Earlier this year World Health Organization(WHO) revised the Health-Based air quality guidelines (AQG). These guidelines give the acceptable standard of various pollutants in the air which can guide governments and civil societies. Two pollutants, in particular, caught my attention, PM 10 and PM 2.5. WHO says PM 10 concentration in per cubic meter of air volume for 24-hour average should be 45 and for PM 2.5 the same should be 15. At the time of writing this article PM 10, and PM 2.5 concentration in Kanpur is 271.2 and 263.2 i.e. 6 times and 17.5 times the acceptable limits respectively.
What are PM 2.5 and PM 10?
PM or Particulate matter is the most dangerous of all pollutants. Its major components are:
· Sulfate
· Nitrate
· Ammonia
· Sodium Chloride
· Black Carbon
· Mineral dust and Water particles
It is a mixture of solid and liquid particles which can be of organic or non-organic origins. PM 10 are particles of 10 microns or less which can penetrate and lodge deep inside the lungs while PM 2.5 can go even past the lung barrier and enter the blood system. For scale, human hair is 50–70 micron.
Long-term exposure to these can lead to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases such as chronic bronchitis, asthma attacks, emergency room visits, respiratory symptoms, and restricted activity days, as well as lung cancer.
Damage?
Outdoor air pollution in both cities and rural areas was estimated to cause 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide in 2016. 5 years have passed since.
Sources
Emissions from the combustion of gasoline, oil, diesel fuel, or wood produce much of the PM2.5, as well as a significant proportion of PM10. PM10 also includes dust from construction sites, landfills, and agriculture, wildfires and brush/waste burning, industrial sources, wind-blown dust from open lands, pollen, and fragments of bacteria.
What can you do?
· Wear a mask. This is the most immediate and convenient step. I cannot expect everybody to sit at homes that are themselves no guarantee for safe air but COVID has definitely taught us to wear masks for long. do so.
· Public Transport. Metro runs on electricity while 3 wheelers and buses on CNG and electricity, switching to them can reduce the contribution we make from the use of Gasoline and diesel in our personal vehicles. If you can buy an electric vehicle even better.
· Sensitize. There are people who don’t wake up until they are rocked. Tell people of the slow poison they are breathing, which can on any given day send them to a hospital bed.
· Aware Citizen. Check for eco-friendly certification on products.
· Prepare yourself for Harsh measures and criticize the unsuitable ones. Any government policy which calls for more regulation of the emission while causing slight inconvenience must be taken in good strides while those which are bound to make things worse must be strongly criticized on public platforms.
These are turbulent times, where climate change is no more a reality that can be ignored. The next decade would be a deciding factor of how long we give living species a chance to stay on this planet before we completely annihilate ourselves. We can live in our bubbles, blind to reality, or take steps for change.
(Sources: World Health Organization, California air resources board)
