As we all know, the air is the most important thing that we need to live. And usually, we do not think much of it unless it gets really bad. Many of us think that air pollution is not serious where we live and it’s probably just fine if we do not see or feel it every day. But air pollution is a phenomenon everywhere, not only in China or India, where we all know it’s already serious. And as years pass by, the quality of the air gets worse than we even imagine. But what exactly is air pollution and what are these big problems caused by it?
Air pollution is defined as the contamination of any kind of environment by any chemical, physical or biological agent that modifies the natural properties of the atmosphere. Some dangerous examples often identified in the air pollutants, according to WHO, are: carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide. Those substances are emitted or found when burning fossil fuel and producing industrial emissions and using our everyday transportation (among other examples), which are the main causes of air pollution.
What we don’t realize is that air pollution has the same negative impact as climate change and is tightly connected to the climate change crisis. Global warming is adding and creating even more pollution by driving wildfires, which also is an important air pollutant, especially in recent years. Also, it is important to note that the covid pandemic has an impact on the air quality, some studies show that people living in polluted cities are more exposed to the virus. However, in some cities in Europe, the pandemic had a positive impact, improving the air quality as an impact of lockdown. Meanwhile, in China, unfortunately, after the lifting of its lockdown, damaging air pollution returned, which shows us that the improvement of air quality could be temporary.
WHO statistics also show that every year, 4.2 million people die because of illnesses caused by air pollution, and in China, it is estimated that polluted air is cutting 2.6 years from people’s lifespan. Moreover, air pollution also causes many other illnesses, such as asthma, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), and lung cancer.
Unfortunately, some other studies show that air pollution is likely to have been responsible for the deaths of over 6 million premature births worldwide. This is mostly caused by indoor pollution, and it has a harmful impact on some pregnancies. Indoor air pollution is one of the leading factors of poor health. It is the dust, dirt, or gases in the air inside buildings that is harmful to breathe. Indoor air pollution can be caused by anything from gas stoves and wood burners, to dampness and mould. This is especially true in developing areas, such as in some parts of south-east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
The good news is that some organizations, such as the WHO, are trying to improve the quality of air and prevent the global population from air pollution. The WHO has been doing research and providing clear evidence of the damage done by air pollution on human health, and, therefore, also providing guidelines to improving the air quality. However, this year’s September, the WHO released new and challenging Global Air Quality Guidelines that are aimed to achieve recommended air quality levels. These guidelines are a practical tool for improving the quality of the air, it urges all countries and all those fighting to protect our environment to put them to use to reduce suffering and save lives.
“Air pollution is a threat to health in all countries, but it hits people in low-income and middle-income countries the hardest,” says WHO Director-General, Doctor Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Proving that even if we have places that struggle more by air pollution than others, it is still a shared problem and global issue, that we all have to deal together by each country imposing policies and following guidelines and of course taking individual action to make the air we breathe better. We can individually prevent air pollution by using public transport or using city bikes, turn off the lights when not in use, recycle and reuse, use filters for chimneys and try to reduce forest fires and smoking, as well as many other habits and practices.
Ērika Trifonova & Mihaela Rāduţ
Photo by: Feng Li (Getty Images)
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