Death In The Air: Tackling Pollution

I would like nuclear fusion to become a practical power source. It would provide an inexhaustible supply of energy, without pollution or global warming-Stephen Hawking

Soot, dust, ozone, and sulfur oxides are a growing threat for billions of people around the world. The World Health Organizationreported this week that 93 percent of all children in the world breathe air with pollution levels that exceed their guidelines.

A whopping nine in 10 people on Earth breathe highly polluted air, and more than 80 percent of urban dwellers have to endure outdoor pollution that exceeds health standards, according to the WHO’sWorld Global Ambient Air Quality Database.

Air quality in India is so poor that that 1.2 million deaths in the country last year can be attributed to air pollution.

A nationwide survey, published in Lancet Planetary Health on Dec. 6, found that at least 12.5% of deaths in 2017, or one in eight, can be attributed to unusually high rates of lower respiratory infections, heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, and diabetes, which are a result of severe air pollution in a certain percentage of cases. Of the 1.2 million who died from air pollution-related causes, 51.4% were younger than 70 years old.

Air pollution will be the biggest leveller because it will affect both the rich and the poor. But the rich will be able to afford the cost of dealing with chronic asthma and cancer whereas the poor will not be able to do so. In other words, India's wealth will be built on the backs of its poor, its elderly, its children and those genetically susceptible. Not on the back of the economy but on the back of public health.

Power plants, industries and vehicles are the biggest sources of pollution. The rate with which vehicular pollution is growing is absolutely astonishing. The Centre for Science and Environment has found that between 1975 and 1995 a period during which the country's economy (gross domestic product or gdp) grew by about 2.5 times the vehicular pollution load grew by eight times. And since India is just in the nascent stages of industrialisation, power generation, motorisation and urbanisation, we can be certain that pollution will grow by leaps and bounds unless major efforts are made to control it. That is, unless we very carefully take an environment-friendly path for industrialisation, power generation, motorisation and urbanisation.

Pollution control requires enormous discipline and effective regulation. Given the state of political and bureaucratic corruption, again it is extremely unlikely that pollution control laws will be enforced with any level of effectiveness.Here are the few ways to crub the pollution:-

1.Minimize the pollution created by Vehicles: Use electrical vehicles, shut the engines while at the red lights, burning of fuels aid a lot to air pollution.There are millions of cars and buses and so on in the world. So, it is quite obvious that we can decrease the pollution level by cutting back the use of cars as much as possible.

2.Plant Trees: Planting trees are definitely the best thing that we can do to help us in this very tough fight against air pollution. The ability of the plants to curb all the negative effects of the various gases which act as the sole reason behind making them so dangerous for the humans. Not only this, the ability of the plants to make the atmosphere cooler, and better in order to make the mood calming and serene for the people. The temperature effects caused by the presence of plants is something that can be disputed much.

3.Going eco-friendly at individual levels
Another thing that the people can do at an individual level is to pick eco-friendly products for personal and daily use.

4.Ban Smoking in homes and public places

Smoking is another crucial contributor to air polluting elements. The smoke that is generated as a result of smoking is something that can be really harmful to the people around it. Some of these dangerous elements include Ammonia, Carbon Monoxide, Arsenic and Lead.

5.Household Air Cleaner
The Household air cleaners can be used to effectively minimize the adverse effects of polluting elements in the houses. Don’t forget to install anoutdoor air quality monitorat your home along with the air cleaner.

6.Recycling
Using recycling for curbing the pollution is another important step to minimizing the air pollution. Making it possible for the people to be able to have access to these recycling measures will go a long way.

7.Choosing Sustainable Products
The product that is being manufactured and used by people at large scales must be made by putting thoughts that the products must be sustainable in nature so they can be used as many times as possible, so the resources are utilized to the fullest.

With the rising rate of pollution over the years, there is a worrisome increase in the rate of human diseases, and death rate of humans, various animals and plants on earth. Though pollution is released both by natural and human activities, but majorly it is created due to human activities, which can easily be minimized to reduce the pollution rate.