Rockström et al. (2009a, 2009b) have warned that humanity must reduce anthropogenic impacts defined by nine planetary boundaries if "unacceptable global change" is to be avoided. Chemical pollution was identified as one of those boundaries for which continued impacts could erode the resilience of ecosystems and humanity. The central concept of the planetary boundary (or boundaries) for chemical...

This chapter describes how estimates of air pollution emissions are transformed into ambient concentration of pollution, further translated into exposure and health impacts on a population, and finally expressed in damages. Different trade and environmental policy menus lead to different levels of pollution emissions and income. For each menu the emissions levels translate into specific mortali...

Air pollution originating from road traffic is a known risk factor of respiratory and cardiovascular disease (both in terms of chronic and acute effects). While adverse effects on cardiovascular health have also been linked with noise (after controlling for air pollution), noise exposure has been commonly linked to sleep impairment and negative emotional reactions. Health is multi-faceted, both...

Er-hai Lake lies in state of Dali of Yunnan Province in China, which is so important to the local people that they revere her as the Mother Lake. Unfortunately, she is threatened by the more serious pollution of water. And from the water quality assessment of Er-hai Lake over the years, it is indicated that the major water pollution source come from nonpoint source pollution. The argument is th...

Chinese resource-exhausted cities face more severe environmental pollution problems than other cities. In addressing these problems, the way local officials (usually senior party and government leaders) operate is very important, as their focus on political achievements may complicate how they manage environmental pollution in these cities. On the one hand, the traditional Gross Domestic Produc...

BACKGROUND In a previous study it has been shown that mean population perception of air pollution correlates well with physical measures of actual air pollution and could be used as a measure of exposure to air pollution, at least for those forms of pollution perceptible to humans. However, for such a measure to be valid researchers would need to be confident that it was not strongly biased by ...

Ambient (outdoor) air pollution is now recognized as an important problem, both nationally and worldwide. Our scientific understanding of the spectrum of health effects of air pollution has increased, and numerous studies are finding important health effects from air pollution at levels once considered safe. Children and infants are among the most susceptible to many of the air pollutants. In a...

BACKGROUND Associations between air pollution and a multitude of health effects are now well established. Given ubiquitous exposure to some level of air pollution, the attributable health burden can be high, particularly for susceptible populations. OBJECTIVES An international multidisciplinary workshop was convened to discuss evidence of the effectiveness of actions to reduce health impacts ...

Air pollution causes severe physical and psychological health complications. Considering China's continuously-deteriorating air quality, this study aimed to assess the self-reported effects of air pollution on the behavior and physical health of the students of 13 densely populated cities, and their awareness, practices, and perception of air pollution and its associated public health risks. A ...

Extreme air pollution meteorological events, such as heat waves, temperature inversions and atmospheric stagnation episodes, can significantly affect air quality. Based on observational data, we have analyzed the long-term evolution of extreme air pollution meteorology on the global scale and their potential impacts on air quality, especially the high pollution episodes. We have identified sign...