Fossil fuels pollute and destroy the air for millions of people.
Millions die every year because of air pollution.
According to the WHO, in 2012 around 7 million people died – one in eight of total global deaths – as a result of air pollution exposure. This finding more than doubles previous estimates and confirms that air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk. Almost four million die from ambient air pollution annually. A more recent study from 2018, indicate that more than 8.7 million persons die from air pollution from fossil fuels.
‘Invisible killer’: fossil fuels caused 8.7m deaths globally in 2018, research finds (2021)
Reducing air pollution could save millions of lives
In addition comes the enormous land areas polluted by oil spills as in Nigeria, Canada and Baku.
In the USA fracking pollutes incredible amounts of freshwater.
NASA quiz The air we breathe
Read more
- Strongest Evidence Yet Shows Air Pollution Kills. The finding comes as the Trump administration has been rolling back clean air regulations (Scientific American 2020)
- Toxic air will shorten children’s lives by 20 months, study reveals (2019)
- WHO: Air poillution
- Toxic Air – The ‘Invisible Killer’ that Stifles 300 Million Children. About 300 million children in the world are living in areas with outdoor air so toxic – six or more times higher than international pollution guidelines – that it can cause serious health damage, including harming their brain development
- Fears of health crisis as Delhi suffers worst air pollution this year (2019)
- The World’s 20 Most Polluted Cities in 2018 (2019)
- UNICEF (2016) Clear the air for children
- Pollution kills more people each year than war, AIDS, and malaria combined According to a landmark new study, the U.S. tops the list of developed countries with the highest rate of pollution-related deaths. (Oct 2017)
- Smog in Asia
- Toxic Smog Choking Beijing Is So Bad, It’s Grounded Flights (Dec 2016)
- City of light dims: smog in Paris
- WHO: 7 million deaths annually linked to air pollution
- The toxic truth about air pollution: a lethal scandal of British inaction
- Toxic air pollution particles found in human brains (Sept 2016)
- China’s Air Pollution Behind Erratic Weather in the U.S., say Climatologists (April 2014)
- China Faces More Air Pollution Deaths (Sep 2016)
- Four Years After The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, The Gulf Is Still Suffering (April 2014)
- Almost Half of Americans Live With Unhealthy Levels of Air Pollution (April 2014)
- Joining together to fight fracking
- The fight for clean air
- The Energy to Fight Injustice
- Negligence ruling against BP could bring up to $18 billion in new fines
- Pollution could kill 6.6m people a year by 2050 (Sept 2015)
- WHO: Global air pollution is worsening, and poor countries are being hit the hardest (May 2016)
- More people die from air pollution than Malaria and HIV/Aids, new study shows (2015)
- Interactive Map Shows Where Toxic Air Pollution From Oil and Gas Industry Is Threatening 12.4 Million Americans
- Ecowatch: Air pollution
- World’s Most Polluted City, Air Quality Levels Literally Off the Charts
- Is the End in Sight for the Internal Combustion Engine?
- Study links carbon dioxide emissions to increased deaths
- Shocking Time-Lapse Video Shows Beijing Engulfed by Smog (Jan 2017)
- Smog Chokes Delhi, Leaving Residents ‘Cowering by Our Air Purifiers’ (NYT Nov 2016)
- Delhi Air Pollution Forces Public Health Emergency as Chief Minister Compares City to a ‘Gas Chamber’ (Nov 2017)
- Choking on Air in New Delhi (Nov 2017)
- Lancet: Pollution – a global health crisis (2017)
- Pollution is one of the world’s biggest killers, a new study says |(Oct 2017)
- Beijing to spend billions to tackle air pollution in 2017
- Global Dimming & Global Brightening: Part 1
- Global Dimming & Global Brightening: Part 2
- Dr Geralyn McCarron – The impact of unconventional gas on the human right to health (Feb 2018)
- Is China Worsening the Developing World’s Environmental Crisis? (Aug 2018)
Next
| Home | Chapter 3 | 3. Impacts |
| 3.1 More water vapor | ||
| 3.2 Sea level rise | ||
| 3.3 Polar sea ice | ||
| 3.4 Air pollution | ||
| 3.5 Acidification | ||
| 3.6 Health | ||
| 3.7 Extreme weather | ||
| 3.8 Economy | ||
| 3.9 Refugees and conflicts | ||
| 3.10 Glaciers | ||
| 3.11 Tipping points | ||
| 3.12 Biodiversity | ||
| 3.13 Water | ||
| Chapter 4 | 4. Ecosystems |
A Greener Future 