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Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution
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Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

May 27, 2020

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Page 1: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Historical Geography of

Toronto’s Air Pollution

Page 2: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Toronto 2014

• Third most rapidly growing metropolis in N.

America

• Huge and growing extent of urban sprawl

• Dependency on cheap petroleum, hydro

• Sustainability will be a challenge

Page 3: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Toronto 2014

• The GTA has serious air pollution problems

– Kills an estimated 8-10,000 people each year

• Ontario MOE monitors air quality

• Has just 4 monitoring stations in Toronto

– Bay/Wellesley; Kennedy/Lawrence; Yonge/Finch; 401/Islington

– And just 9 for the GTA as a whole

• MOE network will not support detailed mapping of air pollutants

Page 4: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Toronto 2014

• We have serious and deadly air pollution

– It must be taking a severe toll on human life and

health dollars

• The public does not seem to care that much

• It is not a major priority for public authorities

Page 5: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

How did we get here?

• Take a look at the historical changes in the

city’s air pollution

Page 6: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Toronto Combustion 000 tonnes CE

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960

Coal

Wood

Incineration

Petroleum

Page 7: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1900s

Page 8: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 9: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 10: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 11: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 12: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1922

Page 13: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1923

Page 14: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 15: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1928

Page 16: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1948

Page 17: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1959

Page 18: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Historic Urban Air Pollution

• Its scholarly literature is small

– London, Manchester, Pittsburgh

• It lacks spatiality

– No maps/few maps/crude maps

• It lacks temporality

– Little information of how it changes over time

Page 19: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

A problem:

• MOE can make crude maps of air pollution

– Because they have monitoring stations

• But how do you map historic air pollution?

– When there were no monitoring stations

Page 20: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

One Solution

• Air pollution generates sediment

– Dust, particles, chemical films

• Find enough urban sedimentary columns

– And you might reconstruct past air pollution

• It is expensive, technical, dependent on chance

survival of sediment

• The sediment is unrepresentative of the

airborne pollutants

Page 21: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Dust Jars

• In the 1930s researchers deployed dust jars to

catch Toronto’s urban dust fall

– They estimated about 200/tons/sq mile/year

• Scale up to the whole city in the 1930s, about

50 square miles:

– 10,000 tons/year dustfall over the city

• But the city emitted 165,000 tons of dust

– Dust jars missed 85% of the dust

Page 22: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Smoke

• Is mostly made of tiny particles (mostly Pm1)

• Dust jars, local sedimentary sinks tend to capture only the large particles (Pm30, Pm100)

– Can’t assume the same chemistry as smaller particles

• It will be very problematic to reconstruct urban air pollution history from local sediment

• We really need a way to sample historical air pollution while it is still airborne

Page 23: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

A key problem

• How do you map historic air pollution?

• Soil & sediment sampling

– Expensive, technical …

Page 24: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 25: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
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Page 28: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
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Page 30: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Test #1

• Does the visibility pattern match industrial

land use, likely the biggest source of smoke?

– Compare 1920s visibility with industrial land use

in 1923 Goads insurance atlas

Page 31: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 32: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Test #2

• Does the visibility pattern match newspaper

references to smoke issues?

– Content analysis of 1920s newspaper coverage

Page 33: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 34: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Air Pollution

• Early 1930s:

– Dustfall 10-20 times present levels

– 600-1200 parts per billion of suspended particles

– Catastrophic by modern standards, probably an

underestimate

Page 35: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Air Pollution

• Experts on the health effects of air pollution tell us that excessive coal smoke increases the incidence of

– Bronchitis

– Pneumonia

• Early C20th

– Pneumonia & bronchitis the city’s biggest killers in the winter (air pollution?)

– Few pink lungs in Toronto

Page 36: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Air Pollution

• Tracking potential air pollution deaths is difficult

– Bronchitis and pneumonia don’t have to be caused by air pollution

– Even if they are, the air in which places is relevant?

– Most complex in adults

• Use infant deaths instead

– Most geographically sensitive

Page 37: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Test #3

• Does the visibility pattern connect to urban

respiratory health?

– Compare visibility patterns to infant respiratory

mortality

– Bronchitis & pneumonia appear to be the key

disease categories

– Infants likely to be the most spatially sensitive

Page 38: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1903

Page 39: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1906

Page 40: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1909-10

Page 41: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1922

Page 42: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Toronto: Pneumonia and Broncho-Pneumonia Mortality (deaths/000 people)

0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

25.00

30.00

35.00

40.00

Jan

1876

Jan

1879

Jan

1882

Jan

1885

Jan

1888

Jan

1891

Jan

1894

Jan

1897

Jan-

00

Jan-

03

Jan-

06

Jan-

09

Jan-

12

Jan-

15

Jan-

18

Jan-

21

Jan-

24

Jan-

27

Jan-

30

Jan-

33

Jan-

36

Page 43: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Toronto: Respiratory Mortality 1903

0

5

10

15

20

25

Jan-03 Feb-03 Mar-03 Apr-03 May-03 Jun-03 Jul-03 Aug-03 Sep-03 Oct-03 Nov-03 Dec-03

CDR % due to Pneumonia & Bronchitis

Page 44: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Toronto 1903: Bronchitis and Pneumonia as % of deaths

0

5

10

15

20

25

Jan-

03

Feb-

03

Mar-

03

Apr-

03

May-

03

Jun-

03

Jul-03 Aug-

03

Sep-

03

Oct-

03

Nov-

03

Dec-

03

All

Infants

Page 45: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Air Pollution

• Very high degree of correlation between infant

respiratory death (bronchitis, pneumonia) and

mapped patterns of air pollution

• Mortality probably worse for poor inner city

districts, working-class areas close to industry,

for poor ethnic immigrants

– Environmental justice?

Page 46: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Toronto 1880-1930

• 20,200 deaths from pneumonia

• 6,100 deaths from bronchitis

• Combined: responsible for 12.6% of all deaths

• Tuberculosis: 12,700 deaths

• Air pollution the city’s biggest killer in the

winter, and the second largest killer overall

– Second only to polluted water

– Contemporary medical profession hardly noticed

Page 47: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Air Pollution

• But makers of patent remedies were well

aware of routine respiratory illnesses of

historic Toronto

Page 48: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 49: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
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Page 54: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

World War 1

• Wartime conditions boosted coal demand but

hampered imports of ‘clean-burning’ anthracite

coal

– US bans anthracite imports to Canada from 1916

• Toronto combustion shifts to bituminous and

soft coals

• Air pollution gets much worse

Page 55: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Toronto: Pneumonia and Broncho-Pneumonia Mortality (deaths/000 people)

0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

25.00

30.00

35.00

40.00Ja

n 1

87

6

Ma

r

Ma

y

Ju

l 1

88

2

Se

p

No

v

Ja

n 1

88

9

Ma

r

Ma

y

Ju

l 1

89

5

Se

p

No

v

Ja

n-0

2

Ma

r-0

4

Ma

y-0

6

Ju

l-0

8

Se

p-1

0

No

v-1

2

Ja

n-1

5

Ma

r-1

7

Ma

y-1

9

Ju

l-2

1

Se

p-2

3

No

v-2

5

Ja

n-2

8

Ma

r-3

0

Ma

y-3

2

Ju

l-3

4

Page 56: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

World War 1

• Death records show a dramatic increase in

bronchitis, pneumonia deaths in Toronto

• Hospital records (Sick Kids, Toronto General)

show a surge in infant deaths due to bronchitis,

pneumonia

– Link to HSC Annual report for 1917

Page 57: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Influenza Deaths, Toronto, Oct 1918

Age

0-9 190

10-19 126

20-29 455

30-39 376

40-49 94

50-59 63

60-69 31

70-79 24

80+ 4

Page 58: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

World War 1

• Influenza strikes in October 1918

– Kills 800 Toronto people in that month alone

– Mostly young adults aged 20-40

• But the immediate context is one of reduced

urban air quality

– Due to wartime conditions

• May boost/reduce influenza deaths

– But probably significant

Page 59: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

World War 1

• Toronto’s air pollution worsened under

wartime conditions

• Leaving the 1918 Influenza outbreak aside

– We appear to have 1,200 respiratory deaths in

excess of the pre and post-war levels

Page 60: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

World War 1

• In other words, Toronto had about 1,200 direct

civilian casualties in the First World War

– Most of them small children

– Unacknowledged by historians

• Roughly similar death toll to influenza

– Air pollution killed 1,200

– Influenza 1,360

Page 61: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Air Pollution

• Had a dramatic effect on health

• How did it affect living arrangements?

• Did air pollution shape the city’s residential

patterns?

• Let’s look at some advertising:

Page 62: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Test #4

• How do the visibility patterns compare with

urban social geography?

Page 63: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
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Page 69: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

• 1910

Page 70: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

• 1925

Page 71: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 72: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Test #4

• Do wealthy people show a tendency to avoid

the smoke?

Page 73: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1905

Page 74: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1915

Page 75: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 76: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1905

Page 77: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1915

Page 78: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

1925

Page 79: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Test #4

• Some tendency for wealth to avoid smoke

• But other processes are at work too

Page 80: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Air Pollution

• There is a tendency for middle and upper

classes to flee the smoky inner city

– Abandon once-fashionable Jarvis & Sherbourne

streets by 1915

• Middle-class suburbs established in clean-air

districts, with clean-air advertising

Page 81: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

(At Least) Two Kinds of Suburbs

• Industrial:

– Industry seeks sufficient space to make mess,

cheaply

– Attracts industrial worker residence

• Affluent:

– Middle and upper income people seek ways of

avoiding industry, mess

Page 82: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
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Page 84: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

A Dynamic Pattern over Time

• Tests of the visual technique are possible in

C20th

• Difficult for C19th

Page 85: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
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Changes over Time

• Visibility mapping suggests highly dynamic

patterns over space and time

• Can we measure the temporality of Toronto’s

air pollution?

Page 95: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Temporality

• Existing studies of historic urban air pollution

are very weak on spatial patterns and variation

over time.

Page 96: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing
Page 97: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Toronto Combustion 000 tonnes CE

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960

Coal

Wood

Incineration

Petroleum

Page 98: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Toronto Air Pollution

Mean visibility (metres) vs estimated particulate emissions from coal burning

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970

Mean vis

tpm/000

Page 99: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Some Results

• There are signs that photo analysis is able to

reveal both the spatiality and the temporality

of historic urban air pollution.

Page 100: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Some Results

• Measuring historic urban air pollution may

help us understand the spatiality and

temporality of

– Urban disease, mortality, demography

– Urban social geography

Page 101: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Conclusions

• Toronto has a long and rather significant air

pollution history

• Has shaped health patterns

• Shaped and continues to shape its residential

patterns

• Covers many issues of environmental justice

Page 102: Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution f15/toronto air pollution history.pdf · Historical Geography of Toronto’s Air Pollution. Toronto 2014 •Third most rapidly growing

Conclusions

• Even today air pollution is deadly, but crudely

mapped

• Can be mapped historically, and in some detail

• Modern Toronto has been shaped, continues to

be shaped by its energy consumption and air

pollution patterns