POLLUTION OR SOLUTION

Technology alone is not enough to reduce air pollution. We all have to change our habits and behavior.

Indian cities especially in DELHI national capital region are the middle of an air pollution emergency. Air pollution has spiked to over the severe 500 mark for deadly particles & many more

In the fact of crises, the energy & resources institute (TERI)& THE NATURAL RESOURCE DEFENCE COUNCIL (NRDC) are bringing together pre-eminent experts in a special dialogue aimed to drive action toward solving serious public health threat in NEW DELHI.

A 2018 lancet commission study found that outdoor air pollution causes a staggering 6,70,000 deaths each year in India. Extremely high levels of dangerous air pollution have become the norm around this time of the year across northern India. Air pollution in the cities average areas reached this year .PM 2.5 levels at 407 & more than 500 respectively.

India’s air pollution problem extends far beyond more than 20 million residents of new Delhi. Its northern belt is one of the most populated parts of planet.

  

  

Recently the CENTRAL POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD of new Delhi has added 20 more cities from eight states to the list of polluted cities & those are

1.    ANANTAPUR

2.    CHITTOOR

3.    ELURU

4.    KADAPA

5.    THANE in MAHARASHTRA

6.    ONGOLE

7.    RAJAHMUNDRY

8.    SRIKAKULAM & VIZIANAGARAM in AP

9.    VADODARA in GUJURAT

10. DEHRADUN in UTTARAKHAND

11. THANE in MAHARASHTRA

12. KALINGA NAGAR in ODISHA

13. TRICHY in TAMILNADU

14. ASANSOL WEST BENGAL

15. BARRACKPORE WEST BENGAL

16. DURGAPUR WEST BENGAL

17. HALDIA WEST BENGALS

18. HOWARH WEST BENGAL

19. RANIGANJ in WEST BENGAL

20. SANGAREDDY in TELANGAN.

 

EFFECTS ON HEALTH

1.    SHORT TERM EFFECTS

·       Irritaion to eyes nose & throat

·       Respiratory infections

·       Pneumonia

·       Headache

·       Nausea

·       Allergic reactions

2.LONG TERM EFFECTS

·       Chronic respiratory disease

·       Lung cancer

·       Heart disease

·       Pre mature deaths

 Air pollution contributes to the premature deaths of 2 million INDIANS every year. Unnecessary use of personal vehicles, instead of government facilities towards transportation & auto rikshaw & especially for chain smokers & the person who also detected as passive smokers due to inhalation of smoke. & etc.

·       The MELLON INSTITUTE in USA sponsored the first broad scientific study of SMOKE ABATEMENT, WHICH RESULTED IN LEGISLATION designed to decrease the effects of smoke. The WHO estimates that every 2.4 million people die from causes associated with air pollution.

·       The particulate matter suspended in air that is released into atmosphere when coal, gasoline, diesel fuels, wood are burned. & also produced by chemical reactions of nitrogen oxides. Health effects depends on several factors including the size and composition of the particles, the level& duration of exposure. symptoms may include persistent cough, sore throat, burning eyes & chest tightness. It also triggers asthma, & people with disease DIABETES MALLITUS, MALNUTRITION is also at increased risk. 

·       Ozone is mainly formed by the interaction of ultraviolet light with both nitrogen oxides and organic compounds. O3 exhibits potent anti-oxidant properties and induces alterations in the air ways that depend on concentration& the duration of exposure. 

On issue of crop burning that contributes to air pollution, the tribunal directed that activities like crop burning & burning of trash wood/leaves/debris for heating in winters to be strictly prohibited & violations panelized should be done for ECO-SENSITIVE ZONE, COASTAL REGULATION ZONE & GANGA FLOOD PLAINS.

IMPLEMENTATION done are

      i.          The government of India launched an ODD-EVEN RULE in NOV 2017 based on ODD-EVEN-ROTATIONING METHOD. Which means car running with number plates ending in odd digits could only be driven on certain days of week, & vice versa

    ii.          Indian government has committed to 50% reduction in households using solid fuel for cooking.

  iii.          Government of some states implemented measures such as tighter vehicle emissions norms, higher penalties for burning & better control of road dust.

But this is not aware in public & not properly followed & practiced regularly by people in India this has to be made very strictly in our country INDIA. Along with following duties…

1.    Mainly to reduce carbon dioxide emission. At least it has to be reduced 20 % & should reach net zero around 2040

2.    Farmers should be provided with a machine-like HAPPY SEEDER which converts agricultural residue to FERTILIZER.

3.    Clean up transportation sector by introducing 500-1000 electric public transport buses to its 5,50 string feet.

It can be prevented if and only if man should raise his voice highly to prevent pollution & depends upon us the living human beings.

 

To reduce air pollution

- Plant more trees along busy roads

- Choose low polluting models of vehicles

- Use CNG

- Use carpool& public transport or vehicles or bicycles if it is a short distance. 

BE A PART OF SOLUTION but NOT PART OF THE POLLUTION….

IF YOU DON’T KILL IT, IT WILL KILL YOU………

By,

Geetanjali Kallimath
Kaher’s Shri B.M. Kankanwadi
Ayurveda, Mahavidyalaya
Shahapur, Belagavi.

Isn’t Time to Redefine the Definition of Development? 'One look for the development instead of looking for the sustainable development'

In today’s world, everyone wants to develop whether it’s financially, physically, mentally or in anyway possible. Life is growing so fast that people are hardly getting time to even think about what are the consequences of the steps which they are taking for the country’s development. There are many sides of one phase and most of the times, we fail in understanding the importance or the significance of one scenario over the other. We as a citizen keep on shouting for the development of the country and at the same time we pressurise the government too for doing the development for us but have we ever asked the question to ourselves about what is the real development stands for or what is the consequence of the development if the steps for it has not been taken in keeping the future generation in mind.

Image source: 

Wittgenstein Centre

The definition of real development means the development which is taken in order to not just facilitate the today’s generation but also to provide the better future to our next generation. This helps to enhance the beauty of sustainable development by promoting it in every way possible. 

The topic of this article is about the question that whether it’s the need to redefine the meaning of sustainable development. So of course, the answer from any responsible individual to this question will be yes, it’s needed. But one has to even think that why it’s needed to redefine the meaning of development, whether the existed meaning is not sufficient or application or valid for this present generation then the answer is yes, it’s not applicable. The old meaning of development what we had is not so beneficial when it comes to actually practising in today’s world. This can be better understood by the example given. In older days, our ancestors never used to think about the effects caused by burning the fuels, by discharging the wastes in the water bodies, etc. Their focus was just concentrated on the development. But now our concern is not just about the development of today’s but even the problems which our future generation may get due to our bad deeds. The development is not all of constructive, it even has the adverse effects on the environment. Due to the exploit of the environment by either using the heritage or by damaging the trees or deforestation and using the animal’s fur or skin and all these sorts of things which contribute in harming the nature. These things should also be taken in concern in order to develop from all the aspects. The concern of the United States is also allocated majorly on this topic of sustainable development. Today is the world of competition and in this competitive world, everyone wants to develop but the development should be sustainable and positive from all the aspects. Development means to open up the new factories, transport, construction and many more. These things which are the key features to define the meaning of development is not sufficient to elaborate the need to even control the side effects caused by these things.

Development is not the short-term agenda instead it’s the long-term agenda which has the long-term effect on everything, whether it’s the nature, the country, the pollution measuring index and many more things. These criteria should also be kept in mind in order to promote the development which not only concentrate on the top layers of the definition of development but also on the deeper layers of the definition of the development. If our focus will be on just the burning of fuels, increasing the number of automobiles, increasing the number of factories then one has to even think about the consequences caused by it as this nature is our mother and it’s our prime responsibility to take care of our mother in the best way possible. The pollution is getting increased day by day and we can see the effect of it on the weather and the health of the citizens of our country. The new born babies are getting so many default diseases right from the birth, these all are happening as a result of the deeds which we are doing towards the country in the name of development. When the people call that they want the development then it means that they want the better life style but if these all are the things which we are doing for becoming develop then it’s sorry to say but it’s really good to still remain as the developing nation ,at least it will not affect the health and heritage of our nation. This thing can be better understood by seeing the things from the other perspective. Just imagine one has to take up the decision then he should take up that in order to keep the pros and cons of that decision in mind. If the pros are more than the cons then he should definitely take the decision but if the cons are more than the pros then he should not take that decision at any cost. This situation is similar to the scenario created in front of us regarding the development. Hence, it’s very much needed to redefine the definition of development. The development which will just cause the adverse effects on everything can’t be the right way to approach the real meaning of the development. So, it’s the high time for us to develop sustainably. There are many resources present in the nature and it can be categorised in many ways but let’s take up two categories of the natural resources which are nothing but the renewable and non-renewable resources. The renewable resources are those which can be replenished over the time and the non-renewable resources are those which can’t be replenished and take a long period of time for its manufacture. Many of the resources are non renewable resources and hence it’s needed to utilize the resources in the proper manner. 

The development is the important key to find out whether the economy of the country is growing well or not, this may contain the facts like whether that country has malls, infrastructures, construction sites, many companies, factories, etc. Well the people think that these things are the constructive phases of the economy and how can one say that these are the reasons of our nature to be in endangered!? But it’s really needed to understand that these things which seems good measures from outside or from the economy point of view also have adverse affects. One can’t say that the benefits of development is just concise to its positive effects and not the negative ones. The development has led the world to grow but one surely doesn’t want to grow in the environment which is polluted or which don’t have the beauty of nature. The finest example in front of our eyes which shows that just the development is not applicable instead one should expand the thinking beyond the scope of the development and make the earth a better place to live in and this example is shown by the capital of our country Delhi. We all know and have seen too that the pollution index of Delhi and Delhi NCR has got so high. People of Delhi are suffering from the air borne diseases like asthma, lung cancer, all sort of respiratory problems and many more. They are even forced to leave that place and to settle somewhere else in the country. Have we ever thought that why this situation has got emerged in our nation? No, we didn’t think about this. Actually, we never have paid attention to these sorts of things. The Delhi which is the metropolitan city, has all the livelihood facilities and services, inspire of all these people there are forced to leave that place. Delhi surely has the term called 'development' in it but it doesn’t have that environment which can make the life possible in its place.

Now the concerning question in front of we all is if we will run behind the development then we have to also ensure that the development is not causing any ill effects on the society and nature otherwise the places which will have so many scope to get the feel of urbanization will not have the single population who will be living in that place. The time is not that far when the whole country will have the disastrous situation like Delhi so we have to think before the thing goes out of our hand. We as a responsible citizen of the country have to think about the measures through which we can control the side effects of development and we have to even ensure that the nation should lead towards the ‘sustainable development.’

‘Development should not lead the settlement with the nature instead it should promote the betterment of the nature as well as the nation.’

By,

Aakriti Sharma

BMSCW

A WAVES OF CITIES HEADING TOWARD AIR POLLUTION CRISIS!

Over the past few months, a series of air pollution have set new records across Asia. Recently, air quality level has worsened in India creating public outcry with dire co consequences for large sweat of society. Specially in fine particulate matter (2.5) have caused closer of school, declaration of health emergency by State Government, demonstration by civil society and alarming media coverage. These recurrent episodes now happen every year like clockwork during the beginning of winter, aggravated by festive season. In our country extreme air pollution have become its own season, from October to February a major cause is burning to clear agricultural residue and forest in neighbouring state like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. This practices version the already Bad air quality levels caused by pollution from transports, energy and industrial sources. 


Extreme air pollution effect millions of people in densely populated region who are exposed to take toxic Smog for Weeks. Local Public Health experts estimates that by time kids come back from school they have been exposed to air pollution level equivalent to smoking 5266 in national capital region ACC to the world Health Organisation, is responsible for 7 million premature death worldwide each year environmental threat represent the second or third most serious risk factor for public health.

Recent report by health effect Institute highlighted that, if no additional measures are taken to change the ongoing regular air pollution crisis that from air pollution in India will rise from 1.1 million in 2015 to 1.7 million that annually in 2030 and 3.6 million death annually by 2050. Mortality and morbidity impacts translate into economic losses on India’s human capital and economy by UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and University of Delhi. 


“Besides air pollutions detrimental impact on our health, this out of proportion environmental threat also impact our economic, our food security, our climate and P/S exacerbates inequalities”, said SORAYA SMAOUN VNEP's Air quality coordinator. Air pollution and climate change our intrinsically linked, sincere pollution impact the climate and are often co-emitted with greenhouse gases. The report breathing cleaner air: 10 scalable solution for Indian cities was led by a task force of Indian and international experts. It outlined Solutions that reduce air pollution in our country, including agricultural open burning by turning crop Residue into to resource to produce fuel for electricity generation. 


Pollution level in country especially in Delhi peak to three year high. ‘The Ministry of Earth science air quality monitor, SAFAR said that Delhi ‘overall AQI reached as high as 708, which is 14 times the safe level of 0-50. Cities across the northern and eastern parts of India remain affected due to air pollution. A chemical pollutant dispersal model called SILAM (system for integrated modelling of Atmospheric composition), developed by Finnish meteorological institute indicates that plume of dust and smoke hanging over Delhi would travel toward east India, move into the Bay of Bengal and hike pollution levels as far away as Tamil Nadu. However, such a scenario has been dismissed by a scientist at the Indian meteorological Department. The deterioration in air quality over Delhi was blamed on pollution and adverse weather condition. This was primarily due to increased moisture from passing Western Disturbance (WD). It didn’t bring as much rain as expected, stalled winds and retarded the disbursal of pollutant. 


Metrology sailed a strong wind is expected to pick up and flush pollutant within the next 12 hours. The current extreme air pollution is a part of Global air pollution problem, which involves the transport and agricultural sector, household energy, industry as well as waste management practices. It coordinated effort led by local national government and supported by existing tools and international experience take in order to protect ourselves, economics and other planet from the detrimental effects of growing environmental threat. 

Furthermore, this year the Indian government join the climate and clean air coalition on the occasion of World Environment Day India's Minister of environment, forest and climate change, Prakash Javadekar then that India will work “to adopt cleaner energy sustainable production and consumption pattern” as well as “ environment friendly transport, agriculture, industry and waste management to promote clean air".


The breath life network a joint effort by World Health Organisation the UN environment programme and climate and clean air condition, is working with local and national governments to design of implement policies that improve air quality level in Widen area. Cities use breadth life as platform to share best practices and demonstrate progress in their journey to meeting World Health Organisation air quality targets by 2030 to build demand for new solution and ways to take action both locally and globally.

By, 
Muskan Upadhyay
Isabella Thoburn College