IN WIELICZKA, near Krakow, a handful of people have gathered in a hotel conference room to talk about air pollution. One woman from a nearby spa town complains of sinus problems caused by soot; another worries about her children playing outside. A man says that the police rarely prosecute residents for burning rubbish, which is illegal but common in his small town. It is a tiny gathering, especially compared with the huge climate-change conference that kicked off in Paris on November 30th. But the issue is as big as the sky.
Europe’s air is less corrosive than it once was, and much less bad than China’s or India’s. Industrial decline and clean-air policies from the 1950s onwards have brought levels of many pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, fine particulate matter (a dust that can irritate lungs), and nitrogen oxides down over the past few decades. Yet more than 400,000 Europeans still die prematurely each year because of air pollution, according to the European Environmental Agency. In 2010 the health-related costs were thought to be between €330 billion €940 billion (or between 3% and 7% of GDP).
About nine out of ten...Continue reading
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