Colourless London - Revision history

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-[[Kristy Giacoman|"A London Full of Colour"]]  is a project that aims to portray a different reality of the daily life of London citizens. By picturing different scenarios in their reality, comparing them to the reality that I choose for each one of them, the audience is able to admire the beauty and uniqueness of the city from a different perspective. I have gone to international poetry competitions and taken painting and photography courses before arriving to college. This project combines my favorite forms of expression through art and hopefully brightens the days of the viewers. The main message I wish to convey is that every single one of us chooses the reality they want to live in, meaning that the same place could be seen as a prison for our souls or a wonderland for our imagination. The goal of this Milestone, however, is to display London as it is and to capture through pictures emotions displayed by people living in London. Pictures are taken from different perspectives and represent feelings of an average citizen. In the same way, this Milestone explores the influence and relationship between the London weather and psyches of the Londoners.
+[[user:akgiacoman|"A London Full of Colour"]]  is a project that aimed to portray a different reality of the daily life of London citizens. By picturing different scenarios in their reality, comparing them to the reality that I choose for each one of them, the audience is able to admire the beauty and uniqueness of the city from a different perspective. I have gone to international poetry competitions and taken painting and photography courses before arriving to college. This project combines my favorite forms of expression through art and hopefully brightens the days of the viewers. The main message I wished to convey is that every single one of us chooses the reality they want to live in, meaning that the same place could be seen as a prison for our souls or a wonderland for our imagination. The goal of this Milestone, however, was to display London as it is and to capture through pictures emotions displayed by people living in London. Pictures were taken from different perspectives and represent feelings of an average citizen. In the same way, this Milestone explores the influence and relationship between the London weather and psyches of the Londoners.
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 =Conclusion=
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-In this Milestone it is first studied the change in weather patterns through the past years, seeing the impact of global warming and contamination, but yet, with a better panorama than what it could have been without the Clean Air Act. Later in the background, the issue of the London Fog is raised and explained with little detail, as it is a really interesting, yet long story of continuous strikes from worried citizens and skeptical policymakers. I tried to revive in the readers the feelings of impotence felt by the citizens trapped in their own contamination, some guilty, some innocent, but all victims of its consequences. Driven by their situation some stood up to fight for a better future for London, which we can certainly see today. However, still today the leftovers of those dark years, when London was covered with the hideous smog, continue to affect the culture of Londoners, causing, in extreme cases, Seasonal Affective Disorder because of the lack of sunlight and the unintended isolation. Yet, the physical wellbeing is not only at risk in terms of vulnerability to diseases, because, as portrayed at the end of the background, the weather also may have a link with the raise of criminality rates is some cities of the world.
+In this Milestone it is first studied the change in weather patterns through the past years, seeing the impact of global warming and contamination which, though it does not show the results we would prefer, we can conclude we are with a better panorama than what it could have been without the Clean Air Act. Later in the background, the issue of the London Fog is raised and explained with little detail, as it is a really interesting, yet long story of continuous strikes from worried citizens and skeptical policymakers. The way in which, in this story, policy makers did not believe the points brought to them because of their lack of knowledge, raises the question, "is there any chance this may be happening now?". Later in the background, I tried to revive in the readers the feelings of impotence felt by the citizens trapped in their own contamination, some guilty, some innocent, but all victims of its consequences. Driven by their situation some stood up to fight for a better future for London, which we can certainly see today. However, still today, the leftovers of those dark years, when London was covered with the hideous smog, continue to affect the culture of Londoners, causing, in extreme cases, Seasonal Affective Disorder because of the lack of sunlight and the unintended isolation. Yet, the physical wellbeing is not only at risk in terms of vulnerability to diseases, because, as portrayed at the end of the background, the weather also may have a link with the raise of criminality rates is some cities of the world. This discoveries should be things everyone knew, as they could be avoided in the future as other researchers and policymakers become aware of them and work to mitigate the issues.
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-The deliverable chooses five emblematic sites of the city to represent it in the best way possible. It gives the reasons for each one of them and provides little information about the history of each place, in some cases, with further linkage to articles in the wiki that refer specifically to them individually. I took pictures from four different perspectives of each one of the places to illustrate the panorama shared by the citizens every day and the captions of each picture represent the feelings and emotions conveyed in the background as if they were voices from the Londoners. Though it may still look "colorless", in the following Milestones [[Adding Pigment]] and [[Colourful Reality]], the research goes further in depth to how this monochromatic view has affected diverse types of art and how different authors have used it in their work.
+The deliverable chooses five emblematic sites of the city to represent it in the best way possible. It gives the reasons for each one of them and provides little information about the history of each place, in some cases, with further linkage to articles in the wiki that refer specifically to them individually. I took pictures from four different perspectives of each one of the places to illustrate the panorama shared by the citizens every day and the captions of each picture represent the feelings and emotions conveyed in the background as if they were voices from the Londoners. It may be sad to look at some of them, as all the pollution is our own doing and we all know that is not how the sky and the water are supposed to look. We are now suffering for the errors made by people from the past, but it is on us to make it better. We can be remembered as the generation that changed the course of our world. As the kids that learned to love the planet, adolescents that worked to make a better world for their children and as the adults that raised better children for the world. Though it may still seem "colorless", in the following Milestones [[Adding Pigment]] and [[Colourful Reality]], the research goes further in depth to how this monochromatic view has affected diverse types of art and how different authors have used it in their work.
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 ===The Gherkin===
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-St. Mary Axe, better known as "the Gherkin" or "the cucumber" is London’s most instantly recognisable tower, after the Big Ben, of course. "Totalling 500,000 sq ft, The Gherkin is an iconic structure housing a flourishing community and it deserves its reputation for being ‘the most civilised skyscraper in the world’."<ref>The Gherkin, London. (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from http://www.thegherkinlondon.com/</ref> Besides its use for business, it is an astonishing piece of art and a gem of modern architecture as "the triangular panels create a complex of colour and shade and at the bottom of the skyscraper." <ref>Jones, J. (2004, October 18). The Gherkin is a triumph of architecture as sculpture. Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/oct/18/architecture.regeneration</ref> And though it's architect regrets his design, Londoners and tourists find the contrast it makes with the rest or the city's architecture, fascinating. The Gherkin didn't win the Stirling Prize, the London Region Award, and the Emporis Skyscraper Award for nothing. It truly represents the goal of modern design in an attempt to bring the classical city of London to the present.
+St. Mary Axe, better known as "the Gherkin" or "the cucumber" is London’s most instantly recognisable tower, after the Big Ben, of course. The official website of the Gherkin describes it as follows: "Totalling 500,000 sq ft, The Gherkin is an iconic structure housing a flourishing community and it deserves its reputation for being ‘the most civilised skyscraper in the world’."<ref>The Gherkin, London. (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from http://www.thegherkinlondon.com/</ref> Besides its use for business, it is an astonishing piece of art and a gem of modern architecture as "the triangular panels create a complex of colour and shade and at the bottom of the skyscraper", as said by the news paper "The Guardian". <ref>Jones, J. (2004, October 18). The Gherkin is a triumph of architecture as sculpture. Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/oct/18/architecture.regeneration</ref> And though it's rumored that its architect regrets his design, Londoners and tourists find the contrast it makes with the rest or the city's architecture, fascinating. The Gherkin didn't win the Stirling Prize, the London Region Award, and the Emporis Skyscraper Award for nothing. It truly represents the goal of modern design in an attempt to bring the classical city of London to the present.
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 The Gherkin is recognized as one of the more distinctive skyscrapers in the financial district of London. According to the official website of "The City of London": "The UK's financial services sector as a whole made a total tax contribution of £71.4bn in the taxes in the year to March 2016, equivalent to 11.5% of total UK government tax receipts. This figure includes taxes paid, as well as taxes collected, by the sector. The financial services sector employs over 1.1 million people, representing 3.4% of the UK's total workforce."<ref> PwC and City of London, Total Tax Contribution of UK Financial Services (ninth edition), December 2016</ref> The Gherkin represents the city's economic growth and workforce, which continues to lift the United Kingdom as one of the most influential countries in the world. It is a monument and a mirror that makes tourists and locals see London in a new way.

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 ===St. Paul's Cathedral===
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-Being a place for Christian worship for over four hundred years, Sir Christopher Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral stands as the most iconic church in all Britain. The medieval Cathedral, with a tower and spire soaring above the city, was at the time one of the wonders of Europe. St Paul was built after the Fire of London of 1666, its dome with the ball and cross above it symbolic of London's strength and resistance mainly throughout the terrifying, destructive bombings of the Second World War. However, it was not until about ten years later that a scheme for complete rebuilding was finally approved. "Wren had made several other designs including that illustrated by the so-called Great Model still in the cathedral. When it came to the building of the Cathedral, he insisted on having a much freer hand, so the final product was just a resemblance of the original design." <ref>New, A. S. (1981). A guide to the cathedrals of Britain. London: Constable.</ref> It was completed in 1710, when Wren was seventy-eight years old, and by the final stages of construction, he was carried to the dome because he was unable to take the stairs. There are infinite features to be referenced about St. Paul's Cathedral; in fact several books have been filled with its history, however, it was chosen for this milestone not only for its physical beauty but because it conveys a higher message.
+Being a place for Christian worship for over four hundred years, Sir Christopher Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral stands as the most iconic church in all Britain. The medieval Cathedral, with a tower and spire soaring above the city, was at the time one of the wonders of Europe. St Paul was built after the Fire of London of 1666, its dome with the ball and cross above it symbolic of London's strength and resistance mainly throughout the terrifying, destructive bombings of the Second World War. However, it was not until about ten years later that a scheme for complete rebuilding was finally approved. As stated in the book "A guide to the cathedrals of Britain", "Wren had made several other designs including that illustrated by the so-called Great Model still in the cathedral. When it came to the building of the Cathedral, he insisted on having a much freer hand, so the final product was just a resemblance of the original design." <ref>New, A. S. (1981). A guide to the cathedrals of Britain. London: Constable.</ref> It was completed in 1710, when Wren was seventy-eight years old, and by the final stages of construction, he was carried to the dome because he was unable to take the stairs. There are infinite features to be referenced about St. Paul's Cathedral; in fact several books have been filled with its history, however, it was chosen for this milestone not only for its physical beauty but because it conveys a higher message.
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 [[St. Paul's Cathedral]] represents the change in beliefs of the whole country that generated much controversy all over Europe and took origin in this very city under the rule of Henry VIII and lead mainly by Cromwell. It represents the power that lies in all English people and the audacity of its governance, as well as the communion of all the religions of the world that lay in the hearts of all the newer generations of Londoners. From the outside St. Paul's stands with all its might and power and from the inside it is awe-inspiring, breathtaking, unlike any other cathedral or church built in Britain. Plus, this magnificent church has dominated the London skyline for hundreds of years, and has seen the city change without recognition. As the author Ann Saunders introduces one of her books, "the cathedral lies at the heart of London and - in so many ways - in the heart of the nation". <ref>Sanders, A. (2001). St. Paul's (E. Drury, Ed.). London: Collins & Brown Limited.</ref>

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 ===The Tower Bridge===
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-The [[Tower Bridge]] is a bascule and suspension bridge on River Thames, right next to the London Bridge and being also the closest to the [[Tower of London]] from where it got its name. An article about famous bridges around the world tells the story of the birth of the idea of building this bridge as follows. In the late nineteenth century, East End of London reached so high commercial development that in the 1876, a “Special Bridge or Subway Committee” was formed to build a new crossing bridge over the Thames. About fifty designs were received, however, because a conflicts of interests, a design took eight years to be approved by the committee. The chosen design had been submitted by Sir Horace Jones in collaboration with John Wolfe Barry. The construction of the Tower Bridge began in 1886 and was completely done in 1894. Prince and Princess of Wales officially opened the bridge on 30th of June 1894. The bridge connected Horselydown Lane, today Tower Bridge Road, with Iron Gate, today Tower Bridge Approach. "Five companies and 432 workers worked on it. It has 70,000 tons of concrete in foundations only and some 10,000 tons of steel and is covered in Cornish granite and Portland stone as means of protection for steel structure and as an esthetic element." <ref>"Facts and History of Tower Bridge in London." Tower Bridge - Facts and History of Tower Bridge in London. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2017. <http://www.bridgesdb.com/bridge-list/tower-bridge/></ref>
+The [[Tower Bridge]] is a bascule and suspension bridge on River Thames, right next to the London Bridge and being also the closest to the [[Tower of London]] from where it got its name. An article about famous bridges around the world tells the story of the birth of the idea of building this bridge as follows. In the late nineteenth century, East End of London reached so high commercial development that in the 1876, a “Special Bridge or Subway Committee” was formed to build a new crossing bridge over the Thames. About fifty designs were received, however, because a conflicts of interests, a design took eight years to be approved by the committee. The chosen design had been submitted by Sir Horace Jones in collaboration with John Wolfe Barry. The construction of the Tower Bridge began in 1886 and was completely done in 1894. The bridge connected Horselydown Lane, today Tower Bridge Road, with Iron Gate, today Tower Bridge Approach. "Five companies and 432 workers worked on it. It has 70,000 tons of concrete in foundations only and some 10,000 tons of steel and is covered in Cornish granite and Portland stone as means of protection for steel structure and as an esthetic element." <ref>"Facts and History of Tower Bridge in London." Tower Bridge - Facts and History of Tower Bridge in London. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2017. <http://www.bridgesdb.com/bridge-list/tower-bridge/></ref>
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 Boy the time of its completion, the Tower Bridge was the largest and most sophisticated bridge ever made. <ref>"Tower Bridge Exhibition." Tower Bridge History | Historic Bridges London. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2017. <http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/bridge-history/></ref> A masterpiece of engineering and architecture, the Tower Bridge was chosen as one of the five most representative landmarks in London for various reasons. The Tower Bridge represents the development and continuous growth of the city, adapting to new technologies to satisfy the needs of its population "the city's dynamic economy generates a high level of development activity"<ref>"Development." Development - Development and population information - City of London. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2017. <https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/environment-and-planning/planning/development-and-population-information/Pages/development.aspx></ref>. Also, this landmark is not only a very important touristic spot in the city but also an icon for its citizens; people that grew up in London since the late eighteen hundreds have seen its birth and development and it has stood firm through all these years as a majestic and working superstructure. Also, it seems relevant to note that the main picture of the collection shown below was taken from the London Bridge just days before the terrorist attack.

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 ===From a Londoner's Perspective===
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-Jack London said in 1903, "The color of life is grey and drab. everything is helpless, hopeless unrelieved, and dirty. The people themselves are dirty, while any attempt at cleanliness becomes howling farce, when it is not pitiful and tragic. Strange, vagrant odours come drifting along the greasy wind, and the rain, when it falls, is more like grease than water from the heavens."<ref>London, J. (1903). The People of the Abyss. New York.</ref>. Reading this is not hard to understand how tired some Londoners must have of the filthiness and the fog. Watching such an impotent city swallowed by huge clouds of smoke must have been devastating. "By the end of the (19th) century, the pall of smoke and fog over the metropolis seemed inescapable, and Londoners were resigned to its presence. Parliament would not act; householders were apathetic. Late-Victorian "degenerationists" argued that vitiated air and lack of sunlight were creating an underclass of slum-dwellers, atrophying in the darkness." <ref>Jackson, L. (2014). Dirty Old London. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 212-237</ref> However, it was often commented by tourists that Londoners had grown used to living among the infamous filth and had learned to adapt to their circumstances, tolerating the presence of the fog, the hideous rotting smell and the mud of the river. This last thing forming from all the biological matter that was disposed to the waters of the Thames. In a book called "London by day and night" by David Bartlett he exemplifies how bad this was and how I affected tourism with the line: "An American town-bred lady would as soon think of swimming up the Thames against tide as walking far in such ankle-deep mud." <ref> Bartlett, David W., London by day and night, [London}, 1852.</ref> It was indeed disgusting and I can only imagine how puzzled tourists must have felt when visiting what they expected to e one of the world's most developed cities. Also, as mentioned in the book "Dirty Old London", in the diary of George Gissing, for January 1888, he complains about the fog in a most depressing way of manifesting his misery.
+Jack London said in 1903, "The color of life is grey and drab. everything is helpless, hopeless unrelieved, and dirty. The people themselves are dirty, while any attempt at cleanliness becomes howling farce, when it is not pitiful and tragic. Strange, vagrant odours come drifting along the greasy wind, and the rain, when it falls, is more like grease than water from the heavens."<ref>London, J. (1903). The People of the Abyss. New York.</ref>. Reading this is not hard to understand how tired some Londoners must have of the filthiness and the fog. Watching such an impotent city swallowed by huge clouds of smoke must have been devastating. "Dirty Old London" talks about this as it says: "By the end of the (19th) century, the pall of smoke and fog over the metropolis seemed inescapable, and Londoners were resigned to its presence. Parliament would not act; householders were apathetic. Late-Victorian "degenerationists" argued that vitiated air and lack of sunlight were creating an underclass of slum-dwellers, atrophying in the darkness." <ref>Jackson, L. (2014). Dirty Old London. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 212-237</ref> However, it was often commented by tourists that Londoners had grown used to living among the infamous filth and had learned to adapt to their circumstances, tolerating the presence of the fog, the hideous rotting smell and the mud of the river. This last thing forming from all the biological matter that was disposed to the waters of the Thames. In a book called "London by day and night" by David Bartlett he exemplifies how bad this was and how I affected tourism with the line: "An American town-bred lady would as soon think of swimming up the Thames against tide as walking far in such ankle-deep mud." <ref> Bartlett, David W., London by day and night, [London}, 1852.</ref> It was indeed disgusting and I can only imagine how puzzled tourists must have felt when visiting what they expected to e one of the world's most developed cities. Also, as mentioned in the book "Dirty Old London", in the diary of George Gissing, for January 1888, he complains about the fog in a most depressing way of manifesting his misery.
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 "Mond. Jan. 9. Hideous fog; bad cold...

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 In the book "Dirty Old London", it is emphasized how severe the problem of the fog started to become by the end of the nineteenth century. "The most wretched poor were passing on an ever-accumulating collection of physical and mental defects to their rickety children. This dark parody of Darwinian evolution gained great credence when thousands of young men new turned away for service in the Boer War on grounds of their poor physical condition. Smoke and fog were high amongst the possible culprits for what seemed a disturbing decline in physical strength."<ref>Jackson, L. (2014). Dirty Old London. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 212-237</ref> Judging from the author's perspective, it is visible how the fog, besides causing physical damage to the citizens of London, became as well a social issue. For when the citizens of London came back from the war, the did not come back to the same life the used to have when they left and for most of them but must have been a very difficult situation to deal with as they struggled to join back into society.
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-The fog has also not been something exclusive for the poor to deal with as the queen Elizabeth I herself complained about the hideous fog saying that she found "herself greatly grieved and annoyed with the taste and smoke of sea coals".<ref>Brimblecombe, P. "Writing on smoke", Writings on the History and Culture of Pollution, ed. Hannah Bradby (London: Earthscan, 1990), p. 93-113.</ref> Even the ladies of the upperclass were advised to wash their faces several times a day to remove the layer of soot that accumulated in the skin "if one lives in dear, dirty old London, or in any smoky city, three times a day is none too often"<ref>"The Face and Complexion", Weekly Standard and Express, April 2 1898</ref>. People had to "adapt" in some way to live with the presence of the fog, and though in the economical side, London was the very source of development for England and "a financial and mercantile hub for the world"<ref>Jackson, L. (2014). Dirty Old London. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 1.</ref>, it was, at the same time, one of the most filthy capital cities the world has ever come to know, even today. This being often attributed to the rapid population growth between the eighteen and the nineteen hundreds. As said by George Sala in one of his books, as the population in London increased from about a million to over six million citizens, "suburbia replaced green fields, crushing up the country in its concrete grasp"<ref>[George Sala], The great invasion, Household Words (April 1852), p.73. </ref>. As a result, the filth increased and with it, the diseases spread more rapidly and the fog turned the city into complete darkness for days during the winter times, which, at the same time, increased the criminality rates."The capital ended the century with the nickname of "The Smoke"- a city named after its most enduring pollutant." <ref>Jackson, L. (2014). Dirty Old London. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 4.</ref>
+The fog has also not been something exclusive for the poor to deal with as the queen Elizabeth I herself complained about the hideous fog according to the book "Writing on smoke" by Brimblecombe saying that she found "herself greatly grieved and annoyed with the taste and smoke of sea coals".<ref>Brimblecombe, P. "Writing on smoke", Writings on the History and Culture of Pollution, ed. Hannah Bradby (London: Earthscan, 1990), p. 93-113.</ref> As the book "Dirty Old London" says, even the ladies of the upperclass were advised to wash their faces several times a day to remove the layer of soot that accumulated in the skin "if one lives in dear, dirty old London, or in any smoky city, three times a day is none too often"<ref>"The Face and Complexion", Weekly Standard and Express, April 2 1898</ref>. People had to "adapt" in some way to live with the presence of the fog, and though in the economical side, London was the very source of development for England and "a financial and mercantile hub for the world"<ref>Jackson, L. (2014). Dirty Old London. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 1.</ref>, it was, at the same time, one of the most filthy capital cities the world has ever come to know, even today. This being often attributed to the rapid population growth between the eighteen and the nineteen hundreds. As said by George Sala in one of his books, as the population in London increased from about a million to over six million citizens, "suburbia replaced green fields, crushing up the country in its concrete grasp"<ref>Sala, G., The great invasion, Household Words (April 1852), p.73. </ref>. As a result, the filth increased and with it, the diseases spread more rapidly and the fog turned the city into complete darkness for days during the winter times, which, at the same time, increased the criminality rates. The book "Dirty Old London" comments on how "the capital ended the century with the nickname of "The Smoke"- a city named after its most enduring pollutant." <ref>Jackson, L. (2014). Dirty Old London. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 4.</ref>
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-"The Doom of the Great City", a book published in 1880, also describes in great detail how the majority of central London was "choked to death" by toxic fog, and even further, how people cared very little about solving the problem: "Londoners were well accustomed to the inconvenience of fogs, and looked upon them in the light of a regular institution, not caring to investigate their cause with a view to some means of mitigating them." <ref>Hay, W. D. (1880). The Doom of the Great City, London: Newman & Co, being a narrative of a survivor, written A.D. 1942. </ref> However, as previously said, very little was known about the terrible consequences of long term exposure to the pollutants carried in the fog but as in more recent times, the facts started to appear in the news, it became impossible for the citizens tho not acknowledge the issue. For example, in a publication made by the news paper "The Times" on December 6th 1962, it says that "the total number of deaths from respiratory failure was now 55, compared with the usual rate of 6-8 rates in a two day period"<ref>The Times, 6 December, 1962, p. 12, col C.</ref> <ref>CORTON, C. L. (2015). LONDON FOG: the biography. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 318.</ref> With this is evident how severe the issue was and how urgent is was as well to solve it as soon as possible. Though the fight against pollution still goes on, we have made a huge progress and this can be seen by comparing our reality today to those kinds of articles in the news paper not so long ago.
+"The Doom of the Great City", a book published in 1880, also describes in great detail how the majority of central London was "choked to death" by toxic fog, and even further, how people cared very little about solving the problem: "Londoners were well accustomed to the inconvenience of fogs, and looked upon them in the light of a regular institution, not caring to investigate their cause with a view to some means of mitigating them." <ref>Hay, W. D. (1880). The Doom of the Great City, London: Newman & Co, being a narrative of a survivor, written A.D. 1942. </ref> However, as previously said, very little was known about the terrible consequences of long term exposure to the pollutants carried in the fog but as in more recent times, the facts started to appear in the news, it became impossible for the citizens tho not acknowledge the issue. For example, according to "London Fog", in a publication made by the news paper "The Times" on December 6th 1962, it says that "the total number of deaths from respiratory failure was now 55, compared with the usual rate of 6-8 rates in a two day period"<ref>The Times, 6 December, 1962, p. 12, col C.</ref> <ref>Corton, C. L. (2015). London Fog: the biography. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 318.</ref> With this is evident how severe the issue was and how urgent is was as well to solve it as soon as possible. Though the fight against pollution still goes on, we have made a huge progress and this can be seen by comparing our reality today to those kinds of articles in the news paper not so long ago.
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 ===The Source of the Issue===
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-In most parts of the world, fog is seen as just a natural phenomenon, "clouding the air with small particles when the natural conditions are right". The London fog was born by the early 1800s, "because of the increasing pollution of the air caused by the smoke coming out of the wood fires used for burning sea coal". <ref>CORTON, C. L. (2015). LONDON FOG: the biography. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 1.</ref> . Small manufactories were all around the city and larger polluters accumulated near the rivers. Glass makers, breweries, potteries, tanneries and domestic coal fires, all contributed to the atmosphere of noxious fumes."The city's rapid expansion multiplied the number of domestic coal fires and mingled their smoke as it poured out into the atmosphere with the noxious emissions of factory chimneys and workshops in the early stages of the industrial revolution in the capital."<ref>CORTON, C. L. (2015). LONDON FOG: the biography. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 1.</ref> So then, according to the book "Dirty Old London", a battle to remove the fog began when in 1819, when Michael Angelo Taylor, demanded the Parliament to take action to mitigate the issue. In response to this, a select committee was formed to discuss if smoke was dangerous to health and if there was anything that could be done about it. Taylor put a lot of effort into his cause and brought to the sessions arguments that now are logical to us but, in that time, were absurd. Arguments like that factory owners should make adaptations and buy new machines and that this would "not only be beneficial to the city to to them as well", in a long term of course. According to the same book, he was also amongst the first to suggest that the black fog was "harmful to public health" and it "carried diseases". However, not everyone shared his point of view as manufacturers argued that smoke "only represented a minor inconvenience". Some even dared to claim that smoke "disinfected" the air from the smell of the drains and the horrible stink that probably emanated from the Thames River. Even Robert Angus Smith, who discovered acid rain in 1859 strongly believed that "tough the sulfurous acid contained in the smoke was capable of damaging buildings", it treated miasma. It is amazing how little they knew about what we see today as such a basic piece of information. The worst part was that as a result of these popular believes, Taylor had very little success in the parliament, however, he set a precedent and his claims were later supported by scientific data and medical evidence.<ref>Jackson, L. (2014). Dirty Old London. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 212-237</ref>
+In most parts of the world, fog is seen as just a natural phenomenon, "clouding the air with small particles when the natural conditions are right" as said by Corton in his book, "The London Fog". The London fog was born by the early 1800s, "because of the increasing pollution of the air caused by the smoke coming out of the wood fires used for burning sea coal". <ref>Corton, C. L. (2015). London Fog: the biography. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 1.</ref> . Corton's book explains how small manufactories were all around the city and larger polluters accumulated near the rivers. Glass makers, breweries, potteries, tanneries and domestic coal fires, all contributed to the atmosphere of noxious fumes. In Corton's words, "The city's rapid expansion multiplied the number of domestic coal fires and mingled their smoke as it poured out into the atmosphere with the noxious emissions of factory chimneys and workshops in the early stages of the industrial revolution in the capital."<ref>Corton, C. L. (2015). London Fog: the biography. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 1.</ref> So then, according to the book "Dirty Old London", a battle to remove the fog began when in 1819, when Michael Angelo Taylor, demanded the Parliament to take action to mitigate the issue. In response to this, a select committee was formed to discuss if smoke was dangerous to health and if there was anything that could be done about it. Taylor put a lot of effort into his cause and brought to the sessions arguments that now are logical to us but, in that time, were absurd. Arguments like that factory owners should make adaptations and buy new machines and that this would "not only be beneficial to the city to to them as well", in a long term of course. According to the same book, he was also amongst the first to suggest that the black fog was "harmful to public health" and it "carried diseases". However, not everyone shared his point of view as manufacturers argued that smoke "only represented a minor inconvenience". Some even dared to claim that smoke "disinfected" the air from the smell of the drains and the horrible stink that probably emanated from the Thames River. Even Robert Angus Smith, who discovered acid rain in 1859 strongly believed that "tough the sulfurous acid contained in the smoke was capable of damaging buildings", it treated miasma. It is amazing how little they knew about what we see today as such a basic piece of information. The worst part was that as a result of these popular believes, Taylor had very little success in the parliament, however, he set a precedent and his claims were later supported by scientific data and medical evidence.<ref>Jackson, L. (2014). Dirty Old London. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 212-237</ref>
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-Several others followed Taylor's steps with almost no success at all, until the Clean Air Act finally killed the fog in 1962.<ref>CORTON, C. L. (2015). LONDON FOG: the biography. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 1.</ref> According to an article published by the American Lung Association, thanks to the Clean Air Act, this year's "State of the Air" report found that the percentage of people that live in locations with high risk to their health due to air pollution decreased from 52 percent to 40 percent. "The progress in public health protections brought to us with the Clean Air Act have saved hundreds of thousands of lives." <ref>Kim Lacina  |  April 21, 2017 (Last Updated: May 3, 2017). (n.d.). The Air We Breathe. Retrieved May 20, 2017, from http://www.lung.org/about-us/blog/2017/04/the-air-we-breathe.html</ref> However, even though the deathly London fog "died" with the Clean Air Act, it is something to take care of still today, because development and growth have not stopped and nobody would want them to. By the beginning of the year 2017, the news agency CNN released an article where they announced; "London breached its annual air pollution limits five days into the new year, Mayor Sadiq Khan said Friday.". The article explains that nitrogen dioxide is a gas emitted mostly by diesel engines that causes lung disease and respiratory problems and also that European Union law stipulates that "a maximum nitrogen dioxide concentration of 200 micrograms per cubic meter must not be exceeded for more than 18 hours over the year". Despite this, Brixton Road exceeded this limit since the first week of the year. <ref>Cullen, S., & Roberts, E. (2017, January 6). London breaches annual air pollution limits in first week of 2017 (CNN, Ed.). Retrieved May 20, 2017, from http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/06/health/london-air-pollution/index.html</ref>This only shows that the struggle that Londoners dealt with back in the nineteen century is still somewhat present today and there are still things that could be done to mitigate the issue of the London Fog.
+Several others followed Taylor's steps with almost no success at all, until, according to the "London Fog" the Clean Air Act finally killed the fog in 1962.<ref>Corton, C. L. (2015). London Fog: the biography. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 1.</ref> According to an article published by the American Lung Association, thanks to the Clean Air Act, this year's "State of the Air" report found that the percentage of people that live in locations with high risk to their health due to air pollution decreased from 52 percent to 40 percent. "The progress in public health protections brought to us with the Clean Air Act have saved hundreds of thousands of lives." <ref>Kim Lacina  |  April 21, 2017 (Last Updated: May 3, 2017). (n.d.). The Air We Breathe. Retrieved May 20, 2017, from http://www.lung.org/about-us/blog/2017/04/the-air-we-breathe.html</ref> However, even though the deathly London fog "died" with the Clean Air Act, it is something to take care of still today, because development and growth have not stopped and nobody would want them to. By the beginning of the year 2017, the news agency CNN released an article where they announced; "London breached its annual air pollution limits five days into the new year, Mayor Sadiq Khan said Friday.". The article explains that nitrogen dioxide is a gas emitted mostly by diesel engines that causes lung disease and respiratory problems and also that European Union law stipulates that "a maximum nitrogen dioxide concentration of 200 micrograms per cubic meter must not be exceeded for more than 18 hours over the year". Despite this, Brixton Road exceeded this limit since the first week of the year. <ref>Cullen, S., & Roberts, E. (2017, January 6). London breaches annual air pollution limits in first week of 2017 (CNN, Ed.). Retrieved May 20, 2017, from http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/06/health/london-air-pollution/index.html</ref>This only shows that the struggle that Londoners dealt with back in the nineteen century is still somewhat present today and there are still things that could be done to mitigate the issue of the London Fog.
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 =Colourless London=
-by [[User:akgiacoman|akgiacoman]]<br>
+by [[User:akgiacoman|Kristy Giacoman]]<br>
 =Abstract=