[Stoves] Nairobi's in and outdoor air pollution.

[Nikhil Desai]

Crispin, Teddy:

Good to read the news of Nairobi workshops. And that they are doing some
local scenario modeling. Doing things on one's own rather than outsourcing
inquiry solely to foreign experts is a good beginning.

Yes, "visible" is an approximation of the problem, and, as Cliff mentioned
about schools in Nigeria, indoor pollution is NOT "invisible", just that
until Kirk Smith started some 40 years ago, the hyper-educated "experts"
didn't know what was inside the biomass fuel smoke.

It is good that this Conversation (or Propaganda) piece acknowledges  "
Nairobi’s construction boom
<http://www.constructafrica.com/news/column-kenyas-construction-industry-and-its-challenges>
and
practices like the burning of garbage
<http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/8735/20140826/trash-burning-worsens-air-pollution.htm>
." These practices, or other open burning of biomass (alive or dead), emit
both particulates as well as PAHs in gaseous form. (I don't know much about
PAHs pathways.) The problem is, air quality monitors do not distinguish the
chemistry and do not pick up the toxins and pathogens in open burning of
biomass (and plastics, treated wood, a whole lot of things difficult to
measure systematically).

Which makes OUTDOOR air pollution a serious "invisible" pollution. I
suppose fine "natural dust" is distinguished from fuel-origin PM2.5 but
that still leaves aside air pollution from chemical spills, metal workings,
manure, what no.

Kirk Smith is fond of saying "You don't get what you expect, you get what
you inspect". With his re-characterization of IAP as HAP, he has ventured
outdoors but ignored outdoor air pollution other than that from household
solid fuels. (Remember, to him, solid fuels means "dirty", as does
kerosene, though kerosene cooking doesn't enter in his computations.)

And remember also that air quality monitors in urban areas are not
necessarily at the level of people's breathing.

We have come a full circle now at a higher level -- reducing all HAP to
PM2.5 with the assumption of equitoxicity and the fakery of Integrated
Exposure Response based on computed concentrations. " (I haven't checked
the details of cooked up "premature mortality" from ambient air pollution
other than that from household solid fuels, but I have a vague recollection
that the methods are pretty much the same - equitoxicity and IERs, though
concentrations reportedly from actual monitors (when they work) plus
satellite data. (This "satellite data" and global air circulation models
are other mumbo-jumbo. Looked into a couple of papers some time ago. It is
an innovation like the IERs -- spotty and unreliable data used to compute
attribution to different pollutants according to regional circulation.)

The ideological war against solid fuels is a distraction. It is the
ideological smoke that is invisible, a means to leave aside the problem of
air quality management to new source performance.

Don't get me wrong, "new source performance" does make a difference. People
didn't switch to kerosene and LPG or electricity (for beverage making, if
not much else) only to save time and avoid drudgery; low emission rates and
improvements in household concentrations do matter. Whether they lead to
individually quantifiable "disease reduction" is a matter of theology.

Nikhil


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nikhil Desai
(US +1) 202 568 5831
*Skype: nikhildesai888*


On Thu, Aug 17, 2017 at 6:53 AM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <
crispinpigott at outlook.com> wrote:

> Dear Teddy
>
>
>
> To me, this confirms again that Nikhil’s point about having to have an air
> quality management plan om order to meaningfully manage air quality.  The
> idea that a stove is a curative pill is actually pretty accurate
> characterisation of what is going on:
>
>
>
> Define something as a health/disease problem.
>
> Raise alarm with scary numbers.
>
> Induce personal guilt for benefitting from progress.
>
> Offer a pill that will cure the problem.
>
> Offer to deliver the pill for a fee.
>
> Assuage guilt.
>
>
>
> The issues we have to address systematically are the first two. Upon close
> inspection there is an awful lot of nothing in them. What remains is
> modeled correlation. What are we supposed to make of that?
>
>
>
> Regards
> Crispin
>
>
>
>
>
> An interesting read from The Conversation on air quality in Nairobi,
> Kenya. https://theconversation.com/invisible-and-ignored-air-pollution-
> inside-the-homes-of-nairobis-residents-81109#
> <https://theconversation.com/invisible-and-ignored-air-pollution-inside-the-homes-of-nairobis-residents-81109>
>
>
>
> ''The modelling showed that while price controls may be effective
> initially, sustaining gains in air quality and health outcomes will require
> a combination of different measures. The results also show that only
> targeting household air pollution isn’t enough.
>
> Because indoor and outdoor air pollutants constantly interact with each
> other as air moves in and out of people’s homes, the greatest gains will
> only be realised when outdoor air pollution is addressed effectively.
>
> But it’s easy to focus on ambient air pollution which is more visible and
> ignore the problem within households. That’s why policymakers need to
> ensure that both challenges are monitored and addressed. Reducing exposure
> to both indoor and outdoor air pollution is critical to improving health
> outcomes for vulnerable populations in the informal settlements in Africa’s
> cities.''
>
> Does anyone have anymore information on this study?
>
> Best,
>
> Teddy
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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