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Only 5% of countries met WHO Air Pollution Guidelines in 2022

2023-03-14 /

IQAir‘s 5th Annual World Air Quality Report reveals alarming details of the world’s most polluted countries, territories, and regions in 2022.

For this year’s report, data from more than 30,000 air quality monitoring stations across 7,323 locations in 131 countries, territories, and regions was analyzed by IQAir’s air quality scientists.

Key findings from the 2022 World Air Quality Report (Download the full report):

  • Six countries met the World Health Organization PM2.5 guideline (annual average of 5 µg/m3 or less): Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, and New Zealand.
  • The top five most polluted countries in 2022 were:
    • Chad (89.7 µg/m3) more than 17 times higher than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline
    • Iraq (80.1 µg/m3) more than 16 times higher than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline
    • Pakistan (70.9 µg/m3) more than 14 times higher than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline
    • Bahrain (66.6 µg/m3) more than 13 times higher than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline
    • Bangladesh (65.8 µg/m3) more than 13 times higher than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline
  • A total of 118 (90%) out of 131 countries and regions exceeded the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline value of 5 µg/m3
  • While the African continent saw an increase from 13 countries represented in 2021 to 19 countries included in this year’s report, Africa remains the most underrepresented continent. Only 19 countries out of 54 countries have sufficient air quality data
  • The region of Central and South Asia was home to eight of the world’s ten cities with the worst air pollution
  • Lahore is the most polluted metropolitan area of 2022. It ranked #15 in 2021
  • Chile became home to eight of the region’s top 15 most polluted cities
  • The most polluted city in the U.S. was Coffeyville, Kansas. The most polluted major U.S. city was Columbus, Ohio
  • California was home to 10 of the 15 most polluted cities in the U.S.
  • Las Vegas, Nevada was deemed the cleanest major city in the U.S.
  • Canada’s cleanest city in 2022 was Schefferville, Quebec
  • Canada most polluted city in 2022 was Clearwater, British Columbia

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Updated » Cyril Derreumaux has been rescued from his 4,450 km solo kayak to Hawaii

2021-06-07 /
Cyril Derreumaux and his custom-made kayak named Valentine

Cyril Derreumaux and his custom-made kayak named Valentine

Updated 2021.06.11 »

After more than four days of holding in place and waiting for things to get better, Derreumeux made the difficult decision to call the U.S. Coast Guard for a rescue.

A helicopter was dispatched in the night to retrieve the ocean kayaker, who was airlifted off the water and flown back to shore. Once on land however, it didn’t take him long to start thinking about resuming the journey.

Updated 2021.06.07 »

After just a week, Cyril Derreumaux has abandoned his attempt to kayak alone to Hawaii. He set off on May 31, and although the first few days went smoothly, conditions deteriorated over the last 72 hours. He eventually called for rescue.

Derreumaux had not moved since June 4. Because of the rough weather, he deployed his sea anchor and stayed inside the cabin.

Yesterday, winds reached 55-65kph with gusts over 80kph. The waves towered to 4.5m. He also had an issue with his sea anchor but couldn’t try to fix it in such weather.

Earlier…

Rebecca McPhee for Explorersweb »

On May 31, Cyril Derreumaux dipped his paddle in the Pacific and began his 4,450km solo kayak from San Francisco to Hawaii. The 44-year-old hopes to complete the journey in 70 days.

His custom-made kayak Valentine — named after his sister –- includes an enlarged watertight aft cockpit for sleeping and storage of some of his 140 kilograms of equipment and supplies. This makes his experience quite different from the iconic paddle that Ed Gillet did in 1987, using an off-the-shelf sea kayak. Gillet, the only person to kayak from the U.S. to Hawaii, was the inspiration for Derreumaux’s project.

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Video » San Francisco Bay from Space

2020-05-16 /

Note: Clicking the above image will load and play the video from YouTube.

This video from space of San Francisco Bay, California is brought to us by the European Space Agency (ESA).

San Francisco Bay, almost 100 km in length, is a shallow estuary surrounded by the San Francisco Bay Area – an extensive metropolitan region that is dominated by large cities such as San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. The densely populated urban areas around the bay contrast strongly with the surrounding green forest and park areas.

In the upper right of the image, the delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers is visible – with the brown, sediment-filled water flowing down into San Pablo Bay. Here, the murky waters mix before flowing into the larger bay area, which is connected to the Pacific Ocean via the Golden Gate strait. A large sediment plume can be seen travelling westward into the Pacific in the left of the image.

The Golden Gate Bridge, around 2.7 km long, is visible crossing the opening of the bay into the Pacific Ocean between Marin County and the city of San Francisco – which can be seen at the tip of the southern peninsula in the centre of the image. Treasure, Angel and Alcatraz islands can be seen sticking out of the waters of the bay, with several bridges connecting its east and west shores. Several boats are also visible.

The bright green and yellow colours in the bottom right of the image are salt ponds and are part of the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. Covering an area of around 120 sq km, the refuge contains salt marsh, mudflat and vernal pool habitats for millions of migratory birds and endangered species.

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Road Trip: America’s least-traveled routes in each state — including the most scenic

2018-04-01 /

To find the quietest road in each US state, Geotab gathered the latest available (2015) traffic count data from the Highway Performance Monitoring System. Quietness was calculated as the annual average daily traffic, and routes with the lowest in each state were deemed the quietest. The data covers Interstates, US Routes, and State Routes over 10 miles long.

The most scenic routes listed are subjective and the opinion of landscape photographer James Q Martin.

Be.

Do interesting things. Be bold. Respect. Adventure. Explore. Question. Listen. Learn. Try. Fail. Try better. Your mileage may vary. You are unique. Be yourself. Appreciate. Be kind. To others, with an equal measure to yourself. Do good. Do what’s right. It’s a one way ticket. Enjoy the ride. You are limited to one.

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