Air Pollution: Breathe it to Believe it

Despite being a major cause for environmental concern, air pollution is often overlooked because it is a type of pollution that cannot be "seen". It is caused by everyday activities like driving a car, flying to your vacation destination, agriculture or the manufacture of everyday products.

We are very aware of poor air quality in countries like China, and even in big cities such as Toronto or New York city, but the air quality is also poor in lesser known populated areas such as Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Why should we consider lesser known areas?

In order to reduce our impact and restore air quality, it is important to be aware of where air pollution occurs and its severity. According to Public Health Round Up, "air pollution levels remain dangerously high in many parts of the world," and as such, 9 out of 10 people are breathing air with high levels of pollutants, according to data released by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In addition, "the highest ambient air pollution levels are in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and in South-East Asia," and as a result the annual levels for these regions are five times over the WHO limit which impacts places like Riyadh.

According to the Business Insider, in About 80% of all cities have worse air quality than what's considered healthy — here are the 15 with the worst air pollution, the most harmful pollutant for human is PM 2.5, which is found in soot, smoke and dust. It is dangerous because "it can get lodged in the lungs and cause long-term health problems like asthma and chronic lung disease." This is especially high in Riyadh, the largest city in Saudi Arabia, where the pollutants are 15 times higher than the annual PM 2.5, which comes from industrial activity.

The natural balance of the earth's atmosphere is being thrown off and a major reason for this is air pollution.

How do we combat air pollution?

There are simple solutions to fight the effects of air pollution. It's as easy as reducing the number of times you drive a car, and in addition, consider carpooling, or even public transportation. You can even steer clear from using gas powered gardening equipment. The United States Environmental Protection Agency suggests more ways on how you can reduce air pollution. In addition, there are a number of petitions available regarding the earth's air quality:

https://www.change.org/t/air-pollution-en-us

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2102

https://cape.ca/take-action/climate-action-plan/

Sources:

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-cities-with-the-worlds-worst-air-pollution-who-2016-5

Air pollution. (2018). Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 96(6), 372. doi:10.2471/BLT.18.010618

https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/08/vl/health-and-env-effects-air-pollutions.pdf

https://www3.epa.gov/region1/airquality/reducepollution.html