Air quality across the world has reached toxic levels, and although much publicity is given to Beijing’s life-threatening air, London is even worse with 197 micrograms of particulate per cubic metre, almost enough to eat it:
https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-02-15-air-quality-across-the-world-has-reached-toxic-levels.html
The World health organisation recommends that particular matter in the air stay below 25-50 micrograms per cubic litre in a 24 hour period, but 92 percent of the world’s population live in areas where this air quality is not met:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en/
This pollution is already leading to 5.5 million deaths worldwide prematurely. Ill-health ranges from cardio-vascular disease, to dementia, right through to numerous cancers.
No doubt, much could be done utilising technology to begin cleaning the air, but that would put an extra dollar value on the capitalists, who act freely to use the world’s atmosphere as an industrial sewer. It is a classic tragedy of the commons, where an unvalued resource is simply exploited unto destruction.
Unfortunately, we still have to breathe, and so do the industrialists. Perhaps something will be done when the fat men in luxury suits, start dropping dead.