People around the world are losing years of their lives to air pollution, a new report reveals. A new study from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) found that pollution takes an average of 1.8 years of people’s lives around the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) released guidelines over a decade ago suggesting maximum ‘healthy’ levels of air pollution, but as of right now, almost every low- and middle-income country and half of high income ones are ‘unhealthy.’ The effects of pollution are most devastating in the most crowded cities in the most populous countries – India and China.

…

Study co-author Dr Michael Greenstone believes that these tangible measures of pollution’s effects are crucial to getting policy changes made. So with the new report he is introducing the ‘Air Quality Life Index’ to do just that. ‘While people can stop smoking and take steps to protect themselves from diseases, there is little they can individually do to protect themselves from the air they breathe,’ Dr Greenstone said. ‘The AQLI tells citizens and policymakers how particulate pollution is affecting them and their communities and reveals the benefits of policies to reduce particulate pollution.’

Continue reading at Daily Mail…