In the News
November 26, 2018
Donald Trump doesn’t believe his own government’s major report on climate change – which the administration tried to bury over the Thanksgiving break. It warns that rising temperatures are already harming America and will cause huge damage globally. The Guardian will explore key findings from the report each day this week.
Climate change will dirty the air, help spread disease and kill people with extreme heat
Climate change will exacerbate wildfires and droughts, causing particulate pollution from smoke and windblown dust and increasing smog that forms in higher temperatures.
Worldwide, 5.5 billion people, or 75% of the population, live in places that don’t meet the World Health Organization standard for limiting particulate pollution, according to research by the University of Chicago.
Air pollution shortens lives. In areas with the worst air, including in the Indian capital Delhi, people could live up to seven and a half years longer with less pollution.
Aside from early deaths, air pollution also causes breathing and heart problems and worsens asthma.