How long can you survive without breathing? One minute, two minutes or maybe three minutes then you start suffocating, your lungs tired up for not getting enough oxygen to run your life system. Now what if there is not enough fresh air to breathe, people will start suffocating, suffer from severe diseases and end up dying. Every year 7 million people die because of polluted air, a latest WHO report says. It states that 9 in 10 people in the world breathe polluted air. If this is not an alarming situation then ignorance has become your true companion.
In our blue planet air quality has been becoming poorer and poorer and if you live in India then you should stop breathing right now. Most of the Indian cities have turned into a gas chamber. There is not enough fresh air left to feed our lungs. According to the World Health Organization(WHO) India has 14 most polluted cities in the world. Kanpur is the topper and other cities are ridiculously following it. Faridabad, Varanasi, and Gaya are other cities in top five and other most polluted cities are Delhi, Patna, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur in terms of PM 2.5 concentration. PM 2.5 is referred to the particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter such as particles in chimneys and cooking flames and diesel exhausts. The other way to classified pollution is PM 10 that refers to particles of 10 microns diameter. Now PM 2.5 is more hazardous than PM 10 because it consists of smaller particles that can linger in the air for a long time and absorbs by our lungs deeper. Kanpur has the highest concentration of PM 2.5 with 173 micrograms per cubic meter and the capital of India, Delhi has the most PM 2.5 concentrated mega-city hence the most polluted megacity in the world followed by India's financial capital Mumbai securing the 4th position.
Now if you are thinking you will return to your village and get rid of polluted air then you need to check this fact. 3.8 million people died breathing polluted air of cooking fuels and old technologies while cities surroundings air pollution caused 4.2 million deaths in a year. Most of the Indian population still lives in rural areas. More than 80 per cent of these households depend upon wood and dung to cook their food through conventional chulhas. Some conventional agricultural practices like burning the crop stubble and poor waste management are also contributing much in rural pollution situation. These polluted air also changing the atmosphere of cities. The smoke from Punjab and Haryana choke the surroundings of Delhi which is already getting overstuffed by exhausted fuels of vehicles. The toxicity of big cities is a result of the combination of village smoke and its own hazardous sources.
The geographical situation of north and central India also plays a deadliest role in increasing pollution. The landlocked areas do not let the pollution dissipate quickly and make the situation worse. While coastal cities can easily release their pollution in the vast atmosphere of ocean. These benefits are unfortunately not in the domain of other cities.
The smoke from inefficient use of energy by households, coal-based power plants, industrial and agricultural waste burning, toxic smoke from vehicles are the major source of pollution that makes our lungs weak and sick. Polluted air causing adult deaths estimated 24% deaths from heart disease, 25% from stroke, 43% from chronic pulmonary disease and 29% from lung cancer. Deaths are inevitable if we fail to make better policies quickly. We have made some anti-pollution laws but they need to be enforced well to curb the current problematic situation. The political weakness is the biggest hurdle banning pollution sources in cities. Rural and urban political contradictions also demoralize anti-pollution efforts. Urban policymakers cant enforced the farmer to stop non-environment friendly practices while rural administration is unable to stop toxic fuels from cities transports. At this stage, only the top structure of administration along with individual effort can make our environment healthy and better to live in.
In our blue planet air quality has been becoming poorer and poorer and if you live in India then you should stop breathing right now. Most of the Indian cities have turned into a gas chamber. There is not enough fresh air left to feed our lungs. According to the World Health Organization(WHO) India has 14 most polluted cities in the world. Kanpur is the topper and other cities are ridiculously following it. Faridabad, Varanasi, and Gaya are other cities in top five and other most polluted cities are Delhi, Patna, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur in terms of PM 2.5 concentration. PM 2.5 is referred to the particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter such as particles in chimneys and cooking flames and diesel exhausts. The other way to classified pollution is PM 10 that refers to particles of 10 microns diameter. Now PM 2.5 is more hazardous than PM 10 because it consists of smaller particles that can linger in the air for a long time and absorbs by our lungs deeper. Kanpur has the highest concentration of PM 2.5 with 173 micrograms per cubic meter and the capital of India, Delhi has the most PM 2.5 concentrated mega-city hence the most polluted megacity in the world followed by India's financial capital Mumbai securing the 4th position.
Now if you are thinking you will return to your village and get rid of polluted air then you need to check this fact. 3.8 million people died breathing polluted air of cooking fuels and old technologies while cities surroundings air pollution caused 4.2 million deaths in a year. Most of the Indian population still lives in rural areas. More than 80 per cent of these households depend upon wood and dung to cook their food through conventional chulhas. Some conventional agricultural practices like burning the crop stubble and poor waste management are also contributing much in rural pollution situation. These polluted air also changing the atmosphere of cities. The smoke from Punjab and Haryana choke the surroundings of Delhi which is already getting overstuffed by exhausted fuels of vehicles. The toxicity of big cities is a result of the combination of village smoke and its own hazardous sources.
The geographical situation of north and central India also plays a deadliest role in increasing pollution. The landlocked areas do not let the pollution dissipate quickly and make the situation worse. While coastal cities can easily release their pollution in the vast atmosphere of ocean. These benefits are unfortunately not in the domain of other cities.
The smoke from inefficient use of energy by households, coal-based power plants, industrial and agricultural waste burning, toxic smoke from vehicles are the major source of pollution that makes our lungs weak and sick. Polluted air causing adult deaths estimated 24% deaths from heart disease, 25% from stroke, 43% from chronic pulmonary disease and 29% from lung cancer. Deaths are inevitable if we fail to make better policies quickly. We have made some anti-pollution laws but they need to be enforced well to curb the current problematic situation. The political weakness is the biggest hurdle banning pollution sources in cities. Rural and urban political contradictions also demoralize anti-pollution efforts. Urban policymakers cant enforced the farmer to stop non-environment friendly practices while rural administration is unable to stop toxic fuels from cities transports. At this stage, only the top structure of administration along with individual effort can make our environment healthy and better to live in.
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