Killer Smog

Like so many terrible things, the dark cloud seemed to appear out of nowhere. It swept over London, England—black and poisonous. It brought terror and sickness. It would kill 12,000 people. 

This was not a monster from a nightmare, an F5 tornado, or an alien spaceship. This terrifying killer was air—a massive cloud of toxic, polluted air. For five days, it blanketed London, causing fear, panic, and death. It became known as the Killer Smog of 1952, and it is one of the deadliest environmental disasters in history.

December 5, 1952, was a quiet day. Nine-year-old Brian Bone was at home with his parents and 15-year-old brother, Hugh. When Brian opened the back door to let out his dog, Tarzan, he noticed that the morning was damp and smoky. But that wasn’t unusual for London at that time of year. The German shepherd trotted into the fenced-in backyard, and Brian shut the door and went about his day.

It was only later, when Brian went to call the dog in, that he realized something was horribly wrong. The hazy morning had turned midnight black. The air had a sharp smell—a mixture of chemicals and rotten eggs. Brian and his parents called for Tarzan, but the dog had escaped through a hole in the fence. Normally, the shepherd would have been able to sniff his way home. But even a dog’s powerful sense of smell was no match for the smothering smog. For hours the family searched the neighborhood, braving the darkness as they called for Tarzan. The dog remained hopelessly lost.

Across London, millions of people had been plunged into darkness. Buses screeched to a halt. Trains stopped on their tracks. Cars crashed. People stumbled along the streets, unable to find their way home. A few got so lost they fell into the Thames River and drowned. Being indoors provided no escape. Black air crept under doors and through keyholes, filling up homes and offices and hospitals.

What was happening?

What few people understood was that smog wasn’t just dirty and smelly—it was also dangerous. It contained toxic chemicals and particulates—specks of unburned coal. As Brian and his family searched outside for Tarzan, their lungs were filling with this poison.

Even before scientists fully understood how smog damages the body, there were signs that it was harmful. On pea-soup smog days in London, schoolkids would be hunched over their desks, wheezing and hacking as they tried to do to their work. Elderly people would collapse in the streets. Emergency rooms routinely filled with patients showing signs of smog-related respiratory problems, such as asthma and pneumonia. Chemicals and particulates in smog can damage the lungs—permanently. Still, decades went by and government leaders took few steps to reduce air pollution.

But then came the smog of 1952.

This smog was different from others before it, more extreme and longer lasting. The unusually cold weather meant that people were burning more coal than usual to stay warm. There was no wind, nothing to clear away the smog.

So day after day, London remained dark. Schools stayed closed. Workers couldn’t get to their jobs. Even funerals were canceled; grieving relatives couldn’t see well enough to drive from churches to cemeteries to bury their loved ones.

By day three of the smog, there was some good news at the Bone house: Tarzan had somehow made his way home. But Brian couldn’t do much celebrating, because he was sick in bed with a burning, painful cough. He felt as though the smog itself was trapped inside his chest.

All around London, others were getting sick too—thousands and thousands of people. At first, most doctors believed that people were suffering from the flu or other typical winter illnesses. Even scientists did not immediately make a direct connection between the smog and the growing number of coughing, wheezing people staggering into hospitals.

Soon it became clear that London was in the grips of a true disaster. The smog wasn’t just making people sick.

It was killing them.

By the time the smog finally cleared on the fifth day, more than 4,000 people had died. In the coming months, roughly 8,000 more would die from illnesses related to the smog.

The Killer Smog of 1952 changed the way people thought about air pollution. For the first time, there could be no doubt that smog was a deadly problem. Over the next three years, the British government passed laws designed to make air cleaner. Polluting factories were moved outside the city. The government helped people pay for cleaner heating systems that didn’t rely on dirty coal.

America followed with clean-air laws of its own. Since 1955, these laws have supported research on air pollution and imposed limits on the toxins that can be released into the air by factories, power plants, cars, and other sources of pollution.

Since then, there have been no killer smogs in England or America. But dirty air continues to be a problem in many parts of both countries, thanks largely to cars and growing populations.

Smog also remains a truly deadly problem around the world. Beijing, China, and New Delhi, India, are just two of dozens of cities frequently shrouded in pea-soup smogs caused by factories, burning coal, and car exhaust.

According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is the world’s most dangerous environmental problem. Millions suffer from pollution-related health problems such as asthma. In 2012, about 7 million people died from exposure to dirty air.

Few understand the dangers of air pollution better than survivors of the Killer Smog of 1952—like Brian Bone.

Happily, Brian recovered from his illness. But throughout his life, he has suffered from lung problems that may have been caused by the smog.

Today, at age 72, Brian understands what a gift it is to take a deep breath of sweet, fresh air.

_{Copyright ©2016 Lauren Tarshis}

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

BEIJING, CHINA—Residents across this city awoke to an environmental state of emergency as poisonous air quality prompted the government to close schools, force drivers off the road, and shut down factories.

On Monday, the government declared a “red alert” over air pollution. It also broadcast what sounded like bombing raid alerts in the subways to warn people of the health dangers. Yet even with those extraordinary measures, the toxic air grew worse, shrouding China’s capital city of more than 20 million people in a soupy, metallic haze.

By 4 p.m., walking the dim streets was like strolling through a coal mine. The city’s air quality index read 308, rated “hazardous” by United States standards. At that level, people should not even set foot outdoors.

Cities in China regularly have poor air quality. In fact, the air in China is among the worst in the world. Rapid industrialization, burning coal for power, and a quick rise in the number of people who own cars have all contributed to the problem. According to some estimates, as many as 1 million people in China die each year from diseases linked to the polluted air.

Officials in Beijing issued the red alert to try to rein in the smog and to show residents that the government was taking action. During the alert, the number of cars allowed on the road was restricted, so many workers couldn’t get to their jobs. Others had to stay home with their children, as Beijing’s 3,200 schools were ordered to close for several days.

The inconvenience caused by the red alert showed residents just how severe China’s environmental crisis has become.

“What bothers me the most is that my child may have a very negative view of nature,” said café manager Kan Tingting, 35. Tingting remained indoors with her 3-year-old daughter—one of some 2 million schoolchildren affected by the school closures. “She loves nature much less than she would in a normal environment. I don’t want her to grow up thinking nature is ugly.”

In another corner of Beijing, university professor Wang Bei was bunkered down at home with her 10-year-old son. “Air pollution is a huge problem that we ignored early on, while we concentrated on economic development,” she said. “Now we are paying the price.”

Beijing has had a color-coded emergency response plan to smog since 2013. Until now, however, it had never sounded a red alert. Many residents wondered why.

Did city officials fear the economic losses that might result?

In recent years, China has made a devil’s handshake: the trading of a healthy living environment for extremely fast economic growth. Now, as government leaders try to deal with this dystopian scenario, many are realizing that lasting change could take years, maybe decades.

“Shutting down factories is not ideal for the economy,” said Zhao Ling, a technology salesman. “But health should come first.”

This article was originally published in the April 2016 issue.