Small Particle Pollution
Table of Contents
Introduction
What is Fine Particle Pollution?
"The term fine particles, or particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), refers to tiny particles or droplets in the air that are 2 ½ microns or less in width. The largest PM2.5 particles are about 30-times smaller than a human hair. The smaller particles are so small that several thousand of them could fit on the period at the end of this sentence." - New York State Department of HealthÂ
Why is Fine Particle Pollution Problematic?
"Breathing in unhealthy levels of PM2.5 can increase the risk of health problems like heart disease, asthma, and low birth weight. Unhealthy levels can also reduce visibility and cause the air to appear hazy. Particle pollution can come from outdoor and indoor sources.
Outdoor sources include vehicle exhaust, burning wood, gas and other fuels, and fires. Particle pollution can also travel long distances from its source; for example from wildfires hundreds of miles away. Outdoor particle pollution levels are more likely to be higher on days with little or no wind or air mixing.
Common indoor sources are tobacco smoke, broiling or frying food, burning candles or oil lamps, fireplaces, and fuel-burning space heaters." - New York State Department of HealthÂ
Sources of Fine Particle Pollution
The following are not listed in any particular order.
Fire & Wildfires
Fireworks
ICE Transportation
Solutions
Greener TransportationÂ
Active Transit
Active transportation refers to modes of traveling which use a person's own energy. These can include bikes, trikes, skate boards, roller blades, and even specialized mobility devices for people with disabilities or serious injuries.
Not only do these modes of transport keep the user healthy and reduce medical costs, but they help keep our air clean. Unlike cars, they don't create dangerous levels of small particle pollution, serious noise pollution, nor thermal pollution from tail pipes which increases a community's heat island effect.
Click the buttons bellow to lean more about passive transport options to learn about active transit options and which might be right for you.
Learn about the benefits of bikes and similar modes of transport, as well as how infrastructure to support safe cycling helps improve health and safety even for those who don't ride bikes.
If you don't have safe places to ride, then consider joining forces with your local bike advocacy group! Click the Bike Advocacy Groups button to learn which organizations are working near you!Â
There are also international and regional groups who would be happy to help you create your own organization.
Public Transit
Public transit is the most efficient way to travel if you are going long distance. Even using fossil-powered is better than private vehicles so long as ridership is high enough.Â
All over the world governments, transit companies, and school bus fleets are shifting from fossil fuel vehicles to renewables including electric and hydrogen.
Since air pollution is particularly dangerous to children and pregnant people, shifting from private vehicles to electric renewably powered buses can provide a increased benefits to the air quality around schools.
Air pollution can be higher in subways due to the small particle pollution caused by train breaking systems. Despite this, they are still more sustainable and generally cleaner than private vehicles.
Fossil-Free Transit
Electric cars, bikes, and other electric vehicles are generally better than the fossil-powered versions of these. However private cars and trucks will still generally be worse for the environment and community in general than public transportation.Â
Electric trucks in particular use a shocking amount of resources including the bigger batteries which contribute to mining pollution, and result in much heavier-than-average trucks. In other words they are far more deadly in a car accident, especially when pedestrians, cyclists and other un-protected victims are involved.
Electric cars and trucks also contribute to space problems in communities that generally weren't build to accommodate them, effectively stealing room from the people. They also contribute to more pollution via tire wear, which can be inhaled or washes out to sea.
Fire
Cleaner Cooking
Cooking with fire can release different chemicals depending on what type of gas, wood or other materials are used.Â
Cooking with cow dung as a fuel has been long used in some countries, but has been found to spread dangerous mold spores which make people seriously ill.Â
Alternatives such as fuel-efficient stoves, and warming baskets/fireless cookers can help reduce pollution and reduce deforestation in places where electric stoves aren't an option due to lack of grid connectivity.
Fireless Cookers
10:52 minute video explaining how to make a warming basket, how to use it, and about the different benefits.
Solar Ovens
There are a variety of ways to cook and preserve food with the power of sunlight including solar driers and solar ovens. These can be passive, or use small fans to speed their processes.
Rethink Slash & BurnÂ
Slash and burn is an age old practice which can help reduce the severity of wildfires, but can also cloud entire cities with unbreathable smoke. When farmers cut their crops down into mulch, they can retain the plant nutrients for the next season's plants, reduce erosion, and reduce the need for irrigation or additional chemicals such as pesticides or fertilizers.
Farmers can save money, save soil, and help keep the air cleaner for everyone including themselves. Â
Click the Farmer Actions button for farmer-specific resources and opportunities.
Composting is another great way to retain valuable nutrients on or near the farm, instead of burning them off into the atmosphere.
Prescribed Burning or "Right Way Fire"
When done in a controlled manner, at the right time of year, and with the correct monitoring, fire can remove invasive species, return nutrients to soil, and help fire-dependent species of plants propagate.Â
Search the Tools & Apps section further down on this page to see guides, maps and more.
Search the Groups section further down on this page to learn about organizations near you who can help prevent fire, or correctly perform a legally permitted prescribed burn.
Protect Homes & Communities from Fire
Smokey Bear: How to Prepare Your Home for Wildfire "Help protect your home and stop the spread of wildland fires by following these eight steps."
Hedgerows
Certain species of hedgerows can reduce small particle pollution by 75-80% by creating physical shields and absorbing the pollutants. Pollution has been found to increase again further away from the bushes, and this is believed to be because those pollutants drift upwards and around the bushes as they mix with the ambient air. This indicates a need for strategy when choosing plant species, hedgerow height, and specific locations for plantings in respect to both pollution sources and those we want to protect.
Ban Fire Works
Fireworks create a huge spike in dangerous small particle pollution each year, during national celebrations. The pollution causes a spike in emergency room visits for asthma and other lung problems, as well as a large uptick in fires and wildfires. These fires in turn create more air pollution.
Fireworks are made from plastics and various toxic chemicals, which then wash into waterways, harming local wildlife as well as drinking water.
Click the Fireworks button to learn more about traditional vs "green" fireworks. We also list some fun alternatives to fireworks, which have a much smaller ecological impact.
Tools & Apps
Click the Prescribed Fire button to find tools, apps, and guides from around the world, related to fire management and wildfire prevention.
Organizations
The following organizations help reduce small particle pollution in one way or another. Some promote controlled burning at specific times of year in appropriate locations, to prevent bigger, more dangerous fires later in the year. Others educate farmers on affordable ways to avoid crop burning.Â
International
DeSmog "was founded in January 2006 to clear the PR pollution that is clouding the science and solutions to climate change. Our team quickly became the world’s number one source for accurate, fact-based information regarding global warming misinformation campaigns.
DeSmog continues to expand our focus to other areas where misinformation has eroded public understanding and political action to address critical societal challenges, such as meeting the world’s energy needs, confronting environmental racism, and ensuring a just transition to a sustainable economic paradigm.
Through hard-hitting investigative journalism, in-depth research, and collaborations with other investigative outlets, DeSmog works tirelessly to provide climate accountability and serve as an antidote to science denial and disinformation. Supported by science and dedicated to equity, our team is helping to clear the way for clean energy solutions, environmental justice, and the preservation of democracy.
Now a global organization, with reporters and researchers spanning North and South America, the UK, Europe, Africa, and beyond, the DeSmog team works to expose corporate misinformation from major fossil fuel interests, including the likes of ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and others with a documented history of undermining climate science and action. We conduct original research and reporting on a range of issues in the broader energy policy dialogue. In many cases, we find the same tactics, and many of the same people, that DeSmog first began exposing in our early research into the climate denial industry, are now sitting alongside a new breed of lobbyist, downplaying potential solutions to climate change, and promoting questionable “silver-bullet” solutions.
Our research databases provide vital information on over 800 organizations and individuals responsible for spreading misinformation on a range of energy and science topics. We first started reporting on Koch Industries’ funding of climate denial in 2007, and continue to track Koch-linked groups and operatives in our Koch Network Database. In 2020, we added two new databases — the Air Pollution Lobbying Database and Agribusiness Database — showing how vested interests are working to slow action across multiple sectors."
North America
USA
The Clean Energy States Alliance "is a national, nonprofit coalition of public agencies and organizations working together to advance clean energy.
CESA works with state leaders, federal agencies, industry representatives, and other stakeholders to develop clean energy programs and inclusive renewable energy markets. CESA members—mostly state agencies—include many of the most innovative, successful, and influential public funders of clean energy initiatives in the country."
Maps
Europe
Portugal
Portugal Wildfire Management in a New Era Assessing Fire Risks, Resources and Reforms (PDF) includes data and maps.
North America
USA
InciWeb interactive map of fires in USA and US territories.
Burn Back Better: Map of the Wildfire Risk in Western States scroll down for map of fire risks by county in Western US states.
California
Prescribed Burns Map (interactive)
Oregon
Oceana
Australia
Patterns of Seasonal Fire Occurrence in Australia map on page 13 on this Guidebook PDF. Includes mainland Australia, Tasmania, and some smaller islands.
Western Australia
Burn Options Program "These are the burn options available depending on weather factors and changing works program priorities."
Today's Burns (interactive map) "Parks and Wildlife’s prescribed burning program protects lives, property and infrastructure from bushfires through a carefully planned regime of controlled burns."
Education, Training & Certification Opportunities
Click the Prescribed Fire button to find opportunities near you.
Resources
International
DeSmog’s Agribusiness Database "find a record of companies and organisations’ current messaging on climate change, lobbying around climate action, and histories of climate science denial."
DeSmog’s Climate Disinformation Database "browse our extensive research on the individuals and organizations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming."
Europe
UK
DeSmog’s Air Pollution Lobbying Database "find out about organisations opposing or seeking to weaken planned air quality measures in the UK’s most polluted cities, including Clean Air Zones and London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone."
North America
USA
DeSmog’s Koch Network Database "browse our extensive research on the individuals and organizations linked to Charles Koch or other members of the Koch family, Koch Industries, and related entities."
Grants
International
Open Philanthropy "Open Philanthropy’s mission is to give as effectively as we can and share our findings openly so that anyone can build on our work."
North America
USA
The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) Program "provides $5 billion in grants to states, local governments, tribes, and territories to develop and implement ambitious plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. Authorized under Section 60114 of the Inflation Reduction Act, this two-phase program provides $250 million for noncompetitive planning grants, and approximately $4.6 billion for competitive implementation grants."
California
California Air Districts "California's 35 local Air Districts are responsible for regional air quality planning, monitoring, and stationary source and facility permitting. The districts administer air quality improvement grant programs and are CARB's primary partners in efforts to ensure that all Californians breathe clean air."
California Air Resources Board: Funding for Clean School Buses