Air Pollution: A Demon of our own making!

 

Air Pollution: A Myth or Reality

Smog Engulfed India Gate

What is Air Quality- Air, Water & Food are three essential requirement for any organism to grow & thrive. Milky Way galaxy is home to approx. 500 planetary systems & 100 billion planets. With the rapid progress being made in the field of space exploration these numbers are bound to rise further. Our planetary system which is names Solar System because our Sun is called Sol in Latin, which is considered the universal language in modern science.  Out of 8 known planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) & 796,354 minor planets discovered so far only our planet has the conducive eco-system to support any life form. Absence of any from these 3 essentials has direct impact on life. 

Humans, Animals need Oxygen whereas plants need Carbon Di oxide and both organisms act as supplier to each other.

Air Quality refers to the condition of air within our surrounding. Good air quality pertains to the clear, clean & free from pollutants such as smoke, smog, dust and other gaseous impurities in the air. 

 

Technical Aspects

Before we delve into technicality, we need to understand the key components of Air. As we know earth’s atmosphere is composed of air. Air is a mixture of gases and particles each with their own properties. 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen with traces of water vapor, Carbon dioxide, Argon and various other components like ice, dust particles, hydrogen, salt and ozone.

Air Quality Index (AQI) is based on measurement of particulate matter (PM_2.5 and PM_10), Ozone (O_3), Nitrogen Dioxide (SO₂₎ and Carbon Monoxide (CO) emissions in air.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calculate the AQI of five major air pollutants, for which national air quality standard has been fixed to safeguard the public health. The higher the AQI level, higher the pollution level and higher health hazard.  Below are these 5 indicators-

1. Ground Level Ozone
2. Particulate pollution/Particulate matter (pm2.5/pm10)
3. Carbon Monoxide
4. Sulfur dioxide
5. Nitrogen dioxide

 

How is AQI calculated

Different countries use different parameters to measure the AQI. For instance USA uses the 500 point scale to measure, where rating between 0 to 50 is considered to be good. India also follow the 500 point scale index.

Air Quality Index Categories-

Good (0-50) - Minimal impact

Satisfactory (51-100) - May cause minor breathing difficulty in sensitive people.

Moderately polluted (101-200) – May cause breathing difficulty in people with lung issues like Asthma, and discomfort to people with heart diseases, children and older adults.

Poor (201-300) – May cause breathing difficulty in people due to prolonged exposure and discomfort to people with heart diseases.

Very Poor (301-400) – May cause respiratory illness in people due to prolonged exposure. Effects may be more pronounced in people with lung and heart diseases.

Severe (401-500) – May cause respiratory issues even in healthy people. Difficulties may be experienced even in light physical activity.

 

Deteriorating Air Quality in Delhi-NCR - Causes:

Rapid rise in income has created many new avenues for people to spend their money which satiates their self-esteem also. Automobile is one such category, which found a vast new market in the developing block of the Asian continent, which are nothing less than guzzlers of gas and liquid; which ultimately emitted life threatening poisonous gases in the environment.

Increase in population, carbon emission, greenhouse gases are some obvious culprits of air pollution. Few more specific causes of air pollution which reaches to an alarming dangerous level are mentioned below-

Change in Season – Atmospheric and weather conditions have a large role in the level of pollution in the air and that we breathe in. The most common culprits of poor air quality is hydrocarbons and the dust particles. Hydrocarbon are released from the industrial activity and the exhaust pipe of the vehicles. Dust is the outcome of the travel, traffic and the movement.  Basic science tell us that cold air sinks whereas hot air rises. Reason- Cold air is denser and has less space between the molecules of gases. When the temperature drops and cold air blankets the ground, any warm air is forced to pass over it. This way the cold air can form a kind of cap. Another angle is the moisture content in the air. Cold air can not hold much moisture and thus air is much drier during the winter. One more curious air pollution fact is that rain can eliminate a large part of it. The rain acts like water and washes the air itself. This is less likely to happen in winter as the precipitation level are much lower in winter and without the cleansing effect the air does not shed the pollutants and thus remains contaminated.

Climate Change- Global warming, El Nino are some other culprits, which have been disturbing the ecological patterns. Erratic and frequent climate change is also creating difference or overlapping among seasons which were normal 15 years ago. The effects of this can be gauged by few instances- Torrential rains in midst of summer season, flood situation in dry and dessert topography of West Asia, absence of rain at the onset of winter in North India. It is easy to forget that the atmosphere we think as air is actually the gas trapped between earth surface and the outer space. In this way what the weather does is move Oxygen and Nitrogen all over the globe. This eventually means that everything from a rainstorm to higher than average wind speed can impact the level of air pollution considerably.

Stubble Burning- North India is crop bowl of India due to the fertile Gangetic plains. September end is the time when farmland are empty and barren after the paddy harvesting and farmers start preparing the fields ready for next crop. Before ploughing the field farmers torch their fields to get rid of remaining stubble. This slow fire creates lot of smoke and due to the peculiar wind patterns all this smoke, pollutants and dust particles attacks the urban area as a salvation army

Vehicle and Industrial Pollution – Since last couple of years Smog has become the direct and obvious indicator is the air pollution in metro cities especially. Smog is air pollution that reduce the visibility, as the word itself denotes SMOG- Smoke+Fog. Smoke comes from burning of coal and is abundantly available in cities courtesy to sources like Vehicle pollution, industrial activities. The fog we see is actually a photo-chemical smog, which is produced when sunlight reacts with nitrogen dioxide and at least one Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) in the atmosphere. Nitrogen comes from car exhaust pipe, coal power plants, burning of waste in open air and factory emissions. VOCs are released from gasoline, paints and many cleaning solvents. When sunlight hits these chemicals, they form airborne particles and ground level ozone or smog.

Ozone can be helpful or harmful. The Ozone layer high up in the atmosphere (in the stratosphere) it protects us from the harmful ultra violet radiation of Sun rays. But when ozone is up close (in the troposphere) it is dangerous for human health and can far reaching hazards. Ozone can damage lung issues can be fatal especially for people with previous respiratory illness like asthma. Smog is unhealthy not just for human, animals but also for plants.    

The solution:

In India an estimated 1.67 million people died from the effects of air pollution in 2019 according to the report of Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP). Globally air pollution – both indoor and outdoor- caused nearly 7 million deaths, making it the world’s largest single environmental health risk. About 98% of cities in low – and middle income countries with more than 100 000 inhabitants do not meet the norms set by World Health Organization’s (WHO)air quality guidelines.

WHO Ambient Air Quality Guidelines-

PM_2.5 =10 μg/m³ annual mean. 25 μg/m³ 24-hour mean; PM₁₀= 20 μg/m³ annual mean. 50 μg/m³ 24-hour mean

An increasing number of Indian Cities are now measuring the air pollution and reporting to WHO and number of such cities, globally has doubled to 3000 since 2014. Same as the causes of this menace also lies the solution, few of them are in short term and remaining are for long term. Few of remedies are listed below-

Stubble burning- The authorities need to discourage the stubble burning by procuring this from the farmers and find alternate means to dispose this. Recent scientific breakthrough fond where stubble can be turned into manure is ray of hope. Commercialization of this invention needs to be populated among masses with speed.

Vehicular, Industrial Pollution- Vehicle is a major source of pollution but any direct curb on this could have broader negative impact on the economy and the livelihood of people. In short term measure like carpooling, Odd-Even rostering, changing the office timing in winters can be used to reduce the road congestion. Planting more trees will impact directly the air quality.  In long term measures- policy decisions like de-cluttering the Govt. establishments from one place, mass but rapid transport mechanism, incentivizing the use of clean energy source like CNG and electric vehicles, replacing diesel, coal with wind energy, solar energy for producing electricity and powering the industrial plants, use of non-recyclable plastic in laying the road which will require more research for mass adaptions are few of the measures which need urgent on ground actions.

Greenhouse Gas Emission- emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is root cause of global warming which is starting the spiral activity of change in climate, weather and wind patterns. Alternate methods of energy like Wind, hydro and solar causes minimal or no such emission. But adaption of these technologies is still a distant reality in developing countries which has become the global supply chain hubs of the world due to the availability of cheap labour and a larger conspiracy of conscious yet deceit game plan adopted by the rich nations, where they want to safeguard their lands from the evil effects of industrial activities. If the new green energy tech can be made available to the poor nations at a cheaper cost than the greenhouse emission can be curbed greatly and effectively.

Like China, a Smog Free Tower also can be made at the government level. This largest air purifier of the world is made by the Dutch artist Daan Roosegarde, and it is powered by the solar energy. Situated at Rotterdam, Beijing, Tianjin and Dalian takes 30,000 m3 of polluted airper hour, cleans its PM10 and PM2.5 particles and releases the clean air back. Interestingly the smog particles filtered by this tower are turned into diamonds after compressing for 30 minutes.    

Internet- Internet can greatly influence the need for moving out from homes. If we recall turn of events more clearly movement creates friction which produces energy and the carbon is the unsolicited byproduct of this physical-chemical reaction. Just a little visualization of one day movement out of home can open up starking consequences to us. Now imagine how many of those tasks can be replaced with virtual actions and can save us from moving out. COVID19 Pandemic has caused so much of havoc across geographies and economies. But in all this turmoil one good thing happened not by design but accident – Lock-down of people movement- which stopped any and every kind of movement in a very wide area, which abruptly halted the emission of greenhouse gases in atmosphere- consequently environment got enough time to recapture and heal its health-direct impact was the improved air quality which was not seen since many decades. Work from Home is one such win-win reality which need more exploration and adaptation. This will greatly reduce the carbon emission and halt the ever increasing global warming scenario.   

Hands-On Remedy:

As the famous saying goes- "Rome was not built in a single day" ...Till some or all of the above remedies start making visible impact in environment our city will resemble no less than a gas chamber. So what is the desirable immediate action? Air Purifier... Healthy Food.. Smog free tower…

Option 1/  Well as each season is looking gloomy than the previous one when it comes to deteriorating air quality but the same does not holds true when it comes to the remedial option against it. Since 2014 this topic has started coming in public discourse with intensity. Philips is the Brand which invested heavily in efforts and money to make noise around this. Consequently is the market leader when it comes to the best value for money Air Purifier brand in India.

The product category which started with Philips has two dozen brands operating in a battle to dislodge others from being a legitimate solution…

Air Purifier Brands :India

Option 2/ Eat fruits that are loaded with Vitamin C, magnesium and Omega fatty acids. These fruits are rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds and helps in boosting immunity.    

And yes I don't see any role of Diwali crackers in this problem. One night bursting of crackers can have some role in air contamination, but this being made a scapegoat has no locus standi and defies any logic or science or both. Just to prove the point - Diwali is still 3 weeks far away and air quality in Delhi NCR has already reached to severe grading and this will further aggravate if there is no winter rain, continued stubble burning and unhindered vehicles movement..

Make your mind and body immune by celebrating the festivals and regular intake of Vitamin C in diet. 

OM NAMAH

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Source: WHO, The Hindu, SAFAR