Ajay Khajuria
Air Pollution is an invisible killer, which is silently, but surely, increasing its stranglehold on life on this Planet. According to the World Health Organization’s Air Quality Database, nine out of every ten individuals in the World are exposed to levels of air pollutants that exceed the prescribed safety levels. With declining air quality, the risk of heart, lung and chronic respiratory diseases, including asthma, are increasing, and 7 million people die prematurely due to air pollution every year across the Globe. About 94 percent of these deaths occur in low and middle?income (LMI) countries, the main burden being borne by countries in the South East Asian and Western Pacific regions where 4.6 million deaths occur due to this scourge every year.
Though there also exist some natural sources of air pollution like volcanic eruptions, dust storms and other innate processes, the present levels of pollution in the Earth’s environment are primarily a result of human activity. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has adopted “Air Pollution” as the theme for World Environment Day on 5th June 2019 to bring into focus its ruinous effects and send out a clarion call for awareness and action to take on one of the greatest environmental challenges of our times. It also provides an occasion to each one of us to introspect on the dimensions of air pollution and how we all can contribute to combat it.
Across the world, air pollution is caused by both indoor and outdoor activities of man. One such activity is indoor burning of fossil fuels, wood or biomass-based fuels mainly in the developing countries, to cook, heat and light homes. According to the World Health Organization’s Statistics, nearly 4 million premature deaths result from illness attributable to such Household Air Pollution (HAP). In addition to fatalities due to non communicable diseases like stroke, ischemic heart disease, lung cancer, etc., nearly half of deaths due to pneumonia among children below 5 years of age are also caused by particulate matter (soot) inhaled from household air pollution.
The primary causes of outdoor, or Ambient Air Pollution (AAP), include the Industry, with coal-burning power plants being one of the major contributors; the transport sector, producing almost one-fourth of the energy-related carbon dioxide emissions; the agriculture sector where livestock rearing and burning of agricultural waste contribute a substantial percentage of the total greenhouse gases emitted; and, improper disposal of other waste, like dumping organic waste in landfills or open waste burning of an estimated 40 percent of waste generated across the globe. Exposure to air pollution early in life especially traffic related air pollution is also believed to contribute to development of asthma in children. According to a study about 4 million children worldwide develop asthma each year due to this reason. Its findings also revealed that 3.5 lacs children stood affected with Asthma for the same reason in India in 2015. Besides directly affecting human health, air pollution also has a major impact on the process of plant evolution as it prevents photosynthesis in many cases, with serious consequences for the purification of the air we breathe. It is also playing a major role in exacerbating global warming and climate change.
It is quite apparent that the basic requirement to combat air pollution is to move away from fossil fuels by replacing them with alternatives like solar, wind and geothermal energy, and also by reducing our consumption of energy by adopting responsible habits and using more efficient devices. To combat household air pollution, for example, there is a need to go in for clean cooking and heating by using electricity, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or biogas. Schemes like the ‘Ujjwala Yojna’ introduced by the Government of India symbolize a step in this direction, which is likely to go a long way in curbing pollution and improving the health of millions of Indian women and children. Similar steps need to be taken by developing countries in other parts of the world like the Asia – Pacific Region and Africa. Measures like incentives to improve the energy efficiency of household appliances as well as buildings, lighting, heating and cooling, besides encouraging rooftop solar installations, can also have positive outcomes.
There is also a need to review energy efficiency standards and emissions standards for all industries, including power plants, and to enforce them strictly. Measures to improve efficiency and regulate emission standards for Brick Kilns and other local enterprises also need to be prescribed and strictly enforced. Bans on open burning of agricultural residues and household waste need unequivocal enforcement and forest fires effectively prevented. To ensure that such regulations do not exist only on paper, however, regulatory bodies like the Pollution Control Board need to grid up their lions and ensure that pollution levels are actually brought down.
Bringing down vehicular pollution levels, however, requires concerted action by both, the citizens as well as the concerned authorities. Mandatory pollution checks and enforcement of standards for emissions especially in respect of Diesel vehicles need to be ensured. A shift from use of private passenger vehicles to shared mobility like carpooling, or public transport, needs to be encouraged and use of electric vehicles promoted to reduce air pollution. Vehicle owners need to be made aware of the environmental cost of using vehicles and the value in minimizing their use to bring down emissions. The multiple benefits of walking or biking instead of using a vehicle, where short distances are involved, also need to be popularized.
While the Paris Agreement of 2015 signifies that the United Nations and National Governments across the Globe stand committed to bringing down pollution levels, the key lies in social initiatives to make the common inhabitants of this Planet aware of this harsh reality of our times, and convincing them that each personal decision taken by them in this regard is an investment in their own and their family’s well being. It needs to be brought home to all that unless we address the issues of environmental pollution effectively we are allowing the creation of a rather enervative legacy for our future generations. Though mankind certainly has the technology to reverse pollution trends, it remains to be seen whether, collectively, it also has the will to do so.
(feedback: ajaykhajuria1955@gmail.com)
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