A Smog Chaser On A BIcycle?

No sooner had I left behind the oppressive atmosphere of the city and that reek of smoking cookers which pour out, along with clouds of ashes, all of the poisonous fumes they have accumulated in their interiors whenever they have started up, than I noticed the change in my condition.

The "city" in the above passage is Rome.  The person who made wrote that observation about it, and the change in his health upon leaving it, was the philosopher and statesman Seneca, nearly two millenia ago.

His was hardly the first observation about air pollution and its effects.  Nor would such observations cease to be made until the twentieth century.  About five centuries after Seneca, Gregory of Tours, in his Historia Francorum (History of the Franks), makes passing mention of robes smudged by smoke that lingered in the air.

But from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution until the middle of the 20th Century, air--and other types of--pollution were seen as "the price of progress" and, for some, simply making a living. (Interestingly, the Democratic Party, with was largely opposed or indifferent to environmental concerns until the mid-20th Century, while most conservationists--who weren't necessarily thinking about the overall environment--were Republicans.)  Then, a series of deadly smogs--first in mill towns like Donora, Pennsylvania and later in bigger cities like London and New York--made people aware of the dangers of air pollution.

Those toxic clouds also made lay people as well as scientists aware of the need to document specific kinds of air pollution.  Devices became more sophisticated and portable, and data analysis more granular.  But one thing those devices and pieces of information failed to convey is how widely pollution can vary in a relatively small area.  So, a city that is considered relatively "clean" can have pockets--or even larger areas--of concentrated CO2 and other contaminants.

That is where the bicycle comes in.  We all know that turning two pedals to spin two wheels instead of stepping on one pedal to propel four wheels is one of the more effective measures a person can take in helping to reduce carbon emissions.  But now bicycles themselves are being used to identify, not just large areas of pollutions, but those areas--sometimes unexpected--that have concentrations of emissions.

One of those smog-chasers on bicycles is Jordi Mazon in Barcelona, Spain.  He uses an electronic device attached to his bike's handlebars to record variations in emissions all over his city.  His work has revealed, not only variations in the levels and types of pollution, but how quickly it can spread from one area to another.  Among other things, they show us how inadequate a number for a whole city or town, especially (though he doesn't specifically mention it) when pollution disproportionately affects particular communities and people, mainly the poor and those who are considered "minorities."  

Mazon even suggests that governments deploy cyclists with the devices--which are no larger than a typical bike computer and cost around 200 Euros--to take readings in specific areas at specific times.  In addition to the relative low cost, another advantage is that people on bicycles can be sent fairly quickly into small areas without adding to the very phenomenon they are sent to measure.

Hmm...Could that be another career for me--a smog-chaser on a bike?

Trying To Clear The Air

According to the World Health Organization, the cities with the world's worst air quality are clustered, with a few exceptions, in three areas:  India/Pakistan, China and the Middle East.

What most of the cities on WHO's list have in common is rapidly-developing economies, mainly in manufacturing and other highly-polluting industries.  However, one of the reasons why so many Chinese and Indian cities make the list is, ironically, the opposite of a reason why Middle Eastern urban areas are found on that same list.

That reason has to do with petroleum.  Countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran have lots of it, and use it.  On the other hand, while India and China are also petrol producers, they have also become importers because their industries and vehicular traffic have grown so much, and because their current oil reserves are more difficult to tap than the ones that have previously been tapped.  Plus, both countries are rich in coal, which is widely used as fuel as well as in making steel, a major export for both countries.

But it seems that even in parts of the oil-rich Middle East, there is some awareness of the perils of petrol dependency.  Some of them are, of course, economic:  What will they do when the oil runs out, or simply becomes too difficult or expensive to extract from the ground--or, for that matter, if demand for it decreases?  Other hazards of fossil-fuel addiction include--you guessed it--health hazards related to poor air quality.

So, perhaps, it is not surprising that the Netherlands Bicycle Partnership, a consortium of public and private organizations working with the University of Amsterdam, is working to encourage cycling in Tehran, the capital of Iran, as well as other cities (which made the WHO list) in the country.

The NBP, formed in 2015, works with local governments and organizations on sustainability issues.  It recently helped to devise a document designed to encourage cycling in the Iranian capital over the next five years.  The city is starting to take the steps necessary to develop the infrastructure and do the other things needed to meet the goals of the document.  This is significant because previous attempts to promote cycling failed, in part, due to the lack of said infrastructure--including bike lanes and ride-sharing programs.

It would be interesting--and gratifying--if an area with an economy so tied to petrol production can develop the sort of bicycle infrastructure--which, one imagines, could encourage bicycle commuting as well as recreational cycling--found in petrol-poor countries like the Netherlands, which has significantly better air quality in its cities.

(Interesting side-note: In Europe, the west generally has better air quality than the east--and the differences are stark.  In fact, there's a clear line between the two, and it roughly follows the old Iron Curtain.)