NPR

Here's how NPR reporters around the world are dealing with air pollution

As Canada and parts of the U.S. confront declines in air quality due to smoke from Canadian wildfires, NPR reporters in Asia, Latin America and Africa share their experiences.
A general view showing buildings shrouded by polluted air in Seoul on April 12, 2023.

This week, Canada and parts of the United States have confronted unprecedented declines in air quality due to smoke from Canadian wildfires, but people elsewhere in the world have long had to adjust and adapt to living with hazardous pollution levels. In some cases, those levels have improved over time.

NPR correspondents Anthony Kuhn and Eyder Peralta and freelance reporters Shalu Yadav and Kate Bartlett share what it's like in Beijing, Seoul, New Delhi, Mexico City and Johannesburg.

From Beijing to Seoul

I first visited Beijing in 1982, and lived there much of the time between 1992 and 2018.

In most of my years there, the pollution was terrible, especially in winter, although we didn't have ways to

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