Thinking also of the 1948 Donora smog that killed 20 people outright and made thousands sick. One of the reasons the clean air movement started. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Do...
Like remembering that before unions, a lot of folks worked 6 or 7 days a week, it's worth remembering that before environmental movements, the air and water in a lot of places were fucking gross. Left to their own devices, companies just straight-up poisoned people. They will again if we let them.
The Great smog of London (1952) outright killed 10,000-12,000 people and left about 100,000 ill. It happened again in 1956 (1,000 dead), 1957 (750 dead), 1959 (over 200 dead), and 1962 (300-700 dead). And in all cases the industrial polluters got off scot free. We never learn.
