Air pollution in developing countries vs developed countries?

For some of it we learned our lessons, while we talk of how bad pollution is in places like China and how we have improved things like smog from what it was like in the 1970's the origins of modern industrial pollution go back a little further than that. Do a little digging and you find accounts of smog in London 100 years ago that at times was so bad people had to walk ahead of carriages and cars because you could simple not see more than a few meters, much of this was caused by coal as the car was still a very limited toy for the rich, our history in the west for past pollution is etched into our oldest buildings, which had survived pretty well for centuries some even for millennium till our industrial age now they are etched by acid rain. we have learned from lesson like this and implemented strong controls to curb this type of pollution, developing countries have so far pretty much ignored this in an effort to catch up with us and is already evident they are paying much the same cost many industrial cities in China now have perpetual smog.

There are even some deniers here who like to pretend there was no smog problem in the 70's they say it never happened and never got as bad as was predicted, apparently what ever rock they where living under from the 70's to today they seemed to miss the changes in fuel (both petrol & Diesel) designed to significantly reduce Nitrogen oxide emissions through the introduction of the catalytic converter. Must have been a very big rock indeed.

Developed Vs Undeveloped Countries

many underdeveloped countries have seen a significant rise in urban population over the last few years, so the population continues to grow with new urban immigrants and new urban births. There is a higher demand for electricity which creates a good deal of CO2 pollution to produce. As the middle class begins to rise in these areas, they want what we have always wanted, more goods which require more manufacturing plants which again produce more CO2. They buy more cars and these of course increase CO2 production.

Honestly many of the challenges are the same as these urban areas are modernized. Unfortunately they are not modernizing and thinking about clean power, they just want what we have and like us don't care about the pollution of the air or water for that matter.

China and India, both of which were until recently considered to be underdeveloped are modernizing at an alarming rate and it won't be too many years before they both produce more CO2 per capita than the US.

They are both building roads and bridges and shopping and convention centers. One sad thing is that they both have water challenges for irrigation and drinking. China in particular has a growing problem with desertification and Beijing for example is at threat of being overrun with sand. China's farmland is rapidly succumbing to desert from over grazing and over plowing. I realize I am off the air pollution factor, but pollution of all kinds follow progress, but without water and food for people, modernization there may stop in it's tracks.

To speak to the US specifically, we need to develop green energy sources, mostly solar and wind to start with. We need to innovate, retool in that direction and be quick about it. If we allow China and India to be the innovators, they will undercut prices in the world market and we will no longer be the economic power we one were. China is already loaning us billions. This country needs jobs and green power. They go hand in hand and will secure our future. I would rather see the Saudis buy or trade for our green products than some other country that has the foresight and balls to become a leader, which will leave us in the dust.

To get back on target, the challenges are the same. Air pollution is air pollution.

Air pollution is so much worse in developing countries than in developed countries. This situation happened due to problems of poverty, ignorance, and poor technology in each country. Developed countries have the resources and technologies to combat pollution. As a result of the health risks and the potential impact of climate change, there have been efforts to reduce pollution. This may be easy for developed countries that have stable economies to combat air pollution compared with the developing countries whose economies depends on natural resources. Developed countries can afford to focus on environmental goals of their country.

In short, a developing country will have really high CO2, lead and volatile organic compounds because they don't have the latest technology that reduces emissions. As in their cars are really old and their filtration technology for coal fire is poor. There will be limited wind or solar due to the coal being much cheaper.

Alternatively a developed country will have modern low emission cars, would have outlawed leaded petrol and have really good filtration for coal fire as well as some wind turbines and maybe solar and nuclear - therefor the air pollution will be much less.

According to "Inconvenience Truth" the world only had until 2008 to stop global warming. Now it is TOO LATE.

90% of humanity will die HORRIBLE deaths from floods, hurricanes, droughts, blizzards, tsunamis and earthquakes.

Only the Lear jet people like Michael Moore and Al Gore will survive the coming climate APOCALYPSE in their underground mansions.