Welcome to the week.

Did you know air pollution contributed to an estimated 7.9 million deaths worldwide in 2023, about 1 in 8 deaths?

The good thing about air pollution is that the fix is relatively simple, compared to, say, climate change. In wealthy nations like the US, death rates from outdoor air pollution have fallen since 1990, but that progress isn’t automatic, especially when we start exempting industrial facilities from clean-air rules, putting millions of people at risk.

So this week, we’re looking at the data on air pollution deaths, who’s breathing the worst of it, and what we can do to shut it down.

Let’s go.

— Willow

P.S. Tomorrow is Election Day in the US. Not sure what’s on your ballot? Check Vote411 — and don't forget to vote!

APL Positions of the week:

🏭 Environmental justice screen for permits (learn more)

🍳 Universal clean cooking access (learn more)

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Air pollution is one of the world’s biggest killers: of the 7.9 million deaths linked to it in 2023, 4.9 million were tied to outdoor fine-particle pollution, and 2.8 million to household air pollution, like cooking over dirty fuels (State of Global Air 2025).

Meanwhile, in the US, the Trump administration has exempted hundreds of industrial plants from new toxic-air rules (The New York Times).

But first, the global data.

Clearly, where you live matters a lot. According to OWID, death rates from outdoor air pollution have typically fallen since 1990 across high-income countries, while in low- and lower-middle-income countries they have typically risen. Rates tend to be higher in countries where industry grows faster than the rules and technology that clean it up.

And for those in high-income countries, that decrease depends on the rules and technology that got us here. So when the government exempts 202 facilities in 39 states and Puerto Rico from clean-air regulations (about 3.3 million people live within three miles of at least one of these facilities), we’re really missing the mark (The New York Times).

The rules, finalized in 2024, required many of these facilities to monitor for cancer-causing gases at their property lines by 2027, and fix leaks. The EPA estimated the upgrades would cost about $440 million to install and $163 million per year to maintain…less than 1% of the industry’s national sales.

Seems like a fair trade so people don’t get, you know, cancer.

Air pollution isn’t a fixed fact of life — the long term data shows that. Death rates fall in countries that cleaned up their air, and they stay high where industry grows without those protections.

The clean-up depends on rules being enforced, and on neighbors being able to see what’s in their air.

The data can’t tell us what happens next, but it does tell us what’s at stake, and in the case of the US exempted sites, that’s millions of people who live close to the plants in question.

👉 NEW: Find every action recommended in It’s Called Science right here.

Last week, we asked: About what share of the world’s population can’t afford a healthy diet?

The correct answer is 33%. About 1 in 3 people couldn’t afford a healthy diet per the UN’s SOFI 2026 report.

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