5 ms·

San Francisco and Portland Ranked Most Polluted Major Cities in the World (Live)

14 points by 0x2a 6y ago

Urgo 6y ago
38 mins after this was posted it looks like Portland passed San Francisco by. Portland is at 220, SF is at 181.
- 30minAdayHN 6y ago
  Yea - the title of the article is definitely a click bait. If the positions are going to switch so fast, there is no point in calling that out.
  - 0x2a 6y ago
    Updated title to include Portland.
- 0x2a 6y ago
  It's been fluctuating throughout the day. PurpleAir is showing even worse levels in SF currently (over 300 US PM2.5 AQI). - https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0&select=54351#13.27/37.77363/-122.43602 https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0&select=5435... - https://i.imgur.com/9N6ua2G.png https://i.imgur.com/9N6ua2G.png (screenshot)
PieSquared 6y ago
Probably worth adjusting the title -- air quality is not just a measure of pollution. In this case, both SF and Portland are filled (unfortunately) with wildfire smoke, rather than a man-made pollutant...
- bamboozled 6y ago
  Why do you want the title adjusted? It’s sadly just a fact that the air pollution is bad in SF today. If bad air pollution is caused by factories do people in those towns come and make similar arguments?
  - 30minAdayHN 6y ago
    because the title is no longer correct? it's no longer the worst. not denying that pollution is bad in SF.
    - bamboozled 6y ago
      That’s just semantics, it was the worst very recently?
  - happytoexplain 6y ago
    I assumed the title meant man-made pollutants. That's colloquially what pollution refers to. It's pretty clearly misleading.
- dutch3000 6y ago
  the fire was man-made
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- 0x2a 6y ago
  Is smoke not considered a pollutant? The list is just a ranking of current PM2.5 AQI levels.
  - pstrateman 6y ago
    Generally when people are talking about pollutants they're talking about man made pollutants.
    - bamboozled 6y ago
      As climate change was a key driver of these fires and those in Australia earlier this year, then I feel like it's perfectly reasonable to say this is man made pollution. Coal and oil are also a "natural" fuels, but we burn those too and we say it's man made pollution.
    - 0x2a 6y ago
      WHO includes smoke in their overview page on air pollution as does Wikipedia. - https://www.who.int/health-topics/air-pollution https://www.who.int/health-topics/air-pollution - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution#Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution#Sources
      - pstrateman 6y ago
        Most smoke that is air pollution is caused by farmers burning crops. You can include smoke in air pollution numbers, while not considering wild fires to be pollution.
    - hnlurker 6y ago
      "Person-"made if you please. Lest we forget a major part of this year's season was induced at a "gender reveal party".
netsharc 6y ago
Well, since there's a major forest fire nearby... It's like saying my fireplace is the scene of one of the hottest temperatures on the planet (updated live)...
nine_zeros 6y ago
I would say a more interesting data point there is that Jakarta air pollution on a normal day is the same as San Francisco air pollution on a historic wildfire day. SF air pollution levels on an average day is very low.
- bozoUser 6y ago
  Came here to exactly say this, living your life in a non-emergency situation in some parts of the world like Delhi is close to current living conditions in the Bay Area (+surrounding states) under unprecedented wild fire in the modern history! Now let that sink in :(
  - dutch3000 6y ago
    emergency is becomingly unfortunately normalized with regards to wild fires in the western part of the country. also, “living your life” infers a generalized comparison and if that’s the case you must consider the destructive impact (homes/businesses) of the fire that lives on well beyond the actual event. - bad air quality from pollution isn’t destructive in that manner
wheelerwj 6y ago
this isn't an accurate title at all. And at the time i clicked the link, SF isn't even #1 anymore... Portland is. its just a list of cities sorted by their Air Quality Index and has very little to do with pollution.
Simulacra 6y ago
The wildfires are wrecking havoc for the air across California.

14 points by 0x2a 6y ago

Urgo 6y ago

38 mins after this was posted it looks like Portland passed San Francisco by. Portland is at 220, SF is at 181.

30minAdayHN 6y ago
Yea - the title of the article is definitely a click bait. If the positions are going to switch so fast, there is no point in calling that out.
- 0x2a 6y ago
  Updated title to include Portland.
0x2a 6y ago
It's been fluctuating throughout the day. PurpleAir is showing even worse levels in SF currently (over 300 US PM2.5 AQI). - https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0&select=54351#13.27/37.77363/-122.43602 https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0&select=5435... - https://i.imgur.com/9N6ua2G.png https://i.imgur.com/9N6ua2G.png (screenshot)

PieSquared 6y ago

Probably worth adjusting the title -- air quality is not just a measure of pollution. In this case, both SF and Portland are filled (unfortunately) with wildfire smoke, rather than a man-made pollutant...

bamboozled 6y ago
Why do you want the title adjusted? It’s sadly just a fact that the air pollution is bad in SF today. If bad air pollution is caused by factories do people in those towns come and make similar arguments?
- 30minAdayHN 6y ago
  because the title is no longer correct? it's no longer the worst. not denying that pollution is bad in SF.
  - bamboozled 6y ago
    That’s just semantics, it was the worst very recently?
- happytoexplain 6y ago
  I assumed the title meant man-made pollutants. That's colloquially what pollution refers to. It's pretty clearly misleading.
dutch3000 6y ago
the fire was man-made
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
0x2a 6y ago
Is smoke not considered a pollutant? The list is just a ranking of current PM2.5 AQI levels.
- pstrateman 6y ago
  Generally when people are talking about pollutants they're talking about man made pollutants.
  - bamboozled 6y ago
    As climate change was a key driver of these fires and those in Australia earlier this year, then I feel like it's perfectly reasonable to say this is man made pollution. Coal and oil are also a "natural" fuels, but we burn those too and we say it's man made pollution.
  - 0x2a 6y ago
    WHO includes smoke in their overview page on air pollution as does Wikipedia. - https://www.who.int/health-topics/air-pollution https://www.who.int/health-topics/air-pollution - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution#Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution#Sources
    - pstrateman 6y ago
      Most smoke that is air pollution is caused by farmers burning crops. You can include smoke in air pollution numbers, while not considering wild fires to be pollution.
  - hnlurker 6y ago
    "Person-"made if you please. Lest we forget a major part of this year's season was induced at a "gender reveal party".

netsharc 6y ago

Well, since there's a major forest fire nearby... It's like saying my fireplace is the scene of one of the hottest temperatures on the planet (updated live)...

nine_zeros 6y ago

I would say a more interesting data point there is that Jakarta air pollution on a normal day is the same as San Francisco air pollution on a historic wildfire day. SF air pollution levels on an average day is very low.

bozoUser 6y ago
Came here to exactly say this, living your life in a non-emergency situation in some parts of the world like Delhi is close to current living conditions in the Bay Area (+surrounding states) under unprecedented wild fire in the modern history! Now let that sink in :(
- dutch3000 6y ago
  emergency is becomingly unfortunately normalized with regards to wild fires in the western part of the country. also, “living your life” infers a generalized comparison and if that’s the case you must consider the destructive impact (homes/businesses) of the fire that lives on well beyond the actual event. - bad air quality from pollution isn’t destructive in that manner

wheelerwj 6y ago

this isn't an accurate title at all. And at the time i clicked the link, SF isn't even #1 anymore... Portland is. its just a list of cities sorted by their Air Quality Index and has very little to do with pollution.

Simulacra 6y ago

The wildfires are wrecking havoc for the air across California.