Must these Englishmen live, &c?The Great Smog of '52 or Big Smoke was a severe air pollution event that affected London during December 1952. A period of cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants mostly from the use of coal to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from Friday 5 to Tuesday 9 December 1952, and then dispersed quickly after a change of weather.
Although it caused major disruption due to the effect on visibility, and even penetrated indoor areas, it was not thought to be a significant event at the time, with London having experienced many smog events in the past, so called "pea soupers". However, medical reports in the following weeks estimated that 4,000 people had died prematurely and 100,000 more were made ill because of the smog's effects on the human respiratory tract. More recent research suggests that the number of fatalities was considerably greater at about 12,000.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
60 Yrs. Ago Today: Choking On
The Big Smoke
This must have been fun:
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5 comments:
Talk about progress!
At least with climate change I can act to mitigate the worst effects.
I can start wearing a speedo and flip flops. All the time...
Flabby & Milk White Editor:
The idea of aging wretches sporting Speedos 24/7 might cause something to be done about the problem. Maybe this reporter should get on it. Or in some.
"Old Guys In Speedos Against Warming Globally"
O.G.I.S.A.W.G.
~
Sign me up.
And I know the air in L.A. is magnitudes better than it was back in the '60s (or, 50 fucking years ago) but didn't people drop from that crap too?
Absolutely the air is better now in LA than back then. When we moved to LA in the 90s, the guidebooks were still rating neighborhoods by air quality.
Those became completely irrelevant for us because we moved to Topanga, which is great for air but has its own issues.....but that's another story.
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