‘Airborne death’ has been a big theme this year. So.
Today’s Moment of Science… The Great London Smog of 1952.
Dense fog with a dash of burnt fossil fuels wasn’t a new phenomenon when the great smog rolled in. London’s history with polluted fog dates as early as the 1200s. Due to the sheer volume of peasants who dared complain about the horrendous smoke, King James attempted to enact legislation to limit some coal burning all the way back in the 1600s. However, with the industrial revolution approaching, it seemed unlikely to make any long term impact.
In the early 1900s, the fog and perpetually growing volume of noxious smoke had become one in the same to the point where the term ‘smog’ was birthed in England.
After World War II, the UK was, to put it nicely, flat fucking broke. Some difficult tradeoffs happened with the questions “how to keep the lights on and the humans alive.” One way they did this was by opting to sell their higher quality fuels overseas and keep the lower grade stuff at home. When I say ‘lower grade,’ I mean it released super poisonous fuckery. And when I say ‘at home,’ that doesn’t just mean in the UK. I mean coal was used for everything from industry to home heating fuel.
We still burn fossil fuels at home, but now we use things like natural gas and propane. They’re not great because they release carbon dioxide. However, unlike coal they’re not releasing things like sulfur dioxide, mercury, lead, and other things I’m sure Qanon thinks Bill Gates put into the covid vaccine.
So December 5th, 1952.
After a cold night in which Londoners kept their coal furnaces roaring, they woke to a relatively clear day. Heavy fog soon rolled in, but it was London and that was nothing out of the ordinary.
A weather system called an anticyclone had settled over London, with a blanket of hot air trapping smog in the city. Pollution from the factories compounded as the soot failed to escape the city, the air turning a murky, yellowish brown color.
Unsurprisingly if you’ve spent any time with a Brit, Londoners mostly went about their business the first day. Maybe it was the stiff upper lip. Or maybe it was because they’d had these anticyclones and figured the death fart would work itself out, as it always had.
The second day, life screeched to a halt.
Visibility was limited to a few meters; reportedly in some parts of the city people couldn’t see their own feet. Most public transport was shut down. Businesses and schools closed. The River Thames was empty of boat traffic. Flights were cancelled. There were many incidents of drivers abandoning their cars because visibility levels were approximately ‘fuck yourself.’ Birds crashed into buildings, and livestock suffocated.
On December 9th, the fog lifted. Life went back to normal. At the time, it had seemed like a major inconvenience, but still, a mere inconvenience. Nobody panicked or thought of it as a significant incident in history.
Then the fatality statistics came out.
4,000 people are estimated to have died within that first week or so due to the smog. When adding in fatalities that occurred over the following months, the estimate jumps to 12,000. Lung tissues from the deceased have shown soot, heavy metals, and other particulate bullshit that’s not great for lungs.
The Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968 were direct results of this, limiting some kinds of emissions and banning others entirely. Shit isn’t perfect, but it hasn’t been ‘make London reek of rotten eggs’ bad for a while.
This has been your Moment of Science, reminding y’all that whenever there’s legislation, there was an incident.
Join the discussion!