Air Pollution Timeline

  • The industrial revolution

    The industrial revolution
    The industrial revolution in 1760 to 1840, marked the start of rapid technological advancement in the world. The bad thing is that most of the new technology was powered by burning huge amounts of coal which lead to severe air pollution. On most charts of air pollution levels over the past few centuries, this is where it start to really take off, it is relatively flat before this.
  • Donora smog

    Donora smog
    In 1948, emissions from local Steel and zinc smelters formed a haze that enveloped Donora Pennsylvania. 14,000 residents experienced severe respiratory or cardiovascular problems and 40 were killed.
  • The Great Smog of London

    The Great Smog of London
    In 1952, London was clouded with a thick smog of air pollutants from coal burning. This smog directly killed about 4,000 people, cause the premature death of about 12,000 people, and made about 100,000 people sick.
  • cutting down the amazon rainforest

    cutting down the amazon rainforest
    The amazon, a rainforest in brazil, It is the largest rainforest in the world with so many trees that it is nicknames "the lungs of the planet" for how much clean oxygen it supplies and how much Carbon dioxide it takes in and prevents from polluting the atmosphere. But in the late 1960s Brazil started to deforest the area and now it is under constant threat. The loss of the forest will have severe consequences on the air quality of the planet.
  • The Paris Agreement

    The Paris Agreement
    In 2016 the Paris Agreement went into force. The agreement made long-term policy and plans to reduce global green house gas emissions and to slow air pollution substantially. This was a huge step toward cleaning out atmosphere.