Air Pollution Shortening Life Expectancy Demands Government Mitigation

            Far too many times, I have heard my mom scorn me saying, “You’re taking years off my life!” For those living in densely populated cities, stressors such as heavy traffic and busy factories may physically, rather than metaphorically, be taking years off their lives. In India, the air pollution is now said to be causing 1.1 million people to die prematurely each year (Anand, 2017). According to Sengupta (2018), outdoor air pollution is reducing the average life expectancy worldwide, by one year. In certain countries however, the shortening life expectancy is even more pronounced. Air pollution is cutting the average Egyptian life span by 1.9 years and the average Indian life span by 1.5 years (Sengupta, 2018). Some people may argue that 1-2 years is pretty insignificant, but I find it quite bothersome that human actions, that could be avoided, could be causing an entire opportunity-filled year of my life to vanish. When discussing how to prevent smog from shortening lives, it is important to understand that often times government priorities have a major impact on how often the people take the preventative measures to avoid contributing to smog formation. Therefore, in order to protect their citizens from the smog that could be shortening their lives, governments need to place human health at a higher priority than the stability of the economy and encourage their citizens to avoid contributions to air pollution.

Figure 1. The city of Warsaw, Poland experiencing a major haze event, as toxic smog settles over the city, lasting one week.

            It may be difficult for one to wrap their mind around the idea that the air they breathe may be shortening their life, but it’s true. According to environmentalists in Poland, residents in Warsaw inhale an equivalent of a thousand cigarettes each year due to the chemicals found in the smog hanging over their city (Berendt, 2017). These toxic chemicals, a fraction of the width of a human hair, have been known to lead to a variety of diseases (Anand, 2017). They easily enter the bloodstream via the lungs, leading to cardiac disease, increasing the risk of stroke and heart failure, and cause respiratory problems such as asthma and pneumonia (Anand, 2017). Smog can also contain high levels of lead, leading to an increased number of bone marrow and lung cancer cases (Erdbrink, 2016). In Tehran, Iran, people are encouraged to stay indoors, drink lots of milk, and eat fresh vegetables in order to shield themselves from the cancerous pollution (Erdbrink, 2016). In addition to being encouraged to protect themselves, citizens also need to be encouraged by their government to take the preventative actions to avoid contributing to air pollution. 

Figure 2. Women in Delhi, India wearing face masks in an attempt to protect their health and avoid ingesting the particulate matter found in the smog hanging over their city.

Unfortunately, avoiding contributions to air pollution may be very difficult for citizens of some countries. For some people, even if they are educated on what factors contribute to smog formation above the cities they live in, they may be unsure how or unable to avoid contributing to air pollution. For example, in Afghanistan, more than half of the people live below the poverty line (Horton & Hassan, 2019). Thus, even if they are aware that their actions are releasing toxic chemicals into the air, many of them have no choice but to continue to burn things that they know are contributing to air pollution, in order to cook and stay warm (Horton & Hassan, 2019). This may lead to the citizens of Afghanistan feeling hopeless, in that they either suffer from the effects of air pollution, or they suffer from cold and malnourishment. These people really need their government to help provide energy that is both clean and affordable, so that they do not have to make this choice. In Tehran, Iran, where a noxious yellow blanket of smog settled over the city for a week-long haze event, the people seemingly went on with their day as if there was nothing wrong (Erdbrink, 2016). Despite emergency regulations focused on keeping cars out of the center of the city, the traffic jams continued as normal in Tehran (Erdbrink, 2016). Morteza Hosseinzadeh from the area stated, “I work two jobs, have no money even to have a child and really don’t see how I can stop this pollution (Erdbrink, 2016).” Iranians need their government to help provide more affordable public transit, or maybe policies and regulations that encourage more energy efficient transportation, so that they do not have pretend that their actions are not causing this toxic smog. Nonetheless, it is clear that people need encouragement from the government in order to better understand ways that they can prevent smog formation.

Governments can either play a positive or negative role in smog mitigation. The best way to prevent smog from forming is to combat the two dominant sources of air quality degradation: transportation and power plants (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2017). When it comes to combating transportation emissions, the Netherland’s secretary of state devised a plan to help the country meet air quality standards put in place by the WHO (Pieters, 2018). The plan included more investments in electric car charging stations, formulating ideas to tackle specific intersections where emissions are too high, and municipalities even have the opportunity to reduce the price of parking fees for cleaner cars (Pieters, 2018). In addition to the Netherlands attempting to reduce emissions by combating transportation, in Poland, government officials offered free public transportation (Berendt, 2017). Each of these actions are examples of a government’s attempt at encouraging citizens to use modes of transportation that are more energy efficient. Unfortunately, combatting power plants may be a little more difficult since, majority of the world consumes the most energy from petroleum, natural gas, and coal (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2019). Governments may not always be willing to take every measure to alleviate the smog hanging over the cities since fossil fuels play such an important role in the economy (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2019). However, placing human health at a lower priority than economic stability can have major impacts on human health. In the United States, for example, the Trump Administration’s proposal to replace Obama’s Clean Power Plan could lead to 1,400 premature deaths annually (Sengupta, 2018). I find it a bit bothersome that the U.S. government would choose to take a step in the wrong direction. Instead of concerning themselves with the importance of fossil fuels in the economy, government officials should be focused on working towards implementing clean and renewable energy sources in cities so that human life is not being sacrificed (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2019). When making governmental decisions, human health must be placed at a higher priority than economic stability so that the governmental regulations and policies can be used to encourage citizens to reduce the emissions that contribute to the toxic smog that shortens human lifespans. 

Overall, governments need to strive towards making rules and regulations that protect human life, rather that shorten it. It has been said that air pollution undercuts the overall progress that the world has made in increasing the average life span in the past decades (Sengupta, 2018). How many years does the global average life span need to decrease before major strides in improving this issue are made? Government officials need to place human health at the highest priority when making policies and they need to work together with citizens in order to encourage them, and find realistic solutions to prevent smog from forming over cities, so that every individual can live their life to the fullest. 

References

Anand, G. A. (2017, February 14). India’s Air Pollution Rivals China’s as World’s Deadliest. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/world/asia/indias-air-pollution-rivals-china-as-worlds-deadliest.html

Berendt, J. B. (2017, January 14). Warsaw Grapples with Gloomy, Gray Smog. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/world/europe/warsaw-air-pollution-smog.html

Cunningham, W. C., & Cunningham, M. C. (2017). Principles of Environmental Science: inquiry and Applications(8th ed.). New York, United States: McGraw-Hill Education.

Erdbrink, T. E. (2016, November 15). As a Noxious Smog Descends, Tehran Tries to Ignore It. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/world/middleeast/tehran-iran-smog.html

Horton, A. H., & Hassan, S. H. (2019, January 12). In war-weary Kabul, burning coal and tires keeps residents warm — and the city choked by smog. The Washington Post.Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-war-weary-kabul-burning-coal-and-tires-keeps-residents-warm--and-the-city-choked-by-smog/2019/01/11/33963d76-11f9-11e9-ab79-30cd4f7926f2_story.html?utm_term=.105f7cee9e9b

Pieters, J. P. (2018, March 26). Netherlands to Take Extra Measures to Improve Air Quality. NL Times. Retrieved from https://nltimes.nl/2018/03/26/netherlands-take-extra-measures-improve-air-quality

Sengupta, S. S. (2018, August 22). Air Pollution Is Shortening Your Life. Here’s How Much. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/climate/air-pollution-deaths.html

U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2019, March 26). Energy Overview. Retrieved April 10, 2019, from https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec1.pdf

The Economist Anonymous Author. (2016, November 24). Retired jet engines could help clear smog. The Economist. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2016/11/24/retired-jet-engines-could-help-clear-smog