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For some extra context here, a lot of this fine particulate matter is not from burning the coal - it's from decaying exposed mine dumps. The wind in Johannesbur
by RyanZAG 10y ago
For some extra context here, a lot of this fine particulate matter is not from burning the coal - it's from decaying exposed mine dumps. The wind in Johannesburg blows the fine sand on top of the mine damps into the communities living next to the mine dumps. The article tries to make it out as being just regular air pollution from fossil fuels, but it's many more factors than just that, and fixing the unique problem of mine dumps is probably a lot easier than general air pollution if there was political will to fix it. Which there is not.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jul/06/radioactive-city-how-johannesburgs-townships-are-paying-for-its-mining-past https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jul/06/radioactive-c...
- buyx 10y agoThe mine dumps are largely a problem in the south of Johannesburg. The article shows that the problem is spread across the entire country. And the Mpumalanga Highveld has particularly shocking pollution levels, from the coal-fired power stations, from SASOL and from poor residents burning coal in winter. The map shows high levels of particulate matter in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, which are far from mining activity.
- erinyong 10y agoYes I second that!
- RyanZAG 10y agoDefinitely! But the majority of the deaths are concentrated in a tiny geographic area. It's important to note that fixing that tiny area would have a larger benefit than fixing the rest combined. Also the dust from those mine dumps can travel a very long way on the wind. 100s of km.