The change in LA from the EPA's and cali's strict emissions rules is incredible.
I remember visiting in the 90s as a kid and seeing how incredibly smoggy it was. It was just as bad as pretty much any place out there and all from burning gas in cars.
Now it's very often crystal clear. It's really stunning how much policy changes can impact the air.
I grew up in LA. In the late 80s the joke was that you had to chew your air before breathing it. The sky was brown most days.
> Now it's very often crystal clear. It's really stunning how much policy changes can impact the air.
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say that the air is often clear. There is still the natural geography that traps all particles in the air over the basin. But the policy changes absolutely made a huge difference.
Interesting to note however that during the first couple of days of COVID lockdown, when almost no one was driving in LA, LA had the lowest AQI on the entire planet (it was just 4). So the next thing they have to do is solve traffic to get the air cleaner. :)
What I would like remote working advocates to say more for the benefits of this arrangement is not only the time saved, being with families, but also these things regarding pollution: by not driving to the offices co-located in the same districts, people not only stop emitting themselves, they also reduce the emissions of those who must drive by reducing or eliminating traffic jams.
Also, expanding and living in suburbs, I believe in contrast to the general consensus, reduces emissions as well. Though people still need cars to get somewhere just because the distances are larger, the use of cars is much more efficient.
I would recommend all in this thread give "Cheaper, Faster, Better" by Tom Seyer a read.
This book has a liberal air, while I am a fiscal conservative republican (not a "Trumpian" 'flat-earther', nationalist, or handmade tale dreamer - never have been or will be... not all 'Republicans' are the same. These days I generally don't vote republican due to lack of sane options. F'ing painful and horrific).
[Just wanted to provide context for who was making this statement]
Disclosure aside, as anyone with two brain cells can see, the world has been snookered by the oil and gas industry and their kickback Trumpian-like Lackies for decades (old puppets same as the new). Seyer discusses the history of all of these topics, and additional similar ones, raised above fairly well (acid rain, LA smog, UK smog, etc.).
The biggest idea Seyer conveyed to me, that I wish was just a leaflet air-dropped accross the US is that Climate Change activists are preaching to the choir when they state that we need to reverse climate change because it's irreversibly harming the planet. They need to instead focus primarily on the human harm due to extreme weather (towns, societies, crop lands, god forbid ocean front property) that polution/carbon emissions are causing. I couldn't agree more.
It's like you have to point out how it's going to affect 'these people' directly, specifically, in their lifetime, for it to even register.
We are North American Scum. Unfortunately, common sense is a rare commodity these days. The internet gave too many selfish ding dongs a podium to preach to and 'unionize' other selfish ding dongs.
OK, this ding dong is off his podium. Sorry (but do check the bood out)
My aunt vividly remembers not being able to see across the street in Pasadena, and how much better it is now.
What is, I think, very telling about human nature is that they self-identify as Orange County Republicans and feel the pressure to deny climate change. They’ll talk about how acting will destroy the economy and you can almost see the struggle when someone points out that the exact same arguments were made back then and California’s economy is famously un-destroyed.
like the change from somewhat polluted air (even in a semi-rural area where I was then) to much less polluted, in India, during Covid lockdown time. I had read then, that the same had happened in other parts of India too.
it was almost like living in pristine nature for a while, in terms of cleaner air.
only lasted until the end of the lockdown, some number of months later, sadly.
I remember visiting in the 90s as a kid and seeing how incredibly smoggy it was. It was just as bad as pretty much any place out there and all from burning gas in cars.
Now it's very often crystal clear. It's really stunning how much policy changes can impact the air.