Great+Smog+of+London+(1952)

Great Smog of London Matt Palmieri



Causes



Smog is an atmospheric pollutant combined with smoke, fog and chemical fumes in an unhealthy or irritating mixture. The Great Smog of London was exactly this. Picture this, London is 700 square miles and Bergen county is 240 square miles, that means this fog could cover over two and a half Bergen counties.Before the Great smog had come, the weather was oddly cold for an amount of time before the smog. Back in 1952 they didn’t flip a switch or turn a knob to heat their houses. In 1952 they had to burn coal towarm their houses. But since this cold weather has occurred they were more frequently burning coal to keep warm. There were about one million coal-fired stoves plus the burnings of other local industries was exposed to the atmosphere. The smoke and fog levels at times got so high that towns people referred to it as 'Pea soup' because they thought the smog was as dense as pea soup. London has been experiencing fog since the industrial revolution, but nothing with as many issues like this.Smog also affects San Francisco near the Golden gate bridge. Severity

At first this thick layer of smog didn’t seem to be as bad to Londoners considering they’re used to living in ‘Pea Soup’ like fogs already. The Great smog almost closed down London from December 5th to the 9th. The people in London could hardly see, their visibility went down to one foot, not being able to see much. People didn’t transport anywhere or go too far from their homes because they worried they would get lost. There was one theater in London that had been shut down because the smog had come through and inside and the crowd was not able to see the stage anymore. The disasters of the smog did not come until the fog at gone away. That year there were more deaths than usual, 4,000 more people had died. In addition 8,000 died from exposure to the smog. It is said that most of the people who were killed by the smog were the elderly and people with respiratory problems. Not only were it that but also people with pneumonia, bronchitis, and heart failure. Some effects from the smog that didn’t kill people were chest pains and lung inflammation. Some people have rumored that the smog could give people a risk of cancer. During those four to five days 12,000 people were killed. What was called “black smoke” had apparently done most of the damage. So, in 1956-1968 Parliament passed two Clean Air Acts, eliminating burning coal in both homes and factories. Comparing

A related event to the Great Smog of 1952 is the Donora Smog of 1948. But this smog was different though, it was caused by fluoride emissions from the Donora Zinc Works and steel plants. This incident killed 20 people, and left several people horribly ill. This smog lasted about the same amount of time as the Great smog. The Donora smog had many people furious and also had many lawsuits, this lead to protect the public from industrial air pollution. This type of smog was not as deadly but still crept around and got into towns people’s house’s



Aftermath

The smog killed thousands of people and it needed to be fixed. Society started to catch along with the fuel combustion, atmospheric pollution and hazardous public health. The funds of the Clean air act made it able to make households convert their coal burning into energy like gas and electricity.