Greek economic crisis leads to air pollution crisis

Space Daily via SPX: In the midst of a winter cold snap, a study from researchers in the United States and Greece reveals an overlooked side effect of economic crisis - dangerous air quality caused by burning cheaper fuel for warmth.

The researchers, led by Constantinos Sioutas of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, show that the concentration of fine air particles in one of Greece's economically hardest hit areas has risen 30 percent since the financial crisis began, leading to potential long-term health effects.

These fine particles - measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter (approximately 1/30th the diameter of a human hair) - are especially dangerous because they can lodge deep into the tissue of lungs, according to the EPA.

"People need to stay warm, but face decreasing employment and rising fuel costs," explained Sioutas, senior author of the study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology and Fred Champion Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the USC Viterbi School. "The problem is economic hardship has compelled residents to burn low quality fuel, such as wood and waste materials, that pollutes the air."...

A smoggy view from the Acropolis, photo by Karol M, retouched by Hekerui, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license