The 15 most polluted cities in the world
And the drive for innovative change.
Many cities around the world have been found to have pollution levels well above recommended levels, increasing the likelihood of a range of ailments for their occupants. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended level is below 10 micrograms per cubic metre. The WHO has released data revealing the cities with the worst air quality, the 15 worst of which (in micrograms per cubic metre) are:
1) Zabol Iran 217
2) Gwalior India 176
3) Allahabad India 170
4) Riyadh Saudi Arabia 156
5) Al Jubail Saudi Arabia 152
6) Patna India 149
7) Raipur India 144
8) Bamenda Cameroon 132
9) Xingtai China 128
10) Baoding China 126
11) Delhi India 122
12) Ludhiana India 122
13) Dammam Saudi Arabia 121
14) Shijiazhuang China 121
15) Khanna India 114
As can be seen above, India has the most highly polluted cities worldwide. Turkey claims eight of the top ten spots amongst European cities, and the most polluted cities in the US and Canada are dominated by California. In South America, Coyhaique in Chile ranks worst where wood burning and a lack of rainfall are thought to be contributing factors. Bamenda in Cameroon tops the pollution list for Africa, but every city in New Zealand and Australia at least matches the WHO’s recommended 10µg/m³.
There is a worrying number of cities with high levels of pollution. However, the way we live today is not necessarily the way things need to continue to be done. It certainly isn't the way they were done only a century ago or for the expanse of human history before that. Key causes of pollution are increased urban power demand driving up power plant emissions and the soaring use of private motor vehicle transport.
While great thinkers are responsible for much modern industrial invention, people continue to come up with even better ways of doing things. For instance, the rise of eco-homes and emerging architects who imagine office blocks, homes and hotels decked from top to toe in a verdant blaze of shrubbery and plant life. One example is architect Stefano Boeri, who has plans to create entire “forest cities” in China, a country that has sadly become synonymous with environmental degradation and smog despite its long-standing historical tradition of being at one with and respecting nature.
Boeri told The Guardian:
“We have been asked to design an entire city where you don’t only have one tall building but you have 100 or 200 buildings of different sizes, all with trees and plants on the facades. We are working very seriously on designing all the different buildings. I think they will start to build at the end of this year. By 2020 we could imagine having the first forest city in China.
It is positive because the presence of such a large number of plants, trees and shrubs is contributing to the cleaning of the air, contributing to absorbing CO2 and producing oxygen. And what is so important is that this large presence of plants is an amazing contribution in terms of absorbing the dust produced by urban traffic.”
Let us hope that great human minds continue to think of new and innovative ways to allow humans to lead healthier lives, given the number of cities around the world that currently fall short.
In the United States and many other Western democracies, the pernicious idea of eugenics led to mass sterilisations of the "feebleminded" and "unfit" in the 1920s and 1930s. And then came Nazi eugenics and the deaths of millions. Now American scientists have opened the door to a new kind of eugenics -- boutique, design-it-yourself designer genetics. But it's still eugenics. Read about a major government report which gives it a yellow-light.
Michael Cook
Editor
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The 15 most polluted cities in the world
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