While not all countries have the financial wherewithal and capacity to deploy ground-based instruments for air-quality monitoring, and for some countries monitoring information is not available to the public, for example, through health advisories, another way exists to assess air pollution levels: through satellites.
In January, 132 countries received their environmental report cards. The Environmental Performance Index has goaded leaders into action by letting them see their countries’ strengths and weaknesses compared to other countries.
State of the Planet is a forum for discussion on varying viewpoints. The opinions expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Earth Institute or Columbia University.
