Bangkok fights air pollution with water-spraying drones

Eight years after a mercaptan spill in Eight Mile, Alabama, its mostly black and working class residents still suffer from respiratory issues, rashes and headaches.

A overview of 2014's Fixes columns - connecting the dots between 60 or so ways that people are trying to change the world.

The breakdown of the ozone layer is one of the most well-known effects of climate change. Citizens enact different ways to protect the atmosphere from a build up of methane gas.

A growing number of people in the famously crowded Tokyo metropolis are becoming ‘city farmers’, planting crops atop tall buildings or deep underground. In an age of detrimental climate change, urban cultivation and green roof agriculture will soon be necessary as food, water and energy resources become scarcer.

New York City black tar roofs cause a number of environmental problems, including air pollution, heat absorption that raises energy consumption, and storm water runoff in the sewer system. Efforts to turn these old roofs into green spaces cool the buildings, enable the containment of more rainfall, reduce sewer discharge, generate energy, and absorb carbon emissions. New York City has a pilot program offering financial help for green roofs.

In Louisville, KY, many people suffer from allergies or asthma and need to take inhalers to assist their breathing. A new inhaler called Propeller Health connects to Bluetooth devices to help patients track their inhaler dosages as a form of self-surveillance. The data collected also has a broader impact, offering scientists insight on people’s breathing patterns in different geographic regions as well as the effectiveness of certain medicated inhalers.

Twenty-first century cities face the factors of climate change with intensity as urban heating threatens human and the earth’s health. The University of Notre Dame has conducted research on green and cool roofing projects in the city of Chicago. They have found that green and cool roofs help mitigate the heat in cities; however, these roofs should be installed with other strategies like ponds and trees.

Air pollution is a huge problem for China, but surprisingly, the Air Quality Index in several cities is improving because of a variety of experimental projects that are being rolled out and a number of clever pollution solutions from around the country.

Respiratory diseases caused by air pollution now account for more premature deaths in people worldwide than malaria and HIV combined. To address increasing contamination levels, particularly in cities, scientists have developed a new kind of cement that absorbs pollutants like CO2. The special cement is being manufactured in Milan, and used around in the world in cities like Paris and Chicago.

Air and water pollutants have an adverse impact on the health and well-being of citizens. Protecting the air and water, by increasing the usage of solar energy, can have a tremendous impact on reversing the impact of pollution on health. The Sunshot Initiative, launched by the Department of Energy, has already begun seeing improvements.