| Title | Chapter 10. From Stale Air to Toxic: Concerns About Urban Air in Finland |
|---|---|
| Contributor | Janne Mäkiranta (author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.3197/63824846758018.ch10 |
| Landing page | https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.7193881.14 |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/ |
| Copyright | The White Horse Press |
| Publisher | The White Horse Press |
| Published on | 2023-10-01 |
| Short abstract | Air pollution can be seen as one of the oldest and most enduring environmental problems in human history. At the same time its modern form as a public health concern is relatively novel. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the concern about urban air quality in Finland from the late nineteenth century to the late 1960s, when the fear of air pollution rose to new prominence. |
| Long abstract | Air pollution can be seen as one of the oldest and most enduring environmental problems in human history. At the same time its modern form as a public health concern is relatively novel. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the concern about urban air quality in Finland from the late nineteenth century to the late 1960s, when the fear of air pollution rose to new prominence. The chapter shows how nineteenth and early twentieth century concerns over urban air were based on the idea that clean air is beneficial for health. During the twentieth century, this vague hygienic idea was replaced by a more specific view that derived from medical research in industrial environments. From the late 1950s onwards, air pollution measurements and medical research provided a detailed analysis of air quality. As a result, the concern about urban air was directed towards specific pollutants and their potential effects on health. This toxicological approach has been criticised in environmental history for its reductionism. The chapter shows, however, how the same approach was embraced by the environmental critics of the late 1960s. These critics used the toxicological approach to make local air pollution part of the concern about global environmental contamination. The chapter concludes that, despite the new rhetoric of the 1960s, the concern over urban air was in many ways a continuation of the nineteenth century critique about the hazards of urban living and the general progress of civilisation. The longing for clean air was replaced by the ubiquitous threat of toxins in the environment. |
| Page range | pp. 199–215 |
| Print length | 17 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
| Landing Page | Full text URL | Platform | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.7193881.14 | Landing page | https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/jj.7193881.14.pdf | Full text URL | JSTOR |
Janne Mäkiranta works as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Turku in the department of European and World History. His research focuses on the entanglements of history of science and environmental history.