The Foreign Service Journal, October 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2016 23 all (98 percent) cities in low- and middle-income countries with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not meet WHO air quality guidelines”—compared to 56 percent of such cities in high-income countries. Thus air pollution remains a global challenge, beyond the scope of any one government to fix. While recent improvements in the availability of real-time pol- lution data now afford us a better understanding of exposure Air pollution is by no means a new topic of conversation, but it is an important one. The 1948 Donora Smog in Pennsyl- vania and the Great London Smog of 1952 both demonstrated the detrimental effects of coal burning and industrial pollu- tion. These events contributed to the development of the U.S. Clean Air Act, the nation’s first environmental law. Since the 1960s, that act has added numerous amendments. And some other countries have adopted similar clean air standards. Despite such efforts, WHO currently estimates that “almost W e never intended for our children to spend eight of their formative years in extreme pollution. It was so bad in Beijing that I called the city ‘Gray-jing,’ with just a few ‘Blue- jing’ days per year. Mongolia’s nickname, ‘the land of the blue sky,’ is equally deceptive. Ulaanbaatar can be much worse than Beijing in terms of Air Quality Index readings. While I try to justify my children’s exposure to air pollution by balancing it with their exposure to the Mandarin language and incred- ible Chinese and Mongolian cultures, we will only move to low-AQI locations after this. —Melinda Frost, who served in Beijing (2007-2013) and Ulaanbaatar (2015-2017) D uring the winter of 2008-2009, Moscow cut off gas sup- plies to Europe. As a result, our post experienced severe air pollution due to coal burning, and readings off the charts caused several families to curtail their assignments. Though U.S. Embassy Sarajevo provided oxygen monitoring, daily air quality updates and so forth, I had a very young infant whose health I was unwilling to risk. So at my own expense, I relocated my family to the coast of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Every Friday evening I would travel by train to see them and return on Sunday evening. This was our arrangement for about four or five weeks until it was safe for them to return. —Shelbie Legg, who served in Sarajevo from 2008 to 2010 Figure 1. AQI Categories and Meaning Air Quality Index Levels Numerical Meaning of Health Concern Value Good 0 to 50 Air quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk. Moderate 51 to 100 Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution. Unhealthy for 101 to 150 Members of sensitive groups may experience health eects. Sensitive Groups The general public is not likely to be aected. Unhealthy 151 to 200 Everyone may begin to experience health eects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health eects. Very Unhealthy 201 to 300 Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be aected. Hazardous 301 to 500 Health alert: everyone may experience more serious health eects. Source: https://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=aqibasics.aqi