Air pollution may be worse than you think, but we can drastically reduce the impacts.
On the causes of air pollution, its impacts on health, and what we can do about it. We also highlight some job openings with an outstanding potential to make a difference.
Thank you for opening the second edition of the re-launched Effective Environmentalism newsletter! Here, we cover promising solutions to environmental issues that work at scale, are tractable, and neglected by conventional environmental action. With Effective Environmentalism, we are building a community of people and organisations tackling environmental issues as effectively as possible, and we hope to inspire you, too!
In this issue, we build the argument for increasing global efforts to reduce air pollution. We also highlight some interesting publications from last month, and share some job openings with an outstanding opportunity to make a positive impact on the environment.
💨 How air pollution kills over 6 million people per year, and what we can do about it.
In recent decades, the term environmental action has become almost synonymous to climate action. Yet climate change is only one of many environmental issues we’re facing today. A carbon tunnel-vision could make us blind for the substantial impact of other environmental issues, such as air pollution, and its social aspects. In fact, it’s interesting to see how little efforts exist to tackle air pollution, given its substantial burden to health and the availability of realistic solutions.
Using the importance-tractability-neglectedness framework to find the most effective ways to do good, there is a clear argument to grow global efforts to tackle air pollution. We’ll outline the main argument here, and expand upon it in the paragraphs below.
Importance or scale: If we solved this problem, how good would that be?
As discussed below, air pollution among the most important death risk factors globally, and it especially affects the global poor.Tractability: Can we make reasonable, measurable progress?
Evidence from around the world (London, China, United States) shows that it’s possible to make rapid progress on air quality by improving emissions regulation and enforcement.Neglectedness: How many existing resources are going towards this problem?
Less than 1% of development funding and 0.1% of philanthropic funding is spent on air quality, with some grants making air quality even worse, according to the Clean Air Fund. This makes air pollution quite a neglected global problem.
How bad is air pollution, really?
Outdoor and indoor air pollution contributes to about one in ten deaths, globally. This makes it, according to the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study, the 3rd most important death risk factor, just below smoking, but above high blood sugar, obesity, and unsafe water and sanitation.
These risks aren’t spread equally. In Global North countries, only 1 to 3% of deaths are attributable to air pollution, while this number can be higher than 18% in the hardest hit countries, especially in South Asia.
Why are countries in the Global South hit harder than the Global North? In part, because of indoor air pollution. Low-income households in the Global South tend to rely more often on solid fuels like crop waste, coal, dung, and charcoal for cooking. By burning these fuels in enclosed cooking spaces, people - especially women and children - breathe in toxic particulate matter. The good news is that that indoor air pollution is decreasing worldwide, as access to cleaner cooking methods increases.
Yet, this is not the only factor contributing to worse air pollution impacts in the Global South:
Waste burning: Using organic waste as a cooking fuel spreads outside the household too, and household/industrial waste incineration in open air is a source of air pollution.
Old vehicles: Vehicle fleets are generally older, with worse pollution control equipment.
Industrial emission regulations: Pollution regulations might be less stringent, or less enforced.
Interaction with other health risks: Other health risks can amplify the harms of air pollution, such as malnutrition, other pollution, and less ability to access healthcare.
On top of mortality risks, air pollution also reduces academic performance, negatively affects wider cognition, and leads to more negative emotions and support for political opposition.
What can we do about air pollution?
Santosh Harish is a Program Officer at grant-maker Open Philanthropy specialising in air quality governance in India. In a podcast with 80,000 Hours, he tells how rules for foreign funding in India can be quite restrictive, especially for environmental advocacy. This makes it difficult to fund judicial or media campaigns. What is possible, is to fund expert advice to influential bodies that want technical assistance, help with project management, or governance support. Another opportunity is to fund research into knowledge gaps: where is air pollution highest, and what are its sources? For example, Open Philanthropy has funded a large low-cost sensor network in two Indian states.
Harish highlights evidence from other countries, which shows that it’s possible to make great progress on reducing air pollution in little time:
After the 1952 Great Smog of London, which killed about 10,000 people, London took measures to control coal power plant emissions and make coal for domestic use cleaner.
Air pollution in the United States is down 41% from 2000 levels, as the Clean Air Act increased the use of emissions control technologies for engines and factories have better pollution abatement.
China has reduced air pollution by 30% in a decade, mainly because of industrial emissions controls and the use of cleaner fuels.
More resources about air pollution
Listen to the 80,000 Hours podcast with Santosh Harish to get an overview of the problem specifically for India. (This podcast was a major source of information for this newsletter.)
Our World in Data collects and visualises information about air pollution and its impacts.
The World Bank has a programme working on Clean Air in India
Why does South Asia have the world’s worst air pollution (and what can be done to remedy this issue)
How Guwahati became the second-most polluted city in the world. A deep dive into air pollution sources, health impacts, and solutions.
Who gets to breathe clean air in New Delhi? Two profiles of people living in the world’s most polluted capital.
Do you want to work in air quality? We highlight some relevant job openings at the bottom of this newsletter!
💶 Effective Environmentalism is looking for funding
Effective Environmentalism is currently a volunteer-run initiative, but we would like to scale up our activities to more effectively grow a global community of people and organisations tackling environmental issues as effectively as possible. Financial support would help us to devote more time to growing the field of effective environmentalism.
If you are a donor or work for a grant-making organisation, please get in touch.
🔔 Short news
We’ve updated our webpage about how to donate to tackling climate change effectively. We now recommend donating to charitable funds (Giving Green Fund or Founders Pledge Climate Change Fund), and highlight organisations that facilitate effective environmental giving in 12 countries.
Climate charity evaluator Giving Green has published its 2023 annual report, highlighting their theory of change, their impact, and plans for 2024.
For donors in the United States, the website Charity Evaluator now lists the most effective climate charities vetted by Giving Green.
The Good Food Institute has published their annual State of the Industry Reports for plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-derived proteins. Their reports cover the commercial landscape, consumer insights, investments, regulations, and science for these sectors.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalised more stringent emissions regulations for coal and gas-fired power plants. The Clean Air Task Force has written an article about their role, implementation, and next steps.
📰 What we’ve been reading and listening to
Global coal consumption will defy expectations - a contrarian view by forecasters at the Swift Centre
How effective are policies in reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture? Environmental agriculture regulations don’t always work as intended, but successful ones exist. By Hannah Ritchie at Our World in Data.
Several reports by think tank Rethink Priorities, available upon request:
Let's Fund: Impact of our $1M crowdfunded grant to the Center for Clean Energy Innovation
👩💼 Job openings
We are highlighting some outstanding opportunities to make a positive difference with your careers. These positions are vetted by Effective Environmentalism and 80,000 Hours and are not sponsored.
International/remote
Scientist, Global Methane at Environmental Defense Fund
Applied/Senior Researcher - Climate at Founders Pledge
Associate Director of Clean Energy at Asia Society Policy Institute
Climate Fellowship at Last Energy (rolling applications until 31 July)
Several positions at the One Acre Fund (multiple countries in Africa; United States)
Join the waitlist for the world's first comprehensive 6-week masterclass in Alternative Protein Careers, an exclusive platform for professionals who are passionate about making a significant impact in the food industry, and beyond.
United States
Director, Climate Initiatives at Schmidt Sciences
Program Scientist, Climate at Schmidt Sciences
Policy Advisor for Deployment, Climate and Energy Program at Third Way
Grants Officer, China & Southeast Asia at Sequoia Climate Foundation
Research Fellow at the Good Food Institute (deadline: 3 June)
Research Grant Program Coordinator at the Good Food Institute (deadline: 3 June)
Europe
Senior Policy Officer (EU) in Climate Protection at Future Matters (deadline: 31 May)
Finance and Admin Officer at the Good Food Institute Europe (deadline: 19 May)
Scientific Community Coordinator at the Good Food Institute Europe (deadline: 26 May)
Data and Systems Analyst at the Good Food Institute (deadline: 3 June)
Researcher/Senior Researcher at Carbon Gap
Grant Manager at Carbon Gap
Director of Policy at Carbon Gap
Other
Indonesia: Researcher at Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air
India: Internship for the India Clean Air Summit 2024 at the Center for Study of Science, Technology & Policy
India: Several other positions at the Center for Study of Science, Technology & Policy
You can find more impactful environmental job openings at 80,000 Hours, or find careers specific to developing alternative proteins here.
We are grateful to Siddharth Solanki for giving feedback on the draft version of this newsletter. Any mistakes remain ours.