The Role of Imagery in Increasing Public Awareness of Air Pollution Impacts and Promoting Environmental Progress

The cliché states an image is worth a thousand words. (And we would posit that videos count for even more than that). Throughout the multi-decadal crusade to raise pubic awareness of the harmful impacts of polluted air, imagery has played a significant role in shifting public attitudes on the topic, often resulting in significant regulatory reforms and changes in societal behavior. In addition to photographs (and films) created by traditional journalists and documentarians, air quality scientists used imagery to enhance their communications both among themselves and with the public at large. Raw statistics on atmospheric pollution, while valuable and alarming, did not always create a visceral reaction in the minds of the public or policy makers. Once made visible, the solution to pollution was no longer dilution, that is, using the atmosphere as a dumping round for pollutants. Pictures became a vital tool for increasing public environmental concern in the decades after the Second World War. The deadly smogs of Donora, PA (1948), London in 1952 and New York City (1966) were widely portrayed in newspapers and on television. The eye-watering photochemical smog that enveloped Los Angels in the 1950s, and many other cities since, was eminently photogenic, as was Denver’s Brown Cloud. The author made extensive use of photography and videography in the days when the 1970 Clean Air Act’s mandates were being implemented to illustrate how industrial smoke plumes would ignore geographical borders. The choking industrial plumes from Chicago area steel miles graced the cover of The Saturday Review. The massive photochemical sulfate hazes smothering Midwestern and Eastern states were illustrated using animations of GOES satellite imagery. These EPA-sponsored videos were shown in Congressional Hearings and on the CBS Nightly News with Walter Cronkite. Today, graphic images China’s pollution are mobilizing clean ups and conversions to alternative energy. Imagery was, and remains, a powerful tool for scientists to explain new and, perhaps complex, findings not only to their peers, but also to policy makers, and of course, most importantly, the public at large. We will review some of the iconic images and videos that span the seven decades of the environmental era.