The US State Department kills researchers in the Global Air Monitoring Program to pay for itself

The Foreign Ministry’s air quality program eventually became an example of smart and effective diplomacy that strengthened the American soft power with changes in the real world. “I have never seen an initiative from the United States government a dramatic impact in a country,” Gary Locke, a former American ambassador to China, told the Washington Post in 2013. National Museum of American Diplomacy.

Before he suddenly killed him, those responsible for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, researchers and the public can look at the international air quality data collected from the American embassies on Airnow, a database that the Environmental Protection Agency maintains, as well as on Zephair, an application designed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assist American diplomats abroad. the Previous web page It was made not available. The application showed that at least half a half of the decorations stopped reporting regular data in mid -Tuesday before the job was completely disabled on Wednesday, according to WIRED tests.

Westervelt, who describes Dosair as “the foundation stone for international air quality”, says it previously obtained grants from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help expand the program in Africa. He says he became concerned about his fate when he learned last week that his grant was ended with Thousands of others At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United States Agency for International Development.

Diplomatic victory

By the end of 2011, the air control program was spending the moment of general recognition in China. Pollution has become so bad in Beijing that the city had to close its airport. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs robot exploded “bad crazy” readings on Twitter again, but the official Chinese government figures said the air was “a little contaminated.”

However, the Chinese public decided to trust the American embassy number. Many people have expressed their disappointment on social media and prompted the government to take action to clean the air. “An environmental awakening has become closer to London’s fog,” says former American diplomat.

Westerfelt says that Dosair has been welcomed in many other countries as well, especially those that had no infrastructure to collect air quality data. In some cases, local governments used high -quality data collected in American embassies to calibrate readings on low -cost air screens.

Westervelt says that ending support for the air quality monitoring program can hinder their progress in air cleaning. “You can not really alleviate the problem of air pollution unless you have quantitative evidence,” he explains. “Loss of a big blow.”

A clear economic winner

During the past month, the Trump administration reduced funding and employees throughout the federal government as part of a Cost reduction initiative Leaded by the so -called Ministry of Governmental Efficiency in Illon Musk (DOGE). But the air quality monitoring program is not very expensive for the US State Department to maintain it. Westervelt estimates that it only costs tens of thousands of dollars per year because most of the monitoring equipment has already been purchased, and the main expenses are linked to maintenance.

The program explains how low -cost information technologies can be used relatively to stimulate significant discounts in air pollution, says Akchaya Jah, a professor of assistant economics and public policy at the University of Carnegie Mellon, who participated in the authorship of a study of 2022. When an American embassy began spreading readings in the city, he says, often caused public awareness of pollution and pressure on the host country to take measures to clean air. JHA found that the local Google is looking for the term “air quality” steadily after installing the screens. Air pollution levels, estimated by satellite measurements, also decreased.

In the long run, JHA research also found that the program already provides money for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is required to pay additional diplomats to live in more dangerous environments. “Our estimates indicate that the screens provide the medium embassy about 34,000 dollars annually in this type of hardship payments.”

Even after compensation for hardship, the creation of a world in which a number of people die from diseases associated with air pollution would reduce the need for things like expensive medical treatments. Jah says: “With regard to the benefits of this program in relation to its costs, it is a clear winner.”