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Big thanks to Jenna Castellano, winner of this

year’s Nonfiction Writing Contest! Jenna

suggested this amazing topic.

KillerNonfiction

Like so many terrible things, the dark cloud seemed to come out of nowhere. It swept over London, England—black and poisonous. It brought terror and death. It

would kill 12,000 people. This was not a monster from a nightmare. It

was not an F5 tornado or an alien spaceship. This killer was air—a huge cloud of toxic,

polluted air. For five days, it blanketed London, causing fear, panic, and death. It became known as the Killer Smog of 1952. It’s one of the deadliest environmental disasters in history.

The killer smog struck on December 5, 1952. Brian Bone was 9. He was at home with his parents and his 15-year-old brother, Hugh. That morning, he opened the back door to let out his dog, Tarzan. The air was damp and smoky. But that was no surprise in London at that time of year. The German

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Cause and Effect As you read this article, look for the causes and effects of a disastrous event.

UPCLOSE

LOOK FOR WORD NERD’S 9 WORDS IN BOLD

BY LAUREN TARSHIS | ART BY GARY HANNAIn 1952, the deadliest

environmental disaster in

England’s history changed our

ideas about the air we breathe

DON’T MISS OUR BEHIND-

THE-SCENES VIDEO!

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Pea-Soup Smog For centuries, London had been known

for its fog. This swirling white mist wrapped itself around the city on chilly days. The fog was as much a part of London as the Big Ben clock and Buckingham Palace. It had appeared in countless paintings. It had inspired poems and ghost stories.

True, it made London gloomy at times. But it was natural and harmless. Fog is just microscopic drops of water trapped in the air.

By the 1800s, though, London had grown more crowded and modern. It was no longer just fog that swirled in the air. It was pollution

BRIAN AND TARZANBrian Bone, about two years before the Killer Smog. Brian loved his older brother, Hugh. But his German shepherd, Tarzan, was his “great friend.”

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shepherd trotted into the fenced-in backyard, and Brian shut the door.

Later, when Brian went to call the dog in, he realized something was very wrong.

The hazy morning had turned midnight black. The air had a sharp smell, like chemicals mixed with rotten eggs. Brian called for Tarzan. But the dog had slipped through a hole in the fence. Normally, Tarzan would have been able to sniff his way home. But even a dog’s powerful nose couldn’t smell its way through the smothering smog. The Bone family searched for Tarzan. Hours went by. The dog remained lost.

Across London, millions of people had been plunged into darkness. Buses screeched to a halt. Trains stopped on their tracks. Cars crashed. People stumbled blindly through the streets. Some got so lost they fell into the Thames [tehmz] River and drowned. Being indoors was no escape. The black air crept under doors. It slipped through keyholes. It filled homes, offices, and hospitals.

What was going on?

the United States. Smog from factories and steel mills blanketed American cities like Pittsburgh and Cleveland. It looked ugly and smelled bad. Kids playing outdoors would come home with blackened clothes, their lashes and eyebrows coated with black slime.

Most people thought nothing could be done to make the air cleaner. Coal was the cheapest way to heat a home. It was the best that most Londoners could afford. Factory owners said that cleaner choices would cost too much. And what would happen if they had to close their factories? Millions of people would lose their jobs.

Smog, it seemed, was just a fact of modern city life.

A True DisasterWhat few people knew at the time was

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WHEN DAY TURNED TO NIGHTGhostly scenes of London during the Killer Smog of 1952. Left: Londoners make their way through the darkened streets. Above: a policeman uses a torch to direct traffic.

from factory smokestacks and millions of home chimneys. Much of this pollution came from burning coal, which produced an especially sooty and oily smoke. On foggy days, this smoke would stick to the tiny drops of water in the air. (Imagine trillions of tiny bubbles caked with dirty oil and filling up every inch of air.)

In 1905, this dark and dirty fog got an official name: smog.

By then, smog was already a problem in London. It was worst on cold winter days. On those days, people burned more coal to keep warm. Smoke pouring out of 12 million home chimneys created ugly green “pea-soup” smog.

Dirty air wasn’t a problem just in London. The early 1900s was a time of growth for cities all over Europe—and

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that smog wasn’t just dark and smelly. It was also dangerous. It contained toxic chemicals and particulates—specks of unburned coal. As the Bone family searched outside for Tarzan, their lungs filled with poison.

Even before scientists fully understood how smog damages the body, there were signs that it was harmful. On pea-soup smog days in London, kids would be hunched over their desks at school, wheezing and hacking as they tried to work. The elderly would collapse in the streets. Emergency rooms would fill with patients showing signs of lung problems, like asthma and pneumonia. Chemicals and particulates in smog can damage the lungs—for good.

Still, time went by, and little was done to reduce air pollution.

But then came the smog of 1952. This smog was worse than others before.

The weather was very cold. People were burning more coal than usual to stay warm.

And there was no wind to clear away the smog.

For days, London was dark. Schools stayed closed. Workers couldn’t get to their jobs. Even funerals were canceled; people couldn’t drive from churches to cemeteries to bury their loved ones.

By day three of the fog, there was some good news at the Bone house. Tarzan had found his way home. But Brian couldn’t do much to celebrate. He was sick in bed. He had a burning, painful cough. He felt as though the smog was inside his chest.

All around London, thousands of people were getting sick. At first, most doctors thought people had the flu or other common winter illnesses. Even scientists didn’t see right away what was happening.

But soon it became clear that London was in the grip of a disaster. The smog wasn’t just making people sick.

It was killing them. The smog cleared on the fifth

day. By then, more than 4,000 people had died. In the coming months, roughly 8,000 more would die from lung damage.

New Laws for Cleaner AirThe Killer Smog of 1952

led to big changes. For the first time, there could be no doubt that smog was deadly. The British government made a new

law designed to make the air cleaner. Polluting factories were moved outside the city. The government helped people pay for cleaner heating systems. BE

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AMERICA’S DEADLIEST SMOGIn 1948, a toxic smog killed 20 people and sickened thousands in Donora, Pennsylvania.

Write a letter to an elected official, explaining the importance of making sure that people have clean air to breathe. Use examples from “The Killer Smog” in your letter. Send it to “Smog Contest” by May 1, 2016. Ten winners will each receive a copy of Heroes of the Environment by Harriet Rohmer. See page 2 for details.

WRITE TO WIN

FIND AN ACTIVITY ONLINE!

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the World Health Organization, air pollution is the world’s most dangerous environmental problem. In 2012, about 7 million people died from breathing dirty air. Millions more suffer from pollution-related health problems like asthma.

Few know the dangers of dirty air better than those who survived the killer smog. Brian Bone is one of these people.

Brian recovered from his illness. But throughout his life, he has had lung problems that may have been caused by the smog.

Today, Brian is 72. He knows what a gift it is to take a deep breath of sweet, fresh air. n

The U.S. made clean-air laws too. In 1970, the American Clean Air Act made stricter rules for factories and other sources of pollution.

Since then, there have been no killer smogs in England or America. But dirty air is still a problem in many parts of both countries. Pollution is coming from new sources, mainly cars.

And smog remains a deadly problem around the world. Beijing, China, and New Delhi, India, are often shrouded in pea-soup smogs caused by factories, burning coal, and cars. Many other cities are too. According to

KILLER SMOGS TODAYRight: Beijing, China, on a smoggy day last year. Above: Chinese children wear masks to help protect them from smog. Today, Chinese people rank air pollution as one of their country’s most serious problems.