The cost of air pollution in South Africa | Hacker News Reader

The cost of air pollution in South Africa

theigc.org

61 pointsronzensci9 comments

For some extra context here, a lot of this fine particulate matter is not from burning the coal - it's from decaying exposed mine dumps. The wind in Johannesburg blows the fine sand on top of the mine damps into the communities living next to the mine dumps. The article tries to make it out as being just regular air pollution from fossil fuels, but it's many more factors than just that, and fixing the unique problem of mine dumps is probably a lot easier than general air pollution if there was political will to fix it. Which there is not.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jul/06/radioactive-c...

The mine dumps are largely a problem in the south of Johannesburg. The article shows that the problem is spread across the entire country. And the Mpumalanga Highveld has particularly shocking pollution levels, from the coal-fired power stations, from SASOL and from poor residents burning coal in winter. The map shows high levels of particulate matter in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, which are far from mining activity.

Yes I second that!

Definitely! But the majority of the deaths are concentrated in a tiny geographic area. It's important to note that fixing that tiny area would have a larger benefit than fixing the rest combined.

Also the dust from those mine dumps can travel a very long way on the wind. 100s of km.

I know a lot of people hate how the EPA stop them putting a monster V8 in their hot-rod, or a diesel in something-or-other.

Now that I've spent 6 months in West Africa, where 99% of vehicles belch black smoke 24x7, I have a new-found respect for the EPA.

Anyone that is against environmental regulations needs to live 6 months in a third world country to understand how important it is.

Well, there is a president-elect who feels global warming is a hoax! http://www.ibtimes.com/trumps-epa-climate-change-plan-bush-o...

His new energy secretary is an oil tycoon from Texas: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/trump-environment-energy-1.3...

And he wants to eliminate the renewable energy & other core initiatives of EPA!

New Delhi is facing a similar airpocalypse on PM2.5 monitors recording the max 999 ug/m3 in many areas. http://scroll.in/pulse/821837/as-delhi-dominates-the-airpoca...

http://www.livemint.com/Science/NXS0n5Bhj2nOIwPEEYIxBK/Pollu...

We need a way for nations & policy makers to learn from each other. Or at least from each others mistakes!

Solar power in the two double digit percentage can't come fast enough - for all of Africa.

I've seen some of the coal plants near Johannesburg from close - the pollution is real and and it's crazy. Also residents are burning coal, fields and whatever they can get in winter and those fires make the area hazy and smoggy.

>The GBD study estimated that South Africa had 1800 deaths in 2012 attributable to fine PM. This number was based on global satellite and modelling views on the severity of air pollution in the country.

This makes it seem like they only used satellite data and a model to guesstimate this number? Very dubious without medical records to back this up.

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