At various points throughout the winter of 2019–20, the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek topped air quality charts as the city with the worst pollution in the world. Erica X Eisen offers a glimpse of her life there:

" As fires ravaged large sections of the Australian bush last summer, cities and towns all along the coast were blanketed in toxic smoke. Air pollutants were measured at unheard of levels across the country."