Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
argued, and he recommended that polluting industries be relocated outside of
London. But from the end of the eighteenth century, rapid urban-industrial growth
would see air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels become a major environ-
mental problem throughout Europe and the wider world.
5.3 The Age of Smoke, c.1780
-
1950
Coal was essential to the rise of industrial towns and cities,
rst in Britain, followed
by northern Europe, the United States and other parts of the world. World coal output
was around 10 million tons in 1800, with about 80 % of the total mined in Britain. By
1900, global coal output had increased enormously to about 780 million tons, with
both Germany and the United States now major producers. There were few big cities
before coal was used to power machines (in 1800 just six cities in the world had over
500,000 inhabitants), their size and number held in check by the low productivity of
their hinterlands. The shift from a solar to a fossil energy system removed old
constraints on urban and economic expansion (by 1900 there were 43 cities that
exceeded half a million in population, including 16 of more than one million); but at
a high socio-environmental cost.
13
Air pollution rose to unprecedented levels as coal
replaced wood and charcoal for industrial and home energy uses, impacting nega-
tively on nature and human health in new manufacturing centres like Birmingham,
Leeds, Manchester, Chicago, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Germany
s Ruhrgebiet.
The concentration of industry was made possible by improved transport infra-
structure
'
that could get massive volumes of coal into towns
and cities quickly and cheaply. While each place had its own experience, due to
differences in topography, climate, population density and economic base (such as
textiles, steel or chemicals), the spread of coal-
—
canals and railways
—
red industrialisation also brought
air pollution problems that were common to all. The tall smokestacks of factories
and furnaces dominated nineteenth and early-twentieth century cityscapes, and their
emissions permanently
lled the air. On arrival, visitors to new industrial towns
found that the acrid smoke stung their eyes and inhibited their breathing, while the
falling soot soiled their clothes and skin. Smoke pollution, denser in winter than in
summer, seriously damaged architecture in urban-industrial areas. As early as 1854
Charles Dickens, in his lesser-known role as journalist, complained that many of
Britain
rather than of brick or
stone. Monumental public buildings, such as new town halls that expressed civic
pride, were soon defaced by soot and grime. In addition, the stonework of historic
buildings, such as the Houses of Parliament, St. Paul
'
s grand public edi
ces appeared to be
'
built of coal
'
s Cathedral and York Minster,
began to erode under the effects of acid rain.
14
Writing on
'
'
'
The Air of Towns
in
1859, the Manchester-based scientist Robert Angus Smith
rst coined the term:
13
Smil (
1994
), Nye (
1998
) and Sieferle (
2001
).
14
Mosley (
2008
).
