public health
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DC’s Code Purple Air Alert: Fireworks Meet a Heat Dome
For a few hours this month, Washington DC had some of the worst air on the planet — worse than most major global cities. The culprit wasn’t a factory or a wildfire; it was a record-breaking fireworks show layered on top of an oppressive heat dome. It’s a striking case study in how fireworks air…
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Europe’s 2026 Heatwaves: Why Summers Keep Breaking Records
Europe is living through its worst run of heatwaves on record, and the numbers are staggering: over 1,000 excess deaths in Spain in a single month, more than 2,000 in France, and temperature records shattered from Portugal to Poland since late May 2026, Europe has been struck by severe heatwaves, with temperature records broken in…