Data on industrial pollution in the Camp de Tarragona region improves every year, although during 2025, due to the general blackout of AprilEmissions of one of the monitored toxic components spiked. The power outage that plunged Catalonia, Spain, and Portugal into darkness disrupted the normal operation of the chemical plants in Tarragona and triggered a surge in emissions of 1,3-butadiene, one of the volatile compounds generated by the industrial process. In Catalonia, emissions of this element are not regulated by any legislation, but the Ontario (Canada) standard is used as a reference, which sets the annual average for these emissions at 2 µg/m³. During last year's nationwide blackout, levels of this compound reached as high as 150 µg/m³, according to measurements from the petrochemical plant's own sensors in El Morell. Despite this incident, average emissions throughout the Camp de Tarragona region last year did not exceed 2 µg/m³.

Exposure to high levels of air pollution increases the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to a study from Emory University in the United States. After analyzing the medical records of nearly 30 million people over the age of 65 from 2000 to 2018, researchers concluded that exposure to high levels of environmental pollution is directly associated with a greater likelihood of developing this dementia. The link established by this study holds true regardless of whether people suffer from other chronic illnesses—such as hypertension—although they observed that having had a stroke also makes one more vulnerable to the impact of pollution. The results, which They are published in the open access journal PLOS Medicine, They highlight that interventions to improve air quality in municipalities could contribute to the prevention of dementia and protect the overall health of the population.

Daniel Knowles was born in the United Kingdom and now lives in Chicago, USA. In both countries, he says he is fed up with hearing radio alerts about a new "Carmageddon"The typical apocalyptic traffic jams on the return from vacation. That's where the idea for the title of his book came from." Carmageddon (Captain Swing), where this journalist, former correspondent of The Economist It analyzes the forces that have made the car the king of transportation in today's society and its implications, starting with air pollution. "We are approaching 2 billion cars worldwide, but the number is growing much faster than the population," it warns. Nearly 25% of the CO₂ emitted globally comes from transportation, and three-quarters of these emissions are from road transport. And this only considers the gases that warm the planet; cars also emit other gases and particles harmful to health, such as NO₂.₂ or PM2.5. "The switch to electric cars [which is now even being called into question with the reversal of European policies] isn't the solution, I think; it's only part of it," says Knowles via videoconference from Chicago. He explains that Europeans drive an average of 10,000 kilometers a year. In the United States, where public transportation is minimal and everything revolves around the car, it's nearly double: 19,000 kilometers on average. Knowles did the math, and converting all of this to electric cars would require "spending twice as much on electricity." There's no alternative; it's necessary to reduce car use.

Pregnancy is a very important stage in a woman's life. Many changes occur on different levels—physical, emotional, social, etc.—and, especially, self-care becomes crucial. Some aspects of this attention to personal well-being are within the control of the pregnant woman and her immediate environment, but others, in many cases, are beyond their reach. This is the case with the effects of climate change and pollution, especially relevant in urban contexts, which can affect pregnancy and early childhood, and which are of increasing concern to these groups.

Although Pedro Navarro, director of the DGT, He asserted a year ago that the process of redefining the classification system The environmental labeling scheme was already in place and seemed unstoppable; however, the Congress of Deputies approved the new Sustainable Mobility Law last week without including the fifteenth additional provision, which was supposed to allow the Directorate General of Traffic to establish the appropriate mechanisms to modify the criteria for assigning environmental labels to new vehicles.

The environmental organization Cel Net has analyzed data collected in recent years by sensors belonging to the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the Catalan government (Generalitat) in the Camp de Tarragona region, near the petrochemical industry, and has reached a conclusion. "In Camp de Tarragona, we breathe carcinogenic compounds. This has been scientifically proven," said Adrià Pallejà, spokesperson for Cel Net. The activist appeared at a press conference this Wednesday, along with researchers from the UPC, the Rovira i Virgili University (URV), and the University of Barcelona (UB), to present their proposals for improving air quality around the chemical plants. The organization denounces that "the problem is no longer one of ignorance, but of inaction," and points directly to the Department of Territory, formerly Acció Climàtica. The concentrations that most concern the organization are benzene and 1,3-butadiene. "These are two carcinogenic compounds, and the only levels that should be protective for human health are 0.0," said Joaquim Rovira, a researcher at the URV's Laboratory of Toxicology and Environmental Health. "Exposure to one of these concentrations can cause cancer at some point in one's life," warned the doctor, who holds degrees in chemistry and biochemistry.

Behind the flames of a forest fire there is not only the devastation of the land like that which has been suffered for days in different parts of the Iberian Peninsula, but also smoke clouds that can have health consequences and are even more toxic than other sources of pollution, such as traffic, according to a study by researchers at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) revealed this summer.. While firefighting efforts are progressing favorably in Castile and León, aided by weather conditions, the fire continues to threaten Galicia's oldest forest and has already turned the peak of Peña Trevinca, which covers some 25,000 protected hectares, black. The wave of fires hitting the Iberian Peninsula this August has pushed the total annual carbon emissions from forest fires in the country to record levels, the highest since at least 2003. Breathing smoke from a fire is common among the elderly, pregnant women, children, and people with underlying respiratory illnesses, such as asthma, and heart conditions. However, anyone with prolonged exposure to this pollutant may experience symptoms such as coughing, difficulty breathing, burning eyes, throat irritation, and runny nose. In severe cases, they may experience wheezing, chest pain, headaches, fatigue, and even a rapid heartbeat. For this reason, this Wednesday the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) recommended avoiding smoke exposure, avoiding outdoor physical activity, and maintaining good hydration to protect the respiratory tract even after the fires are extinguished, as suspended particles remain in the air.

Made on the basis of the recommendations of the Committee of Experts on Climate Change To achieve climate neutrality by 2050, as set by the European Union, the Government will approve Catalonia's first carbon budget this Tuesday. Although it is years late—the 2017 climate change law stipulated that they would be approved— before 2021–, this roadmap with the greenhouse gas limits that different economic sectors can emit into the atmosphere should reach Parliament in the autumn, according to Silvia Paneque, Minister for Ecological Transition and Government spokesperson.

This weekend, three public swimming pools in Catalonia were forced to close for several hours due to the presence of feces in the water. These were in Berga, San Juan de Vilatorrada, and Bellver de Cerdanya. Although there is growing concern that these incidents are part of a viral social media challenge, this cannot be confirmed at this time. In the case of Berga, the city council has clarified that it was a "random" accident suffered by a child who was unwell.

Health authorities have asked residents of Bonmatí (Selva) not to drink tap water, as they have detected the presence of cyanuric acid. Public Health professionals recommend avoiding its consumption because it is a chemical component often used as a chlorine stabilizer in swimming pools. "As a precaution, it cannot be used for cooking or drinking until the analysis results are available," they warn.

Barcelona closes the first half of the year on the right track in terms of air pollution: nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) remain low after 2024 where historic lows were reached and the positive trend of recent years is confirmed. In fact, a decrease of between 2 and 14% is observed at the monitoring stations distributed throughout the city compared to the values from a year ago.

A quarter of lung cancer cases occur in people who have never smoked, and a study published Wednesday in Nature suggests that the global increase in these tumors in this group is closely linked to air pollution and other environmental exposures. The research, led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), analyzed the tumors of more than 870 nonsmokers from different regions of the world.

In Catalonia, around one million tons of fibrocement (asbestos) remain to be removed, according to estimates released by the Catalan government this Monday through the Asbestos Eradication Commission. This figure represents at least half of the figure previously assumed to be reliable based on censuses compiled by the Generalitat (Catalan government) and local councils. This material, highly polluting and harmful to health when broken, had been commonly used in construction for roofing buildings or lining pipes and water tanks.

She is the first person in the world to hold a specific chair on cycling at a university, in Ghent. Meredith Glaser (California, 1982) holds a PhD in urban planning from the University of Amsterdam, a city where she has lived for the past fifteen years, and is director of the Urban Cycling Institute. "I grew up with the car as the king of transport, and arriving here shook my world: I've never had a car again," she says. This researcher and expert in cycling planning advises the Flemish government and affirms that it is necessary to "redistribute street space." A few days ago, she gave a talk, in collaboration with the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), to promote bicycle use in "greater Barcelona."

A study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) states that reducing motor traffic in Barcelona by 25% could prevent almost 200 premature deaths each year, as it would achieve a 17.6% decrease in nitrogen dioxide (NO) levels.₂). In addition, if the project is completedelectrification of the port Barcelona's efforts to decarbonize infrastructure could lead to 228 preventable deaths annually.

In the cold regions of Alaska, Canada and Siberia, permafrost has always been abundant, a layer of the Earth's sun that has been frozen for hundreds or thousands of years. This soil, once hard as concrete and on which entire villages have lived without interruption, is not only suffering the consequences of the climate crisis, but it may become an unstoppable source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Shadows are greatly sought after in the Clariana de Glòries, a public garden snatched away from vehicles and smoke, thanks to the demolition of the horrible spaghetti junction and the construction of a new tunnel. Shortly before noon, Barcelonians – and especially tourists – have taken over the shade under the trees, seeking shelter from the sun.

The crisis which villages part of the Mancomunitat d'Aigües de Les Garrigues are suffering is becoming endemic. For the second time in a month, the 25 towns that drink from this network, spread between the regions of Segrià and Les Garrigues, will be unable to drink tap water due to the high level of pesticides. The drought and agricultural activity are causing repeated incidents that affect drinking water, the latest of which started last Friday and is affecting these small villages, all below a thousand inhabitants.

Catalonia's High Court ruling against Barcelona's low-emissions zone (LEZ) have caused surprise and incomprehension, and not only in the administration, which is already working on an appeal. Since hundreds of cities across Europe have implemented similar measures to combat pollution, some a decade before the Catalan capital, how is it possible that a court decision urges the measure to be overturned and not only, in any case, to amend some of its parts? This is what air quality experts, scientists and citizens' organisations consulted by ARA had to say, going over main points of a resolution which they criticise for overlooking the right to health and containing "technical errors".

The veto on the most polluting cars in urban areas is to be extended (and fairly quickly) in the next few years to a large part of the Catalan municipalities. Towns with over 20,000 inhabitants will have to have a low-emission zone by 2025 to improve the quality of the air citizens breathe. The details, i.e., the minimum requirements that the zone will have to meet, will soon be unified by the Catalan Government, but the commitment to deploying them was sealed this morning by 65 municipalities out of the 67 with over 20,000 inhabitants (Esplugues de Llobregat and Sant Pere de Ribes have stayed out, for the moment) under the agreement to improve air quality in Catalonia. The affected municipalities have a total of 5,450,662 inhabitants.