World Environment Day 2019 - We All Breathe the Same Air

In the second part of this mini series we dive into the various sources of air pollution - this year's theme of the World Environment Day. The host this year is China. Last year it was hosted by India. Is there a pointer to the selection of these countries? Both the nations are at risk of the debilitating environment due to the prevailing circumstances. To understand, the term ‘pollute’ means to defile or negative change. Somewhere in our race for ‘development’ we kept environment out of our sight. And our air – well, that is invisible anyway!

India is at the pinnacle of air pollution. We have felt the ill-effects of pollution as certain reports suggest that India has seven of the top 10 smog-clogged most polluted cities of the world. Delhi NCR bagged the top spot. This pollution can cost us 1.8 years of our life as reported by the World Economic Forum, making it even more dangerous than smoking, alcohol and a large number of diseases. And to your surprise, it’s even worse than terrorism when it comes to actual statistics. According to another report, approximately 1.24 million Indians lost their lives in 2017 due to air pollution which means, 1 in 8 deaths in 2017 was due to air pollution.

This is not a single factor outcome but a multitude of reasons have accumulated for the precarious condition. About 92% of the world’s population breathes unclean air. These reside either in the rural households or urban towns and cities. Some of those reasons are:

1. Industry: Coal-burning power plants are a major contributor, while diesel generators are a growing concern in off-grid areas.
2. Transport: The global transport sector accounts for almost 1/4th of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions and this proportion is rising.
3. Waste: Open waste burning and disposing of the organic waste in landfills release harmful dioxins, methane, and black carbon into the atmosphere.
4. Agriculture: There are two major sources of air pollution from agriculture: livestock, which produces methane and ammonia, and the burning of agricultural waste. Around 24 per cent of all greenhouse gases emitted worldwide comes from agriculture, forestry and other land-use.
5. Household: The main source of household air pollution is the indoor burning of fossil fuels, wood and other biomass-based fuels to cook, heat and light homes.

Another deadly aspect of this worldwide problem is indoor air pollution which is the degradation of indoor air quality which can be 10 times more dangerous than outdoor air pollution. Statistics suggest that in developing countries, the health impacts of indoor pollution far outweigh those of outdoor air pollution. In India also, studies claim that indoor air pollution is a cause of increasing morbidity and mortality.

Air pollution has even far-sighted implications not only on health but also on the economy. Air pollution costs human lives, reduces a person’s ability to work, affects vital products like crops, damages cultural and historical monuments and all this costs money for remediation and restoration, amounting a total expenditure of global economy of about USD 5 trillion every year.

Hence, tackling air pollution must be considered not only as a wise but also as a mandatory investment that contributes to several benefits to various aspects of human life and will ultimately yield substantial results.