It's a hyper-polluted city in a basket-case country - but I love it.

[elhombresinnombre]

It’s a hyper-polluted city in a basket-case country – but I love it

A postcard from enigmatic Buenos Aires, one year into the presidency of self-styled ‘anarcho-capitalist’ Javier Milei

www.telegraph.co.uk

archived version

https://archive.ph/tqO3C

 

[Ries]

I had to laugh at “ hyper polluted”.
Have you seen photos of Lahore recently?
I lived in LA in the 80s, and BA is not comparable…
Today, LA is 4 times worse air quality.

 

[Redpossum]

I was going to say, AQI in north India was over 1000 just a few days ago

 

[Paige55]

I wouldn't classify the city as 'hyper-polluted' at all but hey if it garners clicks...sure?A hyper-polluted city is grey with grit and haze, these Buenos Aires blue skies and the faint smell of an ever-burning asado don't make me feel queasy and i don't feel the need to wear a mask to sift out pollutants. It's a big city, like all big cities-in parts overrun with transit and traffic but I'd say it's on par with pollution in any metropolis and nothing outside the bounds, though could always be improved. I can smell the jasmine vines in the air over the car exhaust still, so I'd say that's a win.

 

[Redpossum]

One of the problems with talking about AQI is that it is measured differently in different countries. I did find one website waqi that offers some global info. BsAs today is 4-10 and New Delhi is 216

Los Angeles 53-78
San Diego, one anomalous reading of 59, but all the rest are 25-36
Baltimore 34
Rome 22-37
Cordoba, Spain 59

All in all, I'd say "hyper-polluted" is a bit of an exaggeration, though of course air pollution is only one form of pollution. I dare say water testing the Rio de la Plata might show some interesting results, but then again the same could be said of San Diego Bay.

 

[Redpossum]

OK, I'm getting into this

The US Embassy in Katmandu reports an unhealthy 191
The US Consulate in Dhaka, Bangladesh reports 190
Most of South America is green, with a scattering of yellow flags. The one and only exception is a single report from Cali, Colombia of a 150. The numbers in North America are notably higher

 

[Ries]

When I first came to BA, in 2007, it was stinkier. Most of the cabs were still Peugot 504 diesels, and the older colectivos put out huge clouds of black smoke too. But by 2010, the vast majority of taxis were CNG- mainly because the government has subsidized it, and the gas companies built CNG only gas stations around the city. That helped a lot. So the taxistas switched, to save money.
And, if you look at colectivos today, most have a little sticker by the fuel filler door that says Euro 5. Still, admittedly, a bit behind Europe itself, which is now mandating Euro 6 diesel, but a lot less polluting than the stuff they used to use.
My experience has been the biggest pollutant in Buenos Aires air-wise is pollen from all the street trees. I take Claritin.

 

[Quilombo]

The only places where pollution are a major issue that I've been to are the villas next to the Rio La Matanza/Riachuelo, the Sarandi/Santo Domingo Canals, and near the high way exit to Bernal I think. The first 3 are due to pollution and run off in to the rivers caused by the lack of proper waste management and sewage, while the later is due to the open burning of trash including plastic near the highway. Otherwise CABA itself is pretty clean.

 

[toast]

OK, I'm getting into this

The US Embassy in Katmandu reports an unhealthy 191
The US Consulate in Dhaka, Bangladesh reports 190
Most of South America is green, with a scattering of yellow flags. The one and only exception is a single report from Cali, Colombia of a 150. The numbers in North America are notably higher

Chris Moss was too lazy or had no comprehension of how air pollution is measured, the constituents (particulates, NOX. sulfurous oxides). Any useful description of pollution is quantified, against the backdrop of established standards that correlate concentrations to health risk. I just dismissed Moss.

 

[antipodean]

Can only assume that the "hyper-pollution" they are referring to is in the form of dog-sh!t smooshed into the pavement throughout the city at levels seen in few other places in the world. And perhaps the noise in many areas of the city.

… aside of course from the slum areas outside the city which do suffer horribly from pollution as in anywhere else in Latin America (but where few, if any, tourists or expats reading this article will ever venture let alone likely know exist) despite unlikely being Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo levels of bad.