The Great Smog of London: When Pollution Killed 12,000 Over a Single Weekend

[@Sideprojects]

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[@Jonas.856]

06:19 word, Simon...

[@jhfdhgvnbjm75]

Oh Simon, your slipping into americanisms with sidewalk and fall :(

[@mikebar42]

What color is pancreatic fluid exactly?

[@mikebar42]

@@Jonas.856 Word Up ^

[@landonbrain4095]

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[@evilwelshman]

London's level of pollution is so bad that apparently, the Prime Minister's residence, 10 Downing Street was not originally black in colour. The bricks were apparently originally yellow in colour but had become stained black due to years of pollution and soot; with people only realising this when builders were renovating/refurbishing the place. It's consequently deliberately painted black now in order to preserve the look as people had gotten so used to the black facade.

[@dannydaw59]

The front door was red for a long time but now that's a dark color too apparently.

[@the1truth517]

The entire British government sees this video, leans their heads back and say, "...allegedly".

[@Karma-qt4ji]

I think it is the other way around. I think a large percentage of the population will tell you that the Great Smog never happened; it was a scam perpetuated by the government in an effort to control the people (read sheeple) and force us to pay extra tax to take our vehicles in the area.

[@the1truth517]

@@Karma-qt4ji Issa Business Blaze reference joke. That's one of his other channels.

[@Arc115YT]

Ah i see you are a man of culture as well

[@the1truth517]

@@Arc115YT I see that you must be a legend, indeed.

[@Karma-qt4ji]

@@the1truth517 Yes, I got that. And mine was a pandemic joke that is equally valid at this time.....

[@franl155]

I remember the 1962 event: I wasn't sure of the date until Simon mentioned it - I was trying to work out how old I might have been and therefore what year it might have been; I'd arrived at "maybe 1960 or 61". We lived in East London and coal fires were still common. I remember going to school one day with a scarf wrapped about my face to "protect" me from the evil-smelling and evil-tasting yellow air. It was thick enough that, when I put my arm out in front of me, I couldn't even see my wrist, let alone my hand. Edit for the comment that was deleted: I didn't mishear him. Him talking about 1952 reminded me of my experience; as mine couldn't have been in 1952 I was trying to work out when it actually was.

[@jooleebilly]

There was a "London smog" event in both 1952 and 1962. You're both right!

[@shanehebert3237]

Pickpockets; "Ah, the great smog, where I can do cocaine and commit crime and not get cau-*-cough cough-*---- shit is that MY blood?"

[@viridiscoyote7038]

Fun fact: Silver largely didn't tarnish before the industrial revolution. The extra sulfur added to the atmosphere now causes tarnish to occur.

[@zJoriz]

Now I understand why when American movie studios make a scene that's supposed to be in old London, they almost always include heavy fog.

[@BaronVonQuiply]

That's basically all we know of Britain: London is foggy, if not... it'd better be. Also, a fair number of us think the entire island is called England, so just consider this a win.

[@jordanm.4855]

Can you please do the great Toronto fire?

[@nicolevarnam2290]

Yeah, I would like to hear about that. I've never heard about this before

[@FtheWoke]

Nobody cares about Canada

[@terenceconnors9627]

Speaking of messed up ways to die in a city, Boston once had a molasses tsunami. 21 people died, 150 were injured, and North End residents still claim you can smell the molasses on a hot day.

[@ericvantassell6809]

molasses happens

[@sandybarnes887]

Yeah I think I saw that on one of Simon's ten channels a while ago.

[@terenceconnors9627]

@@sandybarnes887 Thanks! Found it.

[@terenceconnors9627]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o37NqWtmrad2ldk

[@sandybarnes887]

@@terenceconnors9627 right on. I'm glad I could help a bit.

[@bobjackson4720]

As a child living in a British northern coastal town in the 1950's, I remember several occasions when the smog was so bad I literally couldn't see my out stretched hand. On those occasions the air was so polluted you could taste it.

[@AdamMansbridge]

4:15 "flashlight wielding police" Shows a video of a copper wielding what every one would agree is a torch

[@caw25sha]

...while standing on a PAVEMENT.

[@davidmccarthy6061]

Archival footage is likely rare and flashlights were crap back then, while fire remained brighter and longer lasting.

[@AdamMansbridge]

@@davidmccarthy6061 I have a strong suspicion that the original source said "torch" which was translated to the American "flashlight", the only trouble being that it was before there was such a thing as a portable electric lamp

[@ChristophersMum]

...and a flaming one at that!!

[@michealkelly9441]

Who gives a damn

[@Pavlos_Charalambous]

Interesting enough, a similar phenomenon took place in Athens for in the cold winters between 2010- 12, during that financially difficult period many people couldn't afford paying electricity for heating - many didn't had electric power at all, and even worse the government had raised the taxes on heating petrol to the level of vehicle's diesel leaving this way for many no other option than wood heaters / stoves, with many being forced to burn old furniture and wood palettes - the two worse kinds of wood to burn.. Some nights especially in winter 2011-12 cars couldn't drive at night because of the dirty fog, the pollution could be felt even in the parliament building and the government started to threatening people with fines to stop them from burning un proper wood ignoring the fact that they were also responsible for the situation.. Eventually it will take the death of a number of people from co2 poisoning for the government to stop over taxing the heating petrol and to start some working on how they could give a break to people, without forcing them to the extremes although it would be the next administration that would manage to solve the problem ( at least this one they got it right)

[@thomasllewelynjones5546]

My grandmother lived in Neasden, which is a suburb in Northern London, and she said that during the Smog, the pollution in her area was so bad, that when she was walking down her street, she could only tell where she was by running her hand along the walls of the houses and counting how many doors she had passed!

[@cliffbird7983]

Yes as an 8 year old i had to walk one leg on the road one on pavement to get to school

[@laurieb3703]

@@cliffbird7983 I had no legs. Had to paddle myself on a makeshift skateboard

[@connorhixenbaugh1567]

"Nothing worse than the video youre watching getting interrupted by adverts" said in an advert 😆

[@terryarmbruster7986]

I prefer cringe worthy topics. I already binge on Simon's s

[@evilwelshman]

Made especially hilarious by the look on Simon's face as he read that line. 😆😆

[@ro.7427]

Well now I am waiting for the ad...

[@ApprendreLangues]

Hilarious... especially knowing that Simon makes even the ad content entertaining... :-)

[@Markle2k]

It's become the new meme for mid-roll ads with Simon.

[@hippiehoni]

Does anyone else think it's funny that the English say torch instead of flashlight but the one time I hear an English person say someone was holding a flashlight they were actually holding a torch in the video?

[@toddlerj102]

Its from the memeologist in the basement!

[@Simonsvids]

Not just the English, all of us British say torch (sarcasm intended)

[@williams2187]

@j mcw You’d also never use proper punctuation or spelling either.....Allegedly...

[@jenniferahough4983]

You do understand that English English was around for centuries before American English? So basically American English is an alteration of English English.

[@Markle2k]

@@jenniferahough4983 Not as much of an alteration as j mcw's alterations

[@bobmackay1856]

I remember in the 1962 fog, playing hide-and-seek in the school playground. You could hide just by running to the other side of the playground, since you could not see all the way across!

[@robbojax2025]

Me too, only we played football. Hysterical.

[@TheQuickSilver101]

I learned about this years ago and I still find it difficult to wrap my brain around the fact that a city like London, which I have always considered very modern, can have 12,000 people die over the course of a single weekend from smog as recently as 1952. Absolutely crazy.

[@breadsandwich4308]

Good video! I knew this happened, but didn't know there was a second smog that killed 750.

[@katherinekinnaird4408]

I live in Bakersfield California USA and you are correct. Compounding the problem Bakersfield is at the Southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. High mountains creat a bowl effect. When dirty air from north is blown south to Bakersfield we get a double whammy of Fresno, Sacramento and even the Bay area smog. With the California and Oregon state fires this year Stuart and Ash rained down on us for months.

[@ElicBehexan]

My family went to London in mid-June of 1968. Apparently we were there during the one week of summer that year. We thought it was nice, since we live in Texas... In early June of 1996, I think, I returned to London with my mother. We did mostly stay in London, but did go to Lincoln to Bransby Home of Rest for Horses and a tour of Stonehenge and Bath. I also went to London with my now wife in 2003, we actually stayed just outside of London proper. We were there to attend a Tomorrow People's reunion party, but spent a week doing the other stuff. I didn't notice bad air in London in 1968, but when we drove from Kennedy to Newark in a cab, I noticed how bad New York City's was. That was about the last time we were back east for several decades. The next time we were there, was 1985, the year after my father died. The air was noticeably cleaner. I'm glad to say I haven't experienced a winter there, I have been briefly in Colorado with lots of snow - I prefer a Texas winter. Yes, Texas summers can be brutal, but most years we have less than 30 days below freezing.

[@dhruvsharma7476]

Pollution is everywhere 😷. Good video, thanks for this informative video 👍.i watcher all channels of yours and I like your way of telling these stories. Warm Namaste from India 🙏🇮🇳

[@davidneel8327]

Not only everywhere but around for a while. Supposedly smog was happening in the valley of Los Angeles before the industrial revolution happened as the result of burning of brush.

[@andrewcox4386]

I remember when the first cars with catalytic converters came out, Saab ran an advert claiming that driving a Saab in London actually improved the air quality as the exhaust was cleaner than what the engine took in.

[@ChristophersMum]

Thank you Simon...I have heard, and read, about The Great Smog from various sources but none have described the conditions right on the street as fully as you have done here....well done.

[@oliver4260]

Simon the way you present these events leaves me astounded thank u for such great presentations

[@danielduncan6806]

Yeah, he is among the great orators. I would not be surprised if one day he is approached by a big name and asked to orate big name documentaries.

[@TheEvilCommenter]

Good video 👍

[@barrydysert2974]

Quote from a former LA resident i once knew, "I like to see what I breath." Oh yeah, in the summer of 2020 more than 2,000,000 acres of forrest and grassland burned in CA. It wasn't just LA with extra thick air! !:-) 🖖

[@ortizguard2816]

Always learn something new from your videos. Thanks!

[@sandybarnes887]

Business Blaze Mega Projects Side Projects Top Tenz Today I Found Out Biographics Geographics Highlight History Xplrd Visual Politik EN The Simon Whistler Show I may have missed one. Visual Politk EN is now hosted by someone else. The Simon Whistler Show hasn't had new content for a while.

[@PittSlovak]

I'm surprised I never heard of this before. Being from Western Pennsylvania, I am quite familiar with the Donora smog event of 1948 that killed 20 people. Donora is tucked in the Monongahela River valley and had a temperature inversion while a zinc mill and steel mill continued pumping smoke into the air. This event led to air pollution regulations in the US and the first of many regulations related to mill emissions.

[@ravenhill-the-hospitaller-1968]

i really loved this video, thanks simon.

[@davidneel8327]

A similar event occurred in Western Pennsylvania. Can't recall the town, other than it being a steel town, or the year. In part is was because it was in a valley.

[@caw25sha]

Donora?

[@jetsons101]

@@caw25sha I thought it was Pittsburgh....

[@nathankerr8398]

I was on a bicycle in the 1970s --- and crashed into a parked car, that I could not see due to air pollution in Christchurch, New Zealand...the Clean Air Act saved many people, and their property.

[@glenno2083]

Got Magellan thanks to your link :) thanks Simon

[@Lucy-gu8uk]

We lived in London in 1952. I was too young to remember this, but my mother spoke of it quite often. My sister was born on Dec 6.

[@ManOnTheRange]

sometimes in the village where i live the visibility in winter time falls to some 50m for a day or two... a very cold day without sun... but when i go to the woods or i drive somewhere after i get few hundreds meters outside of village suddenly i get out of the "fog" and i realize its sunny and relatively warm and yes many people here burn wood or coal and we are situated between the hills on three sides and lake on the fourth

[@michelletaylor4654]

I live in Salt Lake City, Utah. We're VERY familiar with inversions. :(

[@jimmyj1969]

My parents traveled in London in 1967 and they had to clean their faces with de-make-up cotton twice a day - the cotton becoming black from smog pollutants!

[@johncassels3475]

Interesting video - thanks! I think it was too early for natural gas - the "cleaner' fuel would have been town gas, itself created from coal. Not until the 1960's did Natural Gas start appearing in the UK.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

5:30 - Mid roll ads 7:15 - Chapter 1 - Cleaning london

[@fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718]

1850: Thames is an open sewer. 1950: Air in general in London is an open sewer. 2050: I can hardly wait to see what's next.

[@shebbs1]

Well both the Thames and air have been rehabilitated, if imperfectly, by way of the Clean Air Act and big efforts over a century or more for the Thames. 2050 will be ok, as regards those, providing the next 30 years don't see a huge cock-up.

[@DS-si5cp]

@@shebbs1 don't the Tories want to deregulate everything?

[@Red_Scorpian]

actually you got that wrong, it wasn't just the cold snap, but back then they was told to keep burning coal because that is a sign of great industry and thriving country. so they was told to keep burning to make germany think they was doing well.

[@someoneorsomething7591]

Great vid.

[@brianoconnell6459]

We did have that big wildfire in September, from California through Oregon. In WA the air quality was so bad that there was a thick layer of yellowish smog from the smoke and the usual Seattle humidity.

[@deemariedubois4916]

Thanks Simon.

[@cearnold]

I live somewhere where an inversion occurs every year (at least in the last 10 years or so)... we get trapped with >5km smog (if not worse) for weeks if not a couple months every summer. I’m literally only 21 and all this has happened in my lifetime. So many people are moving here that I’ve witnessed it turn from a paradise into an LA of smog each and every summer..

[@Thx1138sober]

In the early 60s, we would drive to upstate NY to visit our grandparents and driving through Cleveland OH really stank, but the drive through Buffalo NY was even worse and it would literally burn the inside your nose.

[@stevep5408]

Gary Indiana was pretty bad in the late 1960s!

[@jordanoneill82]

my grandfather grew up in the UK in the 50's. he almost never talks about what it was like, a shame really. i love to learn about that kinda stuff

[@freesk8]

I like the objectivity of Simon's videos. He points out the good and bad side of everything. Rare these days. Media usually has a political axe to grind or target audience biases to re-enforce. Kudos.

[@weertgilders8172]

"It's just FOG! It comes and it goes!"

[@t.c.thompson2359]

So does the tide.

[@QBCPerdition]

"You know, more people die from fog every year than are dying from this Smog." "Only sheep stay out of the smog, living in fear." 🙄

[@wrecklessintent1982]

This is not just not fog.

[@tedthesailor172]

London still has smogs from time to time. From an elevated suburban position like Hampstead Heath or Crystal Palace, you can see a yellowish opacity thinly veiling the low to middle floors of high-rise towers on hot still summer days...

[@drmattconrad77]

Wasn’t the bad air quality in LA in September because of the fires in CA?

[@sandybarnes887]

You got it

[@scooby45247]

Yet another reason why regulations are needed in society..

[@ilarious5729]

Shh! That's communism! 😑

[@scooby45247]

@@ilarious5729 i thought it was hindsight but since everything is communism I guess you're right..

[@ilarious5729]

@@scooby45247 hindsight *and* communism!

[@shebbs1]

Regulations are not inherently communist, especially as regards the environment, even if modern environmentalism does have close ties with far-left ideology. Just remember that communist style regulation rarely paid any heed to environmental concerns as the USSR, its client states and PRC demonstrated. China today is still terrible, despite lefty claims to the contrary.

[@scooby45247]

@@shebbs1 that was the joke..

[@thomasroell8979]

Thank you for another interesting video.

[@PatTurcotte-xe2jw]

Strange to hear an ad for " Magellan TV" and hear the term "ad free".

[@PhoenyxAshe]

When I lived in England (military brat), the house my family rented was still heated by coal. This was in 1986. The Co-OP that rented the house did finally decide to upgrade, but the amount of work required do so meant that they really couldn't start work until after we left in mid-1987. One of the houses we were shown and for multiple reasons passed on was still heated by oil, an even more expensive fuel by that time and even less clean... although after the first few months my mother did make the comment that oil probably wouldn't have left a layer of black dust all over the kitchen.

[@joezephyr]

Jeep was a side project. Back in 1941. Simon, please do Willys Jeep v the YJ v the current JL.

[@johnpinckney4979]

I remember the 1962 London smog. It was news in the U.S. I suggest looking at a 1948 situation in the town of Donora, Pennsylvania...

[@twocvbloke]

Smogs certainly happened up north a lot too (where clean air acts took a while to be listened to, cheaper to ignore them and burn coal than to pay through the nose to convert to gas or electric), even the mother has lasting effects from one smog incident in Burnley in the 60s leaving her with COPD to this day...

[@procatprocat9647]

Maybe in the grim towns and cities. Certainly not in the northern moors, dales and other conservation areas. There are so many reasons to avoid living in the grim cities (and industrial towns), the list is a very long one !!

[@bateman2112]

So when Mick Jagger sang about painting a red door black all he really needed to do was leave it outside in London. I love oddball, low(ish) body count disasters like this smog-pocalypse or Boston's Great Molasses Flood in January 1919 (which would make a cool short Sideprojects video).

[@JulianKnight-IT]

Even in the early 1980's Manchester was still getting the occasional smog as it is surrounded on 3 sides by hills. Travelling to London regularly prior to COVID always resulted in coming back filthy with grimy shirts, face, and hands.

[@stuartriefe1740]

A lot of people blamed Winston Churchill as he was the sitting Prime Minister when this event took place (his second term, we all know about his momentous first term) and I am pleased that Simon and the author just gave the facts and did not affix blame. Something like this could have happened to any country and administration dependent on coal.

[@ericabuchanan7260]

The Chicago Fire video would be awesome. Mrs. oLeary is a distant relative.

[@jasonwright1687]

Very interesting. Not sure if it could go with this channel, or maybe over on the blaze... But the triangle waistcoat factory fire in america.... That could be another video.

[@terencehawkes3933]

I was 2 years old and lived through the great pea soup of 1952. It was one of the reasons we emigrated to Canada.

[@skiapod6427]

You could have just emigrated to Guildford.

[@terencehawkes3933]

@@skiapod6427 😁

[@rogerj.fugere3570]

Simon, would you and the crew please do a Side Project on England's canal system?................................rj

[@CYCLONE4499]

Simon Whistler the Beard of Knowledge

[@vfletes1]

Are you jellin im jellin.. With Magellan.. Lol .. Remember that commercial

[@davidneel8327]

Another comment. You mentioned how long the fogs had be occurring. In part many areas have micro climates. In coastal areas with mountains, one side of the mountains maybe be dry and the opposite side wet.

[@ComaDave]

I remember Frankie Boyle joking how the track and field events at the Beijing Olympics would be cancelled after a javelin got stuck in the sky.

[@qualicumwilson5168]

I do not live in England but know that River Thames flows East into the North Sea. The English Channel is south of the Downs, probably the hills referred to.

[@HikuroMishiro]

Was just telling somebody about this last week, but had no idea so many people died. Guess I'll need to correct myself.

[@reubenmacleod3590]

I see you finally fixed the door handle...

[@Jim-ie6uf]

Even in the late 70’s it was bad over there in the winter.

[@InquisMalleus]

London is famous for its air quality - the term "London smog" to refer to particulate smog (as opposed to "Los Angeles smog" (aka photochemical smog)) doesn't exist for nothing.

[@shebbs1]

There was, might still be, a brand of clothing called London Fog.

[@marco77ar]

This is like so much more formal compared to business blaze, even Simon’s voice sounds different.

[@did4h2k]

i lived in china for 18 months and i have seen the worst aqi indexes (600 ppm plus) while living there - to be fair, 90% of when i checked i was living there. but there were also days, not to few, where the aqi in shanghai was better than in my hometown vienna. so.....

[@charlesdarwin7253]

TL;DW : In the 1950s, the atmosphere over London became dangerously oversaturated with Simon Whistler's KZbin videos.

[@tedsmith6137]

Can traffic on the Thames River actually be said to have 'ground to a halt'? Splashed to a halt? Gurgled to a halt? Perhaps it might 'heave to'.

[@starrsmith3810]

I’m pretty sure one of my favorite people from the Titanic died from this And now I’m irritated at the smog

[@stevep5408]

You forgot to show the two meter layer of foam on the Thames!

[@donaldboughton8686]

The Thames has been cleaned up a lot. Hence the returning wildlife. If the water quality keeps on improving the Salmon will return, London apprentices have been known to riot over their masters feeding them salmon to eat too frequently.

[@oldenweery7510]

I was 12 when this happened and our teachers discussed it with us here in the US. IIRC, one of them said part of the problem was that in GB, the bituminous coal had a higher concentration of sulfur than most of our American varieties, plus the Brits burned it on open hearths more than we did (thank you, Ben Franklin and others, for inventing cast iron stoves with good chimneys). It might even be true, no? Also, didn't acid rain first appear in Britain and certain other countries before it hit us Yanks? At any rate, I'm glad people (meaning Gov'ts) are finally paying attention to air quality. Stay safe, everyone.

[@richardsinger01]

It was post war rationing that lead to the use of poor quality coal - because that was off ration.

[@brett4264]

Holy shit! I never heard of this.

[@Ginrikuzuma]

Just watching this video gave me trouble breathing

[@chrisfryer3118]

London was known as The (Big) Smoke when I were a kid.

[@nautilusshell4969]

How cosmopolitan we are in London! I never realised we had mortuaries and movie theatres (theaters, perhaps?) I always thought we had undertakers and cinemas....

[@donaldboughton8686]

Funeral homes are American but they still handle the stiffs like undertakers.

[@rajdharmendra5253]

What a coincidence... Just started binging the Crown and Simon comes up with this😂

[@AndrewMitchell123]

wow was expecting this in like 19th century or something, not 20th century... but on the other hand, with ever-increasing coal-burning entities after the war this actually makes a lot of sense...

[@stephenschofield2836]

Yay, I get to correct Simon!! The North sea officially starts past the straights of Dover, South West of that is officially the English channel. As Felixtowe on the Thames Estuary is North of Dover, I rest my smarty arse case 🤣😂🤣😂🤣

[@surferdude4487]

Many times I've heard that London is positively smokin'.

[@XSpImmaLion]

Adding some info to the video. In case you missed, the Great Smog of London happened in 1952... so it took a smaller event and 4 years for the Clean Air Act, and then several years for it to really take hold, and it wasn't mostly because of the Act itself - it's because the source of pollution got exported. The whole reason why China and other developing countries has had such problems with air pollution are ironically the same... industrial revolution conditions never stopped, they just got outsourced. People tend to focus on lack of regulations and whatnot, but developed nations know full well that the lack of regulations plus lack of welfare and human rights conditions all leading to cheap labor and industrial production is the whole reason why factories producing stuff for them are located in those countries. So you really can't complain much about the pollution of China, India, and other developing countries - the pollutionis there because they are making cheap products for export to countries like the US, UK and other developed nations. China in particular, when it started becoming the industry of the world, just went for the cheapest, fastest source of power possible - coal. It's also cleaning up in record breaking time recently. It's not that doctors, governments and people in general are ignorant of the problem or didn't know it was gonna get bad... it's just economics. Near future, you can bet that the most polluting countries will be in Africa, poor Asian countries and whatnot. Because that's where cheap polluting industries, with cheap labor and lax regulations will be going to.

[@Mike-.]

Good video

[@bjw4859]

That was as interesting as it was disturbing, what goes up there comes down here, it is all our problem, when will we learn.

[@thejudgmentalcat]

Weird that total emissions went down in 2020 but L.A. had a bad smog incident. But their location doesn't help.

[@Bubbaist]

There were a lot of wildfires around the city at the time.

[@Thecrazzedgamer]

Yeah, the Bobcat Fire was raging by then. The weird this was that the smoke went directly over all of La County and Orange County, lingering around for a good week or two. The ashfall was the reason there was an air safety warning. It blanketed my backyard, and stayed in my pool until late November

[@jetsons101]

All the power plants are running to charge up all the electric cars, wait---electric cars don't pollute..

[@MAGGOT_VOMIT]

@ 4:13 An Englishman for the first time ever says, "FLASHLIGHT wielding Policemen..." and then shows a Policeman.......wielding a REAL FRIGGIN' TORCH!!.........WHY SIMON, WHY?!! With the century old Flashlight vs Torch and Trunk vs Boot ect. debacles, we can't take that kind of confusion here in the U.S. Great vid as always. xD

[@jenniferschmitzer299]

is this the pea souper thing? eta- said this before first minute of the video lol the best description i read about it was from a book by a fellow named James Herriot and the particular scene was set there in london and he was conscripted as you do, they had to march/run/jog in military training and he said the fog tasted metallic, sat low, stuck around like it was heavy and it had a yellowness about it.

[@procatprocat9647]

You clearly didn't watch the video

[@jenniferschmitzer299]

@@procatprocat9647 and how is this a bad thing?

[@earnestbrown6524]

I was in Hawaii for new year for 2000 and they set off some much fireworks that the air was said to be 10x worst they LA avg across the whole of O'ahu. Fireworks were not even being set off near me on base and you could not see more then 50 ft. The only good thing is as an island it cleared in less then a hour. News said that more then 10 tons of illegal firework was seized by police.

[@ronvosick8253]

This really chokes me up.

[@procatprocat9647]

Time for you to move out of the scummy cities then!

[@jetsons101]

Yes, it put a tear in my eye.

[@theairstig9164]

Canberra Australia January to March 2020 Most polluted air in the world by a long stretch although more people were exposed in Sydney and Melbourne at the same time. Because the air contained very little in the way of sulphur but a lot of CO and particulates, health scientists are divided on the possible long term effects

[@ianmorris7485]

Nothing can beat the pollution in China. When I visited Shenyang, it was way worse than anything I experienced in London in the 1960's.

[@wrs10]

Left out of the commentary was the fact that lignite was allowed to be burned in London for the first time. Big mistake.

[@stefanavic6630]

4:30 Simon says "sidewalk".