Every\nyear on June 5 we celebrate World Environment Day with a vision to make the\nworld a better place to live in. Sadly, that vision will not be realised in our\ncountry very soon. India made global headlines by beating all other countries\nin one sphere. The World Health Organisation, in its latest global report on\nair pollution, listed the 20 most polluted cities in the world, and the top 14\nare in India. Sri Lankan cricketers had to wear pollution masks during the\nthird Test against India at Delhi\u2019s Feroz Shah Kotla cricket ground in December\n2017, with the game stopping for nearly twenty minutes after the visitors\ncomplained of breathing difficulty. This speaks volumes of how much we have\nneglected the problem of air pollution, thereby letting it escalate to epic\nproportions. Adding to the severity, the changing weather conditions have\nlocked the pollutants in the air and made the situation worse. Doctors are\nwarning people of dire consequences and discouraging them from stepping\noutdoors. In fact, schools had to be shut down temporarily so that children are\nsafe from air pollution. Let us also not forget the equally devastating water\nand soil pollution that pose life threatening challenges to the ordinary\ncitizens of this country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So\nthe question remains, \u201cIs there any way we can escape this hell\u201d? Shall we ever\nbe able to breathe clean air or drink clean water in the near future? The\nanswer is a resounding \u2018yes\u2019. We\ncannot prevent an earthquake or a tsunami from happening because they are\nnatural disasters. But pollution is a man-made disaster. And since we have\ncaused it, we can definitely fix it. We just need to be a little proactive in\nour approach to combat pollution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Charity\nbegins at home and therefore we should start our anti-pollution crusade from\nthere itself. Improper waste management is one of the biggest reasons for\npollution. The waste that is accumulated every single day in our homes ends up\nin landfill sites and dumping grounds. This waste is a conglomerate of fruits\nand vegetable skin, leftover food, shards of glass, plastic, rubber and the\nlike. On one hand this waste generates toxic gases that are inflammable and on\nthe other hand the decomposition of this waste produces a toxic liquid called\nLeachate which is destroying the groundwater and the crops in the adjoining\nareas. In order to prevent this mayhem from causing further destruction, the\nfirst thing we need to do is segregate our waste products into dry and wet\nwaste. Wet waste will include all biodegradable waste that can decompose quickly\nwithout causing any collateral damage. They can also be used for composting\npurposes. The dry waste can be used for multiple purposes as well. Plastic\nhappens to be one of the major constituents of this dry waste. We might think\nthat plastic is indestructible and cannot be disposed of easily. One man,\nhowever, has found an ingenious solution to dispose plastic. Prof. Vasudevan\nfrom the Thiagarajar College of Engineering in Madurai has devised a process of\nmaking roads with the help of plastic, in which plastic is used to strengthen\nthe combination of stone and charcoal thereby making the roads more long\nlasting than those made by conventional means. These roads require less\nmaintenance and therefore a lot of money is saved that can be directed to other\nimportant areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stubble\nburning in Punjab and Haryana has been cited as a major cause of air pollution\nin Delhi. From late September through October of each year, farmers mainly from\nPunjab and Haryana burn an estimated 35 million tons of crop waste from their\nwheat fields after harvesting, as a low-cost straw-disposal practice to reduce\nthe turnaround time between harvesting and sowing for the second crop. Smoke\nfrom this burning produces a toxic cloud of particulates in Delhi, resulting in\ndeclaration of an air pollution emergency. This too can be handled with ease.\nThe crop residue can be fed to bovine animals, which can turn this waste into\norganic manure by means of their excreta as devised by Dr. Srinivasan\nChandrasekaran, the former Dean of the Faculty of Science at IISc, Bangalore.\nInstead of just burning things that are no longer of any use to us we can\nemploy the above methods as these not only reduce pollution but also provide us\nwith such benefits. Burning the waste only gives us a temporary solution but\neventually it scars the cities and villages permanently. We think that since\nburning waste material is working efficiently in the West, it must work here in\nIndia as well. We must understand that India and the West are two completely\ndifferent geographies and therefore blind emulation will only cause mayhem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another\nmajor source of air pollution in metropolitan areas is the construction\nindustry. Be it high rise buildings or roads, there is a constant emanation of\nparticulate matter that just adds to the pollution level. These machines need\nto be equipped with sprinklers in order to prevent pollution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schools\nneed to inculcate in children the concept of the 3Rs\u2014Reduce, Reuse and\nRecycle\u2014so that the young minds of our country grow up with an anti-pollution\nmindset. It is often seen that although children take deep interest in such\nthings their enthusiasm deflates the moment they try to involve their parents.\nTherefore it is important for parents to take an equal responsibility in order\nto keep our environment clean. We have to reduce using plastic bags that are a\nmajor cause of pollution. We must reuse whatever we can and not throw it away\nthe moment we are done using it as it just adds to the unstoppable mountain of\nwaste. The same goes with recycling. We need to have workshops regarding these\npractices that have the potential to improve the situation partially if not\ncompletely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally,\nwe come to what is possibly the greatest and the gravest source of pollution,\nvehicular emissions. This is a complex situation because one cannot just ban\nall vehicles plying on the roads to curb pollution. We have to approach the\nentire thing with minimal collaterals. The first thing that we have to think of\nis using fuel that is efficient and yet less polluting. Apart from CNG,\nbiodiesel happens to be a suitable alternative to conventional fuel. The\nemission of particulate matter as a result of using biodiesel is comparatively\nlesser than conventional fuel. Car pooling is another way of reducing\npollution. Car pooling results in two benefits\u2014firstly the level of pollution\ndecreases a lot and secondly a lot of fuel is saved which can be used for other\npurposes. As we keep progressing we need to devise the usage of more and more\nalternate forms of energy. Afforestation is also a solution to many problems.\nThe need to plant more trees for higher absorption of carbon dioxide (a\ngreenhouse gas released due to burning of fuels) from the atmosphere is\nimperative. The fundamental cure to smog\nis to create a ring of forests around the cities. This will not only modify the\nweather within the cities like Delhi, but also absorb a major portion of\nairborne dust from across the neighbouring states that further adds to the\nlevels of air pollution in the capital city. More forests mean more rain that\nalso improves water quality by filtering pollutants out of rainwater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\nhave to be a little more proactive in our research in order to find suitable\nalternatives to non-renewable fuel as the pollution caused by it is on the\nrise. Many of us think that even if we are affected by health hazards because\nof pollution, we can cure it by taking medicines. But that is a selfish move\nindeed. After all, not everyone can afford medicines. Moreover, medicines\ncannot cure everything. Pollution not only affects human beings but also birds\nand animals. Prolonged water pollution has posed a massive threat to aquatic\ncreatures. Air pollutants have caused a marked decrease in local animal\npopulations. The major effects of industrial air pollution on wildlife include\ndirect mortality, debilitating industrial-related injury and disease,\nphysiological stress, anaemia and bioaccumulation. What we need to strive for\ntherefore is cleaner air and cleaner water. As the old adage goes, \u201cPrevention\nis better than cure\u201d. \n\nAll the aforementioned measures to combat pollution are very much realisable. It is not even one\nof those \u201cdifficult yet not impossible\u201d tasks. We have the adequate resources\nto combat pollution and if put in the hands of creative and industrious minds,\nthis country will shine like never before. It is really a matter of shame that\npeople from around the world, who come to visit our country have to battle it\nout with pollution first. One of the wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal, is in\ndanger because of pollution. Let us take an oath to make our country clean\nagain, not just for our guests and our heritage sites but also for our\nforthcoming generations. It is time that we stop taking our environment for\ngranted. Only then can we realise our dream of a SWACHH BHARAT.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Every year on June 5 we celebrate World Environment Day with a vision to make the world a better place to live in. Sadly, that vision will not be realised in our country very soon. India made global headlines by beating all other countries in one sphere. The World Health Organisation, in its latest global […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}