London's Dangerous Non-Response to Extreme Pollution

London’s air quality was so bad on Monday that sensors in the city center reached a “black alert”. This is the highest level of alert the city records, after which citizens are encouraged to reduce physical exertion or risk health problems. Some centrally located elementary schools are now keeping their students indoors, with twelve other locations around London also reporting red alerts (the next level down) after crisp winter conditions and a lack of wind trapped warmer, polluted air close to the ground.

This means London is currently experiencing some of its worst pollution in decades, with some areas experiencing double the legal limit of dangerous particulate matter. Aerial photos of the city confirm what every wheezing pedestrian is feeling—that the city is being smothered in a lethal, semi-translucent mantle of pollutants that is relentlessly hammering the population’s lungs.