Skip to main content
Nevada Public Radio
  • News 88.9 KNPR
  • Classical 89.7 kcnv
  • Magazine Desert Companion
  • About

    How to reach us

    1289 S. Torrey Pines Dr.
    Las Vegas, NV 89146

    Main Number:  1-702-258-9895
    Toll Free: 1-888-258-9895

    More contact info

     

     

      • Staff
      • Board of Directors
      • Employment
      • FCC Applications
      • CPB Compliance
      • Our Policies
      • Listen on the Radio
      • Other Ways to Listen
      • Sign-up for NVPR News
      • FCC Public Inspection File
      • CPB Funding
      • History
    • News 88.9 KNPR
    • Classical 89.7 KCNV
    • Desert Companion
  • Programs
  • Events
  • Support
  • myPublicRadio
  • Donate Now

Main menu

Search

Listen

News 88.9 KNPR
Classical 89.7 KCNV
Podcasts view all

member station

Support

Subscribe to air pollution

air pollution

NPR
Climate
Traffic on a hazy evening in Fresno, Calif. A new study estimates that about 50,000 lives could be saved each year if the U.S. eliminated small particles of pollution that are released from the tailpipes of cars and trucks, among other sources.

Eliminating fossil fuel air pollution would save about 50,000 lives, study finds

May 17, 2022
Burning oil, coal and other fossil fuels releases plumes of tiny, dangerous particles. A new study estimates that eliminating that pollution would save about 50,000 lives in the U.S. each year.
NPR
Health
A recent study by the American Lung Association found that more Americans are living in areas with increased levels of air pollution. Los Angeles has recorded the worst levels of ozone for all but one of the past 23 years.

Wildfires are increasingly contributing to unhealthy air

Apr 20, 2022
The rising number of fires hamper decades of environmental efforts, and over 40% of Americans — more than 137 million people — live in places with poor air quality, a new report says.
NPR
wildfire

Wildfire smoke and smog make air pollution a growing problem out West

Apr 20, 2022

The Mountain West is known for big blue skies. But several cities here are among the nation’s worst for short-term air pollution levels, according to a new American Lung Association study. Wildfire smoke is an increasing factor, but so is smog from growing cities across the region.

  • Listen Download
NPR
Health
Interstate 405 cuts through neighborhoods near the Los Angeles International Airport, seen here in 2017. A new study found links between modern urban air pollution and historical redlining at the national level.

Even many decades later, redlined areas see higher levels of air pollution

Mar 10, 2022
"We see a really clear association between how these maps were drawn in the '30s and the air pollution disparities today," says an author of a study on the effects of the discriminatory policy.
NPR

Worst-In-World Air Quality Takes Page From Grim Climate Report

Aug 11, 2021

Two Western cities registered the poorest air quality in the world over the last week as smoke from wildfires in northern California turned the skies over the Rocky Mountains into a chalky white abyss.

NPR
Asia
A woman cycles along a street during a sandstorm in Beijing on Monday.

Desert Dust Sweeps Into Beijing, Causing China's Worst Sandstorm In 10 Years

Mar 15, 2021
Residents in the capital woke up to a choking orange hue in the air on Monday, as airborne dust from the Gobi Desert sent the air-quality index to hazardous levels and forced flight cancelations.
NPR
Shots - Health News
In early September 2020, Seattle, Wash., had some of the worst air quality in the world because of wildfire smoke. The city was among the first to create smoke shelters for the most vulnerable.

Study Finds Wildfire Smoke More Harmful To Humans Than Pollution From Cars

Mar 05, 2021
In Southern California, pollutants from wildfire smoke caused up to a 10% increase in hospital admissions. Researchers say there's a need for better air monitoring and public health programs.
NPR
Science
Protestors attempt to block the delivery of toxic PCB waste to a landfill in Warren County, North Carolina, 1982. It was in response to the State's decision to locate a hazardous waste landfill in a low-income, predominantly Black area of Warren County t

Hope And Skepticism As Biden Promises To Address Environmental Racism

Jan 29, 2021
Environmental racism means that people of color experience more air and water pollution than white people, and suffer the health impacts. Can Biden change that?
  • Listen Download
NPR
Science
A new EPA rule will make it more difficult for the regulators to use some scientific studies about the connection between pollution and health.

Trump EPA Erects New Barriers To Crucial Science

Jan 05, 2021
Studies based on private health data are crucial to understanding dangers posed by pollution. A new rule makes it harder for the EPA to consider many studies when setting safeguards.
NPR
Goats and Soda
The fireworks of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, add smoke to the already polluted skies — and raise concerns about the impact of all that pollution on coronavirus cases. Here, a celebration takes place last year in Ahmedabad, India.

Fireworks Of Diwali Spark Worries About Pollution ... And Coronavirus Cases

Nov 12, 2020
Air quality is awful in New Delhi in winter. Smoke from the fireworks of the Hindu festival of lights adds to the problem. That's a cause for concern during a pandemic caused by a respiratory virus.
KNPR
Newscast headlines

Health Issues As Wildfire Smoke Hits Millions In US

Oct 15, 2020

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Wildfires churning out dense plumes of smoke as they scorch part of the U.S. West Coast have exposed more than 8 million people to hazardous pollution levels.

That's according to an Associated Press analysis of government air monitoring data.

Tweet Share on Facebook Email
KNPR
KNPR's State of Nevada
Tweet Share on Facebook Email

Wildfire Smoke Causes Historic Air Pollution In Northern Nevada

Sep 18, 2020

Record-breaking wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington are still raging, a month after they were ignited by dry lightning storms across the West.

  • Listen Download
NPR
Shots - Health News
Hurricane Laura caused a fire at a chemical plant owned by BioLab in Westlake, La. The plant manufactures chemicals for swimming pools.

Millions Of Pounds Of Extra Pollution Were Released Before Hurricane Laura's Landfall

Aug 28, 2020
Hurricane Laura hit an area known for its refineries and chemical plants. They released millions of pounds of air pollution when they shut down, and many air monitors are not functioning.
KNPR
KNPR's State of Nevada
Tweet Share on Facebook Email

Wildfires Pollute Clark County Air

Aug 27, 2020

The historic wildfires in California dirtied the air in Southern Nevada last week

  • Listen Download
NPR
Science
Air pollution is a persistent problem in California's Central Valley. A new study finds that the places that were most polluted nearly 40 years ago generally remain the most polluted today.

Air Quality Disparities Persist Despite Overall Gains

Jul 30, 2020
A new study finds that the U.S. places with the most polluted air in the 1980s remain the most polluted today. Poor people and people of color are more likely to live in places with dirty air.
NPR
The Coronavirus Crisis
Companies across the country say the pandemic is interfering with their ability to comply with laws that protect the public from pollution. The federal government is not keeping track of requests for regulatory leniency during the pandemic.

As EPA Steps Back, States Face Wave Of Requests For Environmental Leniency

Jun 09, 2020
The EPA does not require companies to notify federal regulators if the pandemic interferes with pollution monitoring or reporting. That leaves states alone on the front lines of pollution control.
  • Listen Download
NPR
Shots - Health News

Traffic Is Way Down Because Of Lockdown, But Air Pollution? Not So Much

May 19, 2020
Car traffic took a big dip beginning in late March, and headlines celebrated clean air around the U.S. But an NPR analysis of EPA data tells a more troubling story.
KNPR
KNPR's State of Nevada
Tweet Share on Facebook Email

Nevada Cities Get Failing Grades On Air Quality

Apr 23, 2020

​The American Lung Association releases its State of the Air report every year, detailing the levels of particle air pollution and ozone in communities a

  • Listen Download
NPR
Science
Wildfires caused high levels of air pollution in San Francisco in November 2018. Climate change is making wildfires and heat waves more likely, and driving more days of unhealthy air in many U.S. cities.

Climate Change Undercuts Air Pollution Improvements

Apr 20, 2020
More Americans are breathing unhealthy air, even though overall air pollution has decreased in recent decades. In the tug-of-war between air regulations and climate change, global warming is winning.
NPR
Coronavirus Live Updates
A photo taken last month by Nairobi resident Osman Siddiqi shows One Africa Place, a bullet-shaped glass high-rise in Nairobi, framed by the jagged, snowcapped peaks of Mount Kenya, which many residents said they have never seen from the capital city.

From Nairobi, A Rare, Clear Glimpse Of Mount Kenya Drives Disbelief On Social Media

Apr 14, 2020
A photo on social media showing Africa's second-highest mountain from Nairobi made many Kenyans cry foul. But the photo — shot on a day free of pollution, because of COVID-19 restrictions — is real.
NPR
Coronavirus Live Updates
A crow flies near Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace in New Delhi, on April 2. Air quality has markedly improved in India's capital since the country's coronavirus lockdown began last month.

With Coronavirus Lockdown, India's Cities See Clear Blue Skies As Air Pollution Drops

Apr 10, 2020
India has ordered 1.3 billion people to stay home to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The lockdown seems to have inadvertently solved, at least temporarily, another public health crisis: air pollution.
NPR
Goats and Soda
February satellite readings in the troposphere (the lower atmosphere) of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a pollutant primarily from burning fossil fuels, show a dramatic decline compared to early January when power plants were operating at normal levels.

Why China's Air Has Been Cleaner During The Coronavirus Outbreak

Mar 04, 2020
Air pollution levels have dropped dramatically as power plants and factories have slowed down — potentially saving lives. But the public health benefits aren't so simple to calculate.
NPR
Science
A flooded road leading to the Arkema chemical plant near Houston, Texas in August 2017. Multiple employees including the plant manager are facing criminal charges for allegedly failing to adequately prepare for flooding that caused massive chemical fires

Texas Criminal Trial Highlights Climate Liability For Factories In Floodplains

Mar 02, 2020
A criminal case in Houston alleges that employees at a chemical company should have prepared for the record flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.
NPR
Goats and Soda
Lahore, Pakistan's second-largest city, is one of the world's most polluted cities, according to crowd-sourced data.

'Scary Moms' Are Part Of The Citizen War Against Pollution In Pakistan

Jan 06, 2020

Environmental advocates in smog-choked Lahore say the Pakistani government has long downplayed the problem of air pollution. That might be changing.

NPR
Goats and Soda
People cover their faces with masks to avoid thick smog in New Delhi on Nov. 5. People living there have complained about respiratory problems.

As Delhi Chokes On Smog, India's Health Minister Advises: Eat More Carrots

Nov 08, 2019
Residents of one of the world's most polluted cities are getting fed up with government inaction — and a few questionable tweets aren't helping.

Pages

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • next ›
  • last »
  • home
  • How to reach us
  • About
  • Support
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • NVPR News
  • Instagram

© All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy

PRXNPRAPMBBC INN