Cleaning up the Rivers

In December 1952, cold air trapped a layer of warm, smoky air close to the ground in London. For four days, a yellow-brown fog of coal soot blanketed the capital, so thick that people could not see their own feet. Buses stopped running because drivers could not see the road. Cattle at the Smithfield show were killed before they could suffer further. People died in their homes, in hospitals, and on the streets. The British government’s initial response was to deny that the fog had killed anyone; a spokesman suggested that the excess deaths were caused by influenza. At least 4,000 people died in those four days, and researchers later estimated the total at closer to 12,000 once the delayed effects on the elderly and the already-sick were counted. The government finally acknowledged the connection in 1953, under sustained pressure from Members of Parliament whose constituents had died. The Clean Air Act followed in 1956, restricting the burning of coal in domestic hearths and requiring…