Is The Taj Mahal Missing? 🔎
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Season 2: Episode 41 Description
In today's episode: Is the Taj Mahal missing? 🔎 Find out what's happening with pollution in India and how did we come up with the word smog? 🏭 Correspondent LizaBanks Campagna breaks it down and tells us everything we need to know about the science behind pollution. 🗞️ In the news: Searching for Christmas trees and a stay at the Home Alone house? ✈️ And test your smog knowledge in today's Trivia on The Ten. ✅
Sources for the episode
Delhi smog: Schools and colleges shut as pollution worsens - BBC News
Who Gets to Breathe Clean Air in New Delhi? - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Children and Air Pollution | American Lung Association
New Delhi air pollution is so bad, officials call for a lockdown : NPR
smog | National Geographic Society
portmanteau word | Definition, Origin, & Examples | Britannica
Christmas tree buyers face reduced supplies, higher prices | AP News
Home Alone house available to book on Airbnb - BBC News
Well-traveled roadrunner is back home after visit to Maine | AP News
Great Smog of London | Facts, Pollution, Solution, & History | Britannica
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:02
What if you couldn't go outside because the air was unbreathable we're not talking about Mars or the Moon. It's happening in one of the most populated cities here on Earth. Today, we're masking up to make sense of air pollution. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Tuesday, December 7th, and this is The Ten News.
Various Voices 0:26
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:34
Since early November, air pollution in Delhi, the capital city of India, has been getting worse and worse. Many schools are closed and the government is urging people to stay inside. Man. The air in Delhi is already polluted by emissions from vehicles, coal plants, and other industries. And this time of year, the combination of farmers burning their fields to make way for new crops and fireworks set off for Diwali. The five-day festival of lights celebrated by many people in India contributes to the smog filling Delhi and nearby cities and towns. Experts call the pollution levels in Delhi severe. The air in Northern India is 10 times worse than anywhere else in the world. Residents of Delhi say their eyes burn and their throats, but it can affect people in other ways too. Exposure to air pollution can take years off a person's life and make them more likely to have a stroke or a heart attack. Kids are especially affected by air pollution. Because kids are so active and their lungs are still growing. Kids who breathe polluted air are more likely to have breathing problems like asthma or to suffer from lung damage. Yikes. So schools and colleges in Delhi and the surrounding area are closing for now. Supreme Court justices ordered authorities to stop all nonessential travel in the Capitol and 'close all offices in the area. So 10s of millions of people will now work from home. But what causes air pollution? Here to give the explanation of the science behind smog is Ten News correspondent LizaBanks Campagna.
LizaBanks Campagna 2:26
You hear the word smog and pollution all the time, especially if you live in or around big cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco, California. Just this past week, the San Francisco barrier skies were pretty gross looking thanks to a temperature inversion when warm air sits on top of cooler air and pushes the pollution down. But what do smog and pollution actually mean? Let's start with pollution. Pollution is when harmful substances like chemicals, trash, or smoke from things like big factories or cars contaminate the earth. There are three different types of pollution, land, water, and air. Smog is a type of air pollution. When smog occurs. There's a hazy gray cloud in the air that makes it hard to see things on the horizon and just makes it look yucky outside. So why does smog happen? When the air pollution hits the sunlight? It creates toxic air particles that zoom around the air, causing the air to get a brownish tint to it. The reason why you see smog in places like LA is that there are lots and lots of people who drive their cars, which means there's a ton of carbon monoxide in the air. What does that mean? Carbon monoxide is the invisible gas that comes out of cars that pollutes the air where there is traffic, there's smog. Not only does smog look bad, but it's also bad for our health. Smog can have long-term effects on our lungs and our heart. For anyone with asthma or other respiratory problems, smog can cause them to develop a nasty cough. And it can even make your eyes hurt and irritate your skin. Gross. And 2020 showed us how much our driving contributes to it. There was a big noticeable decrease in smog when we were all sheltered in place at the start of the pandemic and people weren't driving to work or activities. Now that we're starting to get back to normal life and more cars are on the road, smog levels are rising again in big cities.
Bethany Van Delft 4:23
We know smog is air pollution that reduces visibility and is bad for animals, plants, and people. But where does the word smog come from? Help. The word smog is only about 100 years old. Really? People in the early 1900s observed that burning coal created smoke that mixed with fog. So they combine the words smoke and fog into the word you got it. Smog. Words made from combining two or more words are called Portman toes. You probably know quite a few portmanteau brunches Porque hangry; those are some of the more famous ones. They save time too because if you're hangry you don't have time to say hungry and angry, whatever. Now let's see what else is going on. Rocking around the Christmas tree this year might require a little bit more effort. That's partly because of problems with shipping and wildfires that affected Christmas tree growers in Oregon and Washington. This is an outrage. Some lucky movie buffs will be able to rent the house from the classic holiday movie Home Alone in Chicago. But for one night only, and yes, there will be booby traps like paint cans hanging from the ceiling of the stairs, a plate of mac and cheese on the dining room table, and a pet tarantula just like in the movie. Keep the change, ya filthy animal. Speaking of animals, a roadrunner that accidentally traveled 2800 miles from Nevada to Maine in a moving van is back where it belongs. The bird flew back on a commercial flight and was released into its old neighborhood. Even if it didn't get to sit in first class, there's no place like home.
Tracy Leeds Kaplan 6:23
Hey, parents and awesome guardians. I'm Tracy Leeds Kaplan, executive producer of The Ten News.
Owen 6:28
And, I'm Owen.
Tracy Leeds Kaplan 6:29
And, who are you?
Owen 6:30
Your son! How would you like to know the future? Follow us at The Ten News on Instagram, Twitter, and on TikTok. There we drop a few clues on upcoming episodes in emojis.
Tracy Leeds Kaplan 6:48
What's your favorite emoji?
Owen 6:49
Maybe the scream emoji.
Tracy Leeds Kaplan 6:50
The scream emoji? That's fitting.
Bethany Van Delft 6:57
Coming up next...
Various Voices 6:58
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 7:01
Trivia on The Ten. In what city was there a Great Smog, where so much smog filled the streets, roads, trains, and the airport was shut down and robbers used the cover of smog to break into homes and stores? Was it a) New York City b) Paris or c) London? Did you guess it? The answer is C. In December 1952, London was so covered in smog that all transportation was shut down. Even ambulances couldn't drive. No way. A combination of pollution and bad weather led to the worst smog the city had ever seen. Residents called it a pea-souper, and some pedestrians walking in London couldn't even see their own feet when the government finally passed a Clean Air Act 4 years later, and by switching from burning coal to cleaner forms of heating and cooking. The city's air is much cleaner today. Time's up, but before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is making portmanteaus and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Adam Barnard, Tessa Flannery, and Nathalie Alonso. LizaBanks Campagna contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. I love portmanteaus so much so I wish I could just live in a city where everything was portmanteaus. I'd call it Portman-topia, you know, I would.
