level of experience with data. You don’t need to be a computer wizard to take part. You can get as much done with pens and post-its as you can with a computer.”

Well, except a scintillating liveblog. I’d like to see them do this with Post-Its. (I really would.)

Updated

Manchester: 12.30pm

Manchester is in the middle of a construction boom. Cranes pierce the horizon and the sound of hammering and drilling fills the air. Outside the Guardian’s office on Deansgate, one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, workmen are re-laying the pavement, as demolition experts ready the neighbouring building for the wrecking ball.

But while all this may be good for cementing Manchester as the heart of the so-called “northern powerhouse”, it is rather less good for our lungs. I just took a Node reading outside as one of the allegedly low-carbon metroshuttle buses trundled past, and was alarmed to be advised against prolonged outdoor activity: an AQI reading of 122, suggesting that sensitive groups, such as asthma sufferers, should limit outdoor exertion.

The level of PM2.5 fine particle emissions was also worryingly high: 44 micrograms per cubic metre, which can cause harm for people with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly and children.

Deansgate isn’t even that busy today, as it’s half-term. But local leaders are starting to seriously worry about the air Mancunians breathe, with much of it breaching legal limits. Later today, Andy Burnham, the Labour MP hoping to be the first elected mayor of Greater Manchester, launches “a major new drive” to clean it up.

How to read all our content

Day 1 of The Air We Breathe, our special weeklong investigation into air pollution, has also featured some in-depth reporting from our correspondents on the front lines of this needlessly lethal crisis.

Here are some of the highlights so far.

... and a brilliant video by Michael Safi and Atish Patel, who strapped a monitor to a rickshaw to test how dangerous Delhi’s notoriously poor air really is.

How bad is Delhi’s air? We strapped a monitor to a rickshaw to find out

Read it all here.

We want to hear from you, too. Share your experiences and photos of air pollution in the comments below, in the form here or on social media using #guardiancities.

Any burning questions? Post them in the comments below and our air pollution experts will be live between 1-3pm GMT to answer them.

Updated

These past few posts have painted a grim picture of Delhi, but some air quality advocates feel hopeful.

Sarath Guttikunda runs UrbanEmissions, an air-quality research hub. “Progress is being made in bits and pieces, and compared to five years ago, there’s a lot more awareness and a much bigger push for clear air.”

A cyclist rides on a road enveloped by smoke and smog, on the morning following Diwali festival in New Delhi, India, Monday, Oct. 31, 2016.
A cyclist in Delhi after Diwali in October 2016. Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP

By way of examples, he mentions upgraded car-emissions standards passed by the Indian government last year, and a 2015 order that coal-fired power stations must be fitted with equipment that drastically reduces waste.

India has also set an extraordinarily ambitious renewable energy target, and floated the possibility it may not need to build any new coal power stations for the next 10 years (though it has a number of new stations in the pipeline).

“At least the intention is there, there is some pressure,” Guttikunda says. “Now there’s something to ask for.”

But the gap between promises and the reality remains large. The equipment that will reduce emissions from coal-fired power stations was supposed to be fitted nationwide by the end of 2017. Last week, India media reported that not a single power station complies with the new standards – and that the standards themselves might have been diluted behind the scenes.

Updated

Holy shit #thatview #smog #almaty #kazakhstan #koktobe #incredible #sun #air #bluesky #cityscape

A photo posted by KIRILL BUKKA - DJ - PRODUCER (@kirillbukka) on

The above picture shows Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, as tall buildings disrupt natural ventilation patterns between the surrounding mountains, thus trapping pollution. More than 80% of air pollution in the city is caused by vehicle traffic. Large-scale illegal logging has only helped to worsen local air quality.

What’s air pollution like in your city? Share your experiences using the form on this page.

Here are a few stories we’ve received so far:

Iris, age 10, Beijing, China

We have been learning about air pollution in school. I have to wear a mask to school and we are not allowed outside for recess and PE. Even some days it is so bad we don’t have school, which I was happy about! Recently the school introduced an air cleaning system. The big problem for me is that I worry about my health in the future, as I don’t know what damage the air pollution is really doing I hope the government can stop people driving petrol cars and the factoies can use cleaner energy.” (shared by Mr Ashley, BIBS international school)

Muhammad Faique, Lahore, Pakistan

Every day when I come home from work I have to sit in the traffic and breathe in large amounts of petrol and diesel. After returning home when I spit out into my basin I can clearly see the black spots in it. My hair and beard gets full of dust, I look like I’m a construction worker. Every second week I get a bad chesty cough. Most of the street food being sold in the city is full of air pollution.”

Luigi Baro, Santiago, Chile

In winter air pollution gets so bad that the city of Santiago created an app showing the daily air quality. When it’s really bad, schools are told to keep students from sport and outdoor activities. Apparently air pollution is worse when the national team plays. That is because of the custom of asados, social BBQs, taking place.”

Are you involved in improving air quality in your city? Whether it’s a grassroots campaign or you’ve ditched your car for a bike, share your stories and pictures with us and we’ll feature the best here on the live blog. Tweet us @guardiancities or tag pics on Instagram with #guardiancities.

And if you have any questions about air pollution, just write them in the comments below or tweet us.

Frank Kelly, Professor of Environmental Health at King’s College London, and Dr Claire Holman, Chair of the the Institute of Air Quality Management, will be joining us from 1-3pm GMT to answer your queries.

Updated

Delhi: 5pm

Peak-hour traffic will be starting to surge now, and with it, levels of air pollution in Delhi.

Here’s a read from an air quality monitor near my office, a comparatively greener neighbourhood where rates are probably better than in the city’s older, or more heavily trafficked districts.

The air might look pretty clear – but the level of PM2.5 pollution the monitor is showing increases my risk of developing a chronic obstructive lung disease by 41%, of lung cancer by 27%, and nearly doubles my risk of heart disease and stroke, according to research from the Global Burden of Disease project.

Below, on the right, is the reading from Anand Vihar, an area of Delhi where traffic is likely to be very heavy right now.

That’s an Air Quality Index score of 171 and a PM2.5 level of 78. Sitting in that stew causes a 95% increase in the risk of heart disease, and a 135% jump in the risk of stroke.

Updated

A reader has suggested we look at another south Asian capital, Kathmandu, which gets comparatively less publicity, but endures pollution levels as high as many north Indian cities.

User avatar for Olllli

You should investigate in Kathmandu, it may be the worst city of them all but we lack of installed monitoring systems. In some neighborhoods we have a PM2.5 level of 500μg/m3 in the morning. Already after one month of non stop air purifying in the office the filters look the on from Michael Safi in Dehli.

We had a look at air pollution in Kathmandu a little while ago through eyes of Andrew Lodge, a doctor at a teaching hospital in the city. He wrote:

Nepal generally evokes images of a pristine mountain nation on top of the world. The thick cloud of pollution that threatens to suffocate Nepal’s largest city, however, provides a stark contrast to this reputation. While there are several environmental crises converging here – severe water shortages, for instance, have become status quo – none is as dire as air quality. In the past 10 years, the number of vehicles on Kathmandu’s streets has risen threefold. The problem has become so acute that many of its 1.74 million residents are left wondering: at what point will their city become unliveable?

Delhi residents on Twitter are sharing their experiences of pollution in the city.

If you’re on Twitter, add to the conversation – tag @GuardianCities or #GuardianCities

Updated

Delhi: 4.30pm

I went for a wander about an hour ago to speak to Delhi residents who make their living outside, such as petrol pump workers, chai-wallahs and bicycle rickshaw drivers.

Air pollution might be well understood in cities such as Beijing, but awareness in the Indian capital is generally limited to the city’s middle classes. Masks are rare and many people told me they didn’t notice any problems – though of course damage is being done.

Share your experiences and photos of air pollution in the comments below, in the form here or on social media using #guardiancities. Any burning questions? Post them in the comments below and our air pollution experts will be live between 1-3pm GMT to answer them.

Updated

The people who probably bear the brunt of Delhi’s poor air are its fleet of auto-rickshaw drivers. To get a sense of the levels to which they’re exposed each day, we stuck a small air-quality monitor on a rickshaw belonging to Suresh Sharma, who plies his trade across south Delhi. See the results for yourself:

Keep in mind, a safe AQI is anything below 50. Sharma spends the day breathing air that is three times that limit – at one point, at least 500.

Here’s another way of visualising the extent of Delhi’s pollution problem.

For those few who can afford it, one way to minimise – though not eliminate – the amount of toxic air one breathes is by installing air purifiers in the house.

Filters need to be changed regularly, which makes for a sobering sight. Here is what my filter looked like after five months in Delhi. That’s a fresh filter on the left for comparison.

Delhi: 3.30pm

Hello from Delhi, the capital of India, and one-time “most polluted city in the world”.

As we’ve already reported, that unenviable title now belongs to Onitsha, a tropical port city in Nigeria – but Indians aren’t celebrating yet.

According to the WHO, half of the world’s 20 most-polluted cities are in India, starting with Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.

The rankings have helped to drive a growing awareness in India that air pollution is not confined to its smoggy capital.

The proliferation of coal-fired power stations, brick kilns, crop burning and other pollution sources across northern India have made it so not a single city in the entire region meets international air quality standards, according to a report from Greenpeace.

Delhi is where the problem gets most attention though, and pictures of the haze that settled on the city after Diwali in November last year were broadcast around the world.

A family ride a motorbike in Delhi, India, in November 2016. The capital’s air was filled with dust and smog after fireworks set off during the Diwali celebrations.
A family ride a motorbike in Delhi, India, in November 2016. The capital’s air was filled with dust and smog after fireworks set off during the Diwali celebrations. Photograph: Harish Tyagi/EPA

The city government labelled the toxic air an “emergency” and ordered immediate action, including temporarily closing schools and construction sites. It helped clear the immediate spike in pollution, but longer-term steps are still urgently needed.

Updated

Fun fact: according to one reader in China, smog is now referred to as “the weather” (!)

User avatar for TurquoiseMoon

The pollution has been so bad in Chengdu this year: a constant white miasma engulfing the cityscape.

One of my flights was unable to land due to the thickness of the smog.

A scary fact: Smog/haze is now so thick that most Chinese refer to it as 'the weather'. They are often unaware it is not a natural phenomenon.

Share your experiences and photos of air pollution in the comments below, in the form here or on social media using #guardiancities. Any burning questions? Post them in the comments below and our air pollution experts will be live between 1-3pm GMT to answer them.

Updated

Beijing: 5.30pm

Despite the above tweet, it’s actually a lovely fresh afternoon in Beijing after a day of smog on Sunday – as our Node air pollution monitor attests. (An AQI reading of 27 is well within the “good” range.) But the pollution is expected to roll back in later as smog covers large parts of north China.

Beijing 3

Nevertheless, for all of the bad press about Beijing’s toxic “airpocalypses”, there is definitely hope for the Chinese capital and its nearly 22 million residents.

Recent years have seen city authorities start to take action – largely as a result of growing public awareness and pressure – forcing factories to close and dirty vehicles off the roads. Red alerts are now declared each time a really foul bout of smog envelops the city in a bid to reduce the pollution levels.

Some believe the central government’s attempts to transition the Chinese economy away from heavy industry are also having an impact.

While huge problems remain, “air pollution has improved a lot in the last three years,” says Anders Hove, a clean energy expert from the Paulson Institute who is based in the Chinese capital.

Updated

Sydney: 8pm

Naaman Zhou spoke to locals in Sydney this evening

Jess works at the University of New South Wales, and says she keeps an eye on the air quality most days, especially when there are health warnings.

“My son is three and has bad asthma, so I’m very aware of air quality. When we had those dust storms, that was really bad. We were warned over the weekend that the air quality wasn’t going to be very good, so we paid attention and kept him indoors.”

Cassie is a cyclist who has stopped at the station mid-ride. “Because I’ve lived in the country and cycle a lot on roads, I reckon I just block it out”, she says. “But if I was taking a deep breath now, I probably wouldn’t enjoy it. I probably just take shorter breaths”

However, she says she doesn’t notice the symptoms of pollution, even when riding through tunnels. “Sometimes if there’s a bushfire, you notice there’s a bit of haze in the air. But compared to other countries I’d definitely say Sydney has good air quality.”

Updated

Beijing: 4.30pm

Wang Zhen from our Beijing office has been out talking to the city’s residents about how the smog affects their lives.

Gao Yuhang, 28, works for a media firm that is located between Beijing’s second and third ring roads. This is one of the city’s most polluted areas, particularly during rush hour.

“I get in such bad moods on smoggy days,” complains Gao. She is increasingly afraid about opening her windows when the smog strikes.

“I feel I am losing out by living in such a big city, with no blue sky, where the traffic doesn’t run smoothly and the cost of living is so high,” Gao says. “I’m not a mum yet, but lots of my friends have children and are concerned about their kids’ health.”

Gao Yuhang
Gao Yuhang

Zhu Jianchao, a 19-year-old student, likes to practice martial arts in the morning in Ritan Park, not far from the second ring road. He says he keeps training outdoors even when the smog rolls in. “My breathing is certainly affected, but not that much,” says Zhu, who often brings his 11-year-old sister along with him to train.

Wang Weibang, in his early 70, is more cautious. He has been coming to the same park each morning for nearly a decade to practice tai chi. But when he looks out of his window in the morning and can’t see the tall buildings because of the smog, he stays at home. “When the smog is only light, I’ll come to the park.”

Wang Weibang
Wang Weibang

Updated

Sydney: 7pm

At Sydney’s Central station, commuters pile into trains, wait for buses, and some hop on bikes they’ve left in nearby Albion Park. On our Node reader, which measures PM2.5 fine particle emissions, the reading here in the middle of the city never deviated much from 4 micrograms per cubic metre, which places it quite squarely at a safe level.

The highest readings ever in Sydney were 33 micrograms, in the suburb of Rozelle, but today, at the end of a weekend heatwave that record remains intact. National health standards take 8 micrograms to be a safe national limit, and on most days, city-wide, Sydney is well within that.

Toxic air is a major cause of heart attacks, strokes and lung diseases – the causes that are put in death certificates. But researchers are finding ever more varied and worrying impacts of breathing noxious air.

Air pollution has now been linked to increased mental illness, diabetes and kidney disease, and toxic nanoparticles have been recently discovered in brains, suggesting a link to degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. It is even thought to be prematurely ageing the faces of city dwellers, by accelerating wrinkles and age spots.

But perhaps the most worrying impacts are on children, whose lung development is stunted and whose intelligence can be reduced. Unicef found recently that 300 million children live in areas with extreme air pollution – six times higher than international guidelines – and that almost 90% of the world’s children live in places where outdoor air pollution exceeds World Health Organization limits.

Beijing: 4pm

Thanks largely to heavy industry belching out pollutants in the region around Beijing, China’s capital has a big, big smog problem – as this incredible time-lapse video from last month shows.

When I set off from my house (which is just below the bottom of this image) on the day this footage was shot, it was a glorious winter morning in Beijing. By the time I’d reached the middle of the image, the city was enveloped in a nicotine-shaded haze that made the air taste like paint.

When Beijing’s smog is at its worst, schools are forced to close, flights are unable to land at its airports and emergency rooms fill up with young children and elderly residents suffering from respiratory problems caused by dangerous levels of particulate matter. Across China hundreds of thousands of premature deaths are blamed on pollution each year.

Three years ago China’s prime minister Li Keqiang vowed to declare war on pollution with authorities vowing to rid Beijing of its smog just as London did after the Great Smog of 1952. But real change is likely to take many, many years.

Updated

The Air We Breathe: what we're doing today

Today, Guardian Cities kicks off a week to exploring one of the worst preventable causes of death around the world: air pollution.

Dirty air kills 3.3 million people every year – more than HIV, malaria and influenza combined. Indoor pollution claims roughly the same number again.

Most of these deaths happen in cities, where automobile exhaust, factories and power plants, and coal and wood fires for heating and cooking are among the deadliest culprits.

Over the course of this day, Guardian foreign correspondents will report live from the worst-off cities, from Delhi to Beijing to Lagos. We’re also be joined by experts who can answer your questions. And we’ll give tips on how to minimise your risk, rate the best anti-smog devices and learn how some cities are innovating to fight back.

Plus, we’ll take a live air-pollution reading from every city, using an AirVisual Node air pollution monitor.

We’d love to hear from you, too.

How does air pollution impact your daily life? Share your stories and experiences in the comments below or using the form here, and tag your pictures on social media with #guardiancities.

Are you helping to improve air quality in your city? From grassroots campaigns to cycling to work, share your stories and pictures with us and we’ll feature the best in the live blog. Tweet us @guardiancitiesor tag pics on Instagram with #guardiancities.

Do you have questions about air pollution? Just write them in the comments below or tweet them to @guardiancities. Frank Kelly, Professor of Environmental Health at King’s College London, and Dr Claire Holman, Chair of the the Institute of Air Quality Management, will be joining us from 1pm-3pm GMT to answer some of your queries.

Stay with us.

Updated

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