You can't even read an article when I post it, can you?
"Today, air is cleaner than it has been since 1585."
Here is another article by the same person which provides more information on air pollution:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Ar...239182,00.html. In it, he boasts this:
"We have data for air pollution in London since 1585, estimated from coal imports till 1935 and adjusted to measured pollution from the 1920s till today. This shows how levels of smoke and sulphur pollution increased dramatically over the 300 years from 1585, reaching a maximum in the late 19th century, only to have dropped even faster ever since, such that the levels of the 1980s and1990s were below the levels of the late 16th century. And despite increasing traffic, particulate emissions in the UK are expected to decrease over the next 10 years by 30%. Smoke and particles are probably by far the most dangerous pollutant, and London's air has not been so free of them since the middle ages."
I'll give you two good reasons to give it some merit: one, the article is hosted by the The Economist and The Guardian. Those are fairly respected magazines. Two, the guy who is writing this article
used to be a left-wing environmentalist. After being beaten to a pulp in a debate with Julian Simon, his views drastically changed.