There's more to air pollution management than just griping at Indonesia
WAS there ever any doubt that the haze would return, and in short time? The days of clear blue, and the more welcome rain-cloud laden, skies are over, for the moment. Now, the weeping that will be done will come from the tearducts of man, shaking fists at the sky and the wind, and, by extension, the neighbour. Not a little, too, will come from the sneezing, coughing, hacking and misery the polluted air will bring. In the less than one month the haze was gone, many have tried to make the most of the clean air, living each day as it came, knowing that the good days would not last, knowing that we were living on borrowed time.
However, the reality is that clean air, clear skies and good health can be snatched away at any time, not needing the fires of Indonesia, or an officially demarcated season. An international study published this month in the Environmental Research Letters journal found that outdoor air pollution contributes to 2.5 million deaths each year, caused by ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) that is a tiny fraction the width of human hair. "Epidemiological studies have shown that ozone and PM2.5 have significant influences on human health, including premature mortality." PM2.5-related mortality was widespread in populated regions, including Southeast Asia, and "past climate change caused ozone mortality to increase". A British Heart Foundation-funded study released just days before that found that air pollution, such as exposure to pollution from road traffic, weakened heart muscles and could cause death. According to the World Health Organisation, PM2.5 was associated with "a broad spectrum of acute and chronic illness, such as lung cancer and cardiopulmonary disease".
These findings highlight how harmful air pollution is to humans, although the general effects should have been clear to common sense. But, what is significant is that the properties of that pollution, ozone on the ground and PM2.5, are largely categorised as anthropogenic-- caused by human activity, and very mundane ones at that. Exhaust fumes from cars, buses and lorries; household emissions from energy consumption, aerosols and chlorofluorocarbons; emissions from smokestacks and methane from landfills. These are the pollutants that we have to contend with outside of the haze season, and that which further compound the effects of the haze when it is around. So, other than pushing for Indonesia to ratify the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, Malaysia should be looking at its own air pollution protocols, so that greater steps can be taken to make sure we don't pollute our environment. Reducing energy use, converting to clean energy resources and reining in overconsumption would be a good start.
Read more: Clean air solutions - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/clean-air-solutions-1.324511#ixzz2ZpHViNgm
Post a Comment