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February 24, 2023
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Designers on show Geelong’s emerging designers are set to showcase their commitment to sustainable fashion. The City of Greater Geelong and the National Wool Museum launched the We the Makers Sustainable Fashion Prize this week. Designers will submit an original outfit for a global prize with entries in the running to win the $10,000 Designer of the Year Award and the $2000 UNESCO City of Design People’s Choice Award. National Wool Museum senior curator Josephine Rout said it was the second time the prize would be offered after it was first launched in 2020 and would continue as a biennial event. ■ Story: Page 4.
National Wool Museum curator Josephine Rout. (Ivan Kemp) 320155_10
Geelong air quality shock By Justin Flynn Geelong residents indirectly ‘smoke’ 89 cigarettes a year through air pollution, a new study has found. The study, done by HouseFresh, reviewed data on average PM2.5 concentrations in cities worldwide from AQICN.org and converted it to the equivalent number of cigarettes passively smoked per year in terms of negative health effects using a formula from Berkeley Earth. In Australia, only Darwin (133 cigarettes) and Melbourne (103) ranked worse than Geelong, according to the findings.
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Many of the cities with the worst air pollution are in fast-growing, developing economies - Spokesperson
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Larger cities such as Sydney (66), Perth (28) and Brisbane (86) came in at less than Geelong. “According to HouseFresh’s study, increased urbanisation, wood-burning heaters, and wildfires contribute to the release of fine particulate matter and other pollutants into the air, leading to relatively high levels
of air pollution in Geelong,” a HouseFresh spokesperson said. “Outside of Darwin, many of the cities with the worst air quality – Melbourne and Geelong, for example – are located in the state of Victoria. “While the decline in smoking over the last 20 years has been one of the great public health achievements of the 21st century, worsening air pollution has offset many of the gains that falling smoking incidence has had on general respiratory health. “Due to increased wildfires, rising vehicle and industrial emissions, and domestic wood-burning appliances, living in some of the world’s most populous cities can have
the equivalent effect of smoking hundreds of cigarettes a year. “Many of the cities with the worst air pollution are in fast-growing, developing economies, while the cities with the cleanest air are wealthier cities in service-oriented economies.” However, Geelong, and Australia for that matter, ranked low on a worldwide scale compared to other cities around the world. Dhaka in Bangladesh came in at 1176 ‘cigarettes’ per year while Baghdad (Iraq) was 1009, N’Djamena (Chad) was 909, Delhi (India) was 894 and Manama (Bahrain) rounded out the top five with 796.
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