According to WHO, two million people died every year from breathing in tiny particles present in indoor and outdoor air pollution. M10 particles, which are particles of 10 micrometers or less, which can penetrate into the lungs and may enter to the bloodstream, and it causes heart disease, lung cancer, asthma, and acute lower respiratory infections. Who had recommended to countries, PM10 (particles) has to be 20 per cubic metre as an annual average, but the data had shown that in many cities it reached up to 300 per cubic metre. Air pollution is a problem in both developed and developing countries that it is usually caused by motor transport, small-scale manufactures and other industries, burning of biomass and coal for cooking and heating, as well as coal-fired power plants. However, we can significantly reduce the problem with air pollution by monitoring and managing the environment properly. The problem is that in many countries, there are no air quality regulations and even where they do exist, national standards and their enforcement vary markedly. People usually try to solve the problem when the problem becomes an issue. Among many other things, it is much easier and cheaper to prevent the problem than solving the problem after it happened. People spend enormous amounts of money on health issues, but we do not really care about what causes the health issues. We have to prevent the problem when we know how to prevent the problem that preventing the problem is much more important than solving the problem after it have been happened.
I agree, we think we can fix things after the fact, however, most often, this is not the case. It becomes infinitely more difficult to fix problems as time goes on, especially when it's something like air pollution. Technology to reduce emissions need to be put in place at the source of these emissions. The U.S. has cap and trade policies in place to try and promote increasing air quality. Corporations that produce waste have caps on how much waste they can produce, and if they go over, they are charge. The amount of the cap can be "traded" between corporations, creating a monetary incentive. The less you release, the smaller cap you have to have. Thus, companies trade lower caps for money with other companies.
ReplyDeleteDeveloped countries need to start implementing plans like cap and trade in order to try and create an incentive for companies to stop producing so much waste. They should also create some sort of incentive for citizens to use more eco-friendly types of energy. Air pollution is everyone's problem, even if they are not the particular source of the pollution. Pollution moves with the wind, and the wind currents swipe across the entire world, so if this is not taken seriously as an international issues, there will be increasing numbers of respiratory issues across the map.
What you have said is most always true – prevention is more effective than treatment. And with regard to this specific issue it certainly does seem to have slipped under the radar. This is because it has always been cheaper to do so. In recent years, however, there has been a greater call for an awareness of the environmental impact we have. This trend needs to be continued. And as well as awareness, action needs to take place.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to disagree with the points brought up, since air pollution is a problem that many developed and recently developing countries are facing, and the problems associated with it are often chronic sicknesses which slowly appear, except in the worst cases. But its difficult to deal with this problem internationally. Countries want control over their manufacturing facilities, and want to regulate (or not regulate) them as they please. To be fair, no regulations leads to very efficient manufacturing, and so provide a good source export to make a country stand up in the global economy. The U.S. went through a time like that as well, to our economy's benefit and health's detriment. Regardless, this is not a problem that can be simply labeled as a health problem that needs to be fixed, since there are multiple faces to regulating air pollution (and pollution in general) and different sides take different stances on the issue.
ReplyDeleteThis is another classic example of a situation where the problem can only be fixed if the true root of the issue, which is often far larger that the problem that needs to be fixed. The issue of pollution in the environment has posed many issues to the health of both animals and the earth itself. It is slowly killing us, decreasing our quality of life and destroying our home planet, and none of the various manufactures that cause this pollution seen to be concerned about it. Its only if we fix the larger issue that anything else will be resolved.
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