Build A Kinder Earth

Sundar Christopher compares satellite data with ground measurements in well-studied areas. With these comparisons he can determine surface air quality using only satellite data. He examined 20 cities with populations greater than 10 million and discovered that in 15 of them, pollution levels were 5 to 10 times higher than the World Health Organization’s guidelines.

Air pollution comes from numerous sources including factories, buses, motor vehicles, power plants, wildfires, and dust. Any contamination in the air can be considered an air pollutant. Air pollution can be damaging to humans, vegetation, the eco-system and the ozone layer. The average human inhales 20,000 liters of air per day; this makes it very likely that that person will come in contact with pollutants at some point.