Cool story, bro! And the punchline was that coal said “oh, pardon the fuck out of me, how about the miners going out on a strike, prefer that?” And then everyone froze during yet another ghastly London winter. God that place puts its citizens through it, and has done so for centuries. Inversion layers hold the smog in during the winter; one freezing December in San Jose I nearly had to go to the hospital for asthma. Grew up in LA where the bad joke was “Don’t trust air you can’t see.” (Can’t remember the title, but there’s an indifferent Christopher Isherwood adaptation that’s part of the Julianne Moore fest on Criterion, set in the early sixties LA, and they used CG to recreate the almost phosphorescent sunsets of the smog era.) All gone now thanks to smog checks, and of course Trumpist shitbirds are trying to bring them back.
You’re welcome! We had to move out of Covina, the buckle of the smog belt, because I was such a gasper. So that means there was a place with worse air than Highland Park in the early seventies, which is hard to imagine. I was loaded up with real harsh asthma drugs that made me chatter like a speed freak.
This is a great article. I had know idea so many people perished because of this. Too bad our government has no interest in basic science (or reading!). (US citizen, here)
Here in the US of A the criminal administration is bragging about ditching regulations that try to limit or reduce pollution. We just had the reality TV transportation secretary announcing a rollback of auto fuel mileage regulations so we can again have 1970s station wagons with fake wood paneling like that’s something we want.
My grandmother uses to talk about the smog. She grew up in London during the Blitz (I have a kid who’s now the same age she was and it’s surreal imagining having to rush him into the basement then send him to live with strangers in the countryside) and she used to tell me about smog so thick you couldn’t see your hand stretched out in front of you. I wonder if she was telling me about these exact same days…
I knew of this bit of London history, but came to appreciate the level of devastation it wrought among the population after an episode of The Crown featured the event.
I visited London in the early 90s. Despite never having problems with them before I developed clogged sinuses. When I got ahold of tissues in my hotel at the end of the day, l blew my nose and my snot was thoroughly grey. So the clean up was still in process.
'The Crown' series did a good job of depicting this. Wasn't as recent as 2016, but when I did live a few weeks in London, at the end of every day I'd blow my nose and be surprised by the black colour of my snot. Has not happened anywhere else 🫣
Cool story, bro! And the punchline was that coal said “oh, pardon the fuck out of me, how about the miners going out on a strike, prefer that?” And then everyone froze during yet another ghastly London winter. God that place puts its citizens through it, and has done so for centuries. Inversion layers hold the smog in during the winter; one freezing December in San Jose I nearly had to go to the hospital for asthma. Grew up in LA where the bad joke was “Don’t trust air you can’t see.” (Can’t remember the title, but there’s an indifferent Christopher Isherwood adaptation that’s part of the Julianne Moore fest on Criterion, set in the early sixties LA, and they used CG to recreate the almost phosphorescent sunsets of the smog era.) All gone now thanks to smog checks, and of course Trumpist shitbirds are trying to bring them back.
Thanks for triggering terrible memories of Houston in the 1960s and East LA in the early 1980s.
You’re welcome! We had to move out of Covina, the buckle of the smog belt, because I was such a gasper. So that means there was a place with worse air than Highland Park in the early seventies, which is hard to imagine. I was loaded up with real harsh asthma drugs that made me chatter like a speed freak.
Ha! I grew up in the SFV and vividly remember smog alerts. Gross
One of the many reasons I love Iranian cinema is that the footage of Tehran pierces my heart with nostalgia. Now, that’s what I call a smog alert!
My own children and my middle school students 'get it' when I show pictures of NYC, DC, or LA from the 60s, and then from today.
They all are used to me saying 'I want there to BE a planet when you're my age' when it comes to clean energy or recycling.
This is a great article. I had know idea so many people perished because of this. Too bad our government has no interest in basic science (or reading!). (US citizen, here)
You'd think we'd learn a thing or two, but...nahhh, science is bullshit. And so is all that fake history. 🙄😒
Here in the US of A the criminal administration is bragging about ditching regulations that try to limit or reduce pollution. We just had the reality TV transportation secretary announcing a rollback of auto fuel mileage regulations so we can again have 1970s station wagons with fake wood paneling like that’s something we want.
I forgot to say, (sadly) I'm an American as well.
Wow. 🙄😒 They are so, so painfully out of touch!
My grandmother uses to talk about the smog. She grew up in London during the Blitz (I have a kid who’s now the same age she was and it’s surreal imagining having to rush him into the basement then send him to live with strangers in the countryside) and she used to tell me about smog so thick you couldn’t see your hand stretched out in front of you. I wonder if she was telling me about these exact same days…
I knew of this bit of London history, but came to appreciate the level of devastation it wrought among the population after an episode of The Crown featured the event.
I visited London in the early 90s. Despite never having problems with them before I developed clogged sinuses. When I got ahold of tissues in my hotel at the end of the day, l blew my nose and my snot was thoroughly grey. So the clean up was still in process.
'The Crown' series did a good job of depicting this. Wasn't as recent as 2016, but when I did live a few weeks in London, at the end of every day I'd blow my nose and be surprised by the black colour of my snot. Has not happened anywhere else 🫣
Is this similar to what caused the 'fog' in the late 1800s/early 1900s, or is that just Hollywood?
My parents lived in London then. Mum said she had to keep her hand on the wall to walk along the street. My oldest brother was born 3 weeks later