Last year, Time magazine named Greta Thunberg their Person of the Year. The now-seventeen-year-old climate activist from Sweden has inspired a global movement, assuming the role of a bastion for environmentalism. Across the world, young people have protested for their future, for the future of their environment, and their planet – including in India. Thunberg […]
air quality
“Toxic air” – The price we pay for pollution
A recently unveiled report has calculated the cost of air pollution due to fossil fuels, pegging it at US$2.9 trillion a year – equivalent to 3.3 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) lost to toxic air. The cost of toxic air as a result of fossil fuels translates to US$8 billion – a […]
Pollution emergency continues in Delhi
The air pollution emergency persists in Delhi, where Air Quality Index (AQI) readings for the national capital continue to hover well above levels deleterious to human health. According to the centrally-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the AQI score for Delhi stood at 391 yesterday. An AQI score between nought […]
Depression, suicide, and pollution
When considering the link between exposure to air pollution and health problems, mental health may not seem an obvious connection to draw to breathing toxic air. However, research has indicated a link between the two in the past – and a recent paper indicates that exposure to air pollution increases the risk of developing depression […]
Air pollution action needed: WHO official
As a report reveals the sizeable death toll due to air pollution in India, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official has urged the country to take action on it. “Urgent action” is required to address pollution, according to Dr Maria Neira, director of the WHO Department of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of […]
India’s pollution crisis: 2 million lives a year
Air pollution continues to claim millions of lives every year with India leading the world in this regard. More than two million lives are lost to breathing toxic air in the country every year, in a grim reminder that India’s pollution crisis is among the leading threats to its environment and to public health. The […]
Javadekar criticised by the WHO over pollution claims
Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar has been criticised by the World Health Organization (WHO) for claims about air pollution and its effects on human health. “Let us not create a fear psychosis among people,” Javadekar told MPs last week. “Indian studies have not shown a correlation between shortening of life […]
‘No conclusive evidence’ – Government on pollution, disease and deaths
Air pollution is virtually universally acknowledged as a public health emergency in India, with swathes of the country choking beneath blankets of toxic air. However, a Government minister has informed lawmakers that there is a dearth of evidence to prove a link between pollution, disease, and deaths. “There is no conclusive data available in the […]
Committee meeting on pollution amidst public health emergency
Multiple parts of India are gripped by a public health emergency owing to catastrophic levels of air pollution. To address the issue, a parliamentary standing committee will meet on December 5th. An earlier planned session saw multiple lawmakers neglecting to attend, warranting the need for greater scrutiny. The Standing Committee on Urban Development will congregate […]
Pollution deaths: India leads the G20
India leads the G20 nations in the number of pollution deaths according to recent reports. In 2017, the effects of pollution led to the deaths of 1.2 million people in India. The environment in which this occurs is patently conducive to such a high death toll due to poor air quality. India is home to […]