Skip to main content

War and Urban-Industrial Air Pollution in the UK and the US

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Resilient City in World War II

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History ((PSWEH))

Abstract

The Second World War stimulated an increase in industrial output and pollutant emissions. This often reduced improvements that had come about through smoke control policies in the interwar years. There were issues of patriotism and camouflage that could be invoked to relax regulations. Nevertheless, many clean air groups continued to advocate strongly for cleaner air and fuel economy. A shift from solid to liquid fuels and the industrial use of organic solvents and volatile feedstocks saw the appearance of secondary air pollution problems, the product of chemical reactions in a sun-lit atmosphere.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Timothy O’Riordan, Environmentalism (London: Pion limited, 1981).

  2. 2.

    Peter Brimblecombe, “Deciphering the chemistry of Los Angeles smog, 1945–1995,” in James Rodger Fleming and Ann Johnson, eds., Toxic Airs: Body, Place, Planet in Historical Perspective (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014), 95–110.

  3. 3.

    Peter Brimblecombe, “Historical perspectives on health: The emergence of the Sanitary Inspector in Victorian Britain,” Perspectives in Public Health 123, no. 2 (2003): 124–131; Peter Brimblecombe, “Origins of smoke inspection in Britain (circa 1900),” Applied Environmental Science & Public Health 1 (2003): 55–62.

  4. 4.

    John Sheail, “‘Burning bings’: a study of pollution management in mid-twentieth century Britain,” Journal of Historical Geography 31, no. 1 (2005): 134–148.

  5. 5.

    Catherine Bowler and Peter Brimblecombe, “Battersea Power Station and environmental issues 1929–1989,” Atmospheric Environment. Part B. Urban Atmosphere 25, no. 1 (1991): 143–151.

  6. 6.

    Alexis Zimmer and Benoit Nemery, “The Meuse Valley (1930): Just fog or industrial pollution,” Air Pollution Episodes 6 (2017): 27–42; Benoit Nemery, Peter H. M. Hoet, and Abderrahim Nemmar, “The Meuse Valley fog of 1930: an air pollution disaster,” The Lancet 357, Issue 9257 (March 2001): 704.

  7. 7.

    J. S. Haldane, “Atmospheric pollution and fogs,” British Medical Journal 1, no. 3660 (1931): 366.

  8. 8.

    .H. B. Meller, “Practical Procedures and Limitations in Present-Day Smoke Abatement,” American Journal of Public Health and the Nations Health 29, no. 6 (1939): 645–650.

  9. 9.

    Raymond R. Tucker, “Smoke Prevention in St. Louis,” Industrial & Engineering Chemistry 33, no. 7 (1941): 836–839.

  10. 10.

    Brimblecombe, “Deciphering the chemistry of Los Angeles smog, 1945–1995.”

  11. 11.

    Peter Brimblecombe, “London 1952: An enduring legacy,” in Peter Brimblecombe, ed., Air Pollution Episodes 3 (London: World Scientific Europe Ltd., 2017), 57–72.

  12. 12.

    Catherine Bowler and Peter Brimblecombe, “The difficulties of abating smoke in late Victorian York,” Atmospheric Environment. Part B. Urban Atmosphere 24, no. 1 (1990): 49–55.

  13. 13.

    Scott Lothes, “A brief look at the eras in American railroad electrification,” September 25, 2009 (http://trn.trains.com/railroads/railroad-history/2009/09/the-stages-of-us-railroad-electrification).

  14. 14.

    E. C. Halliday, “A historical review of atmospheric pollution,” Air Pollution (Geneva: World Health Organization, 1961): 9–38. A. R. Meetham, Atmospheric Pollution: Its Origins and Prevention (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1952): 163.

  15. 15.

    Gary Willis, How did British voluntary organisations concerned with the environment balance their commitment to protect it with supporting the Second World War effort. MRes diss., University of London, 2017.

  16. 16.

    William G. Christy, “History of the air pollution control association,” Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association 10, no. 2 (1960): 126–174.

  17. 17.

    Joshua Dunsby, “Localizing Smog,” in E. Melanie DuPuis, ed., Smoke and Mirrors: The Politics and Culture of Air Pollution (New York: New York University Press, 2004), 170.

  18. 18.

    Anne Marie Todd, Communicating Environmental Patriotism: A Rhetorical History of the American Environmental Movement (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2013).

  19. 19.

    Bill Beck, “The First Half-Century: Pre- and Post-World War II Growth,” Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 57, no. 5 (2007): 636–639.

  20. 20.

    R. D. Fletcher and D. E. Smith, “Meteorological factors affecting smoke pollution,” in Proceedings of the Smoke Prevention Association of America; 38th Annual Conference Pittsburgh, (1944), p. 123.

  21. 21.

    R. D. Fletcher, “Meteorology and smoke abatement,” in Proceedings of the Smoke Prevention Association of America; 39th Annual Conference (1945), p. 31.

  22. 22.

    H. O. Swartout, and I. A. Deutch, “The ‘Smog’ Problem,” Los Angeles County Office of Air Pollution Control (1945).

  23. 23.

    Peter Brimblecombe, “Deciphering the chemistry of Los Angeles smog, 1945–1995.”

  24. 24.

    Joel A. Tarr, “Changing fuel use behavior: The Pittsburgh smoke control movement, 1940–1950,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change 20, no. 4 (December 1981): 331–346.

  25. 25.

    Brimblecombe, “London 1952: An enduring legacy.”

  26. 26.

    Ralph H. German, “Regulation of Smoke and Air Pollution in Pennsylvania,” University of Pittsburgh Law Review 10 (1948–1949): 493.

  27. 27.

    Halliday, “A historical review of atmospheric pollution.”

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Brimblecombe, P. (2019). War and Urban-Industrial Air Pollution in the UK and the US. In: Laakkonen, S., McNeill, J.R., Tucker, R.P., Vuorisalo, T. (eds) The Resilient City in World War II. Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17439-2_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17439-2_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-17438-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-17439-2

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics