Terrible Air Pollution in New Delhi, India (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/who-says-air-pollution-kills-7-million/year-toughens-guidelines/articleshow/86441641.cms)

Greetings urban dwellers! In today’s article, I will be discussing the problems of air pollution in dense urban cities. First and foremost, we must all acknowledge that air pollution can pose as a serious health hazard and should not be taken lightly. According to medical journals, air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide released from vehicular emissions can throw a spanner into the functions of the lungs. They can also facilitate access of inhaled allergens to the cells of the immune system, resulting in a loss of quality of living in the urban areas.

The significance of air pollution in urban areas are especially more problematic compared to places elsewhere around the world. In the 21st century, there is a great dependence on transportation to carry out daily activities. To add on, urban cities possess large volumes of such travel. As a result, this will equate to a significant amount of pollutants released from vehicles.

Fun fact: in a study conducted in 2015 on cities around the world, traffic accounted for 25% of urban air pollution, 22% comes from combustion and agriculture, 20% from domestic fuel burning, 18% from natural dusts and 15% from industrial activities.

Unfortunately, the issue of climate change has accentuated the severity of air pollution in urban areas. As the earth’s temperature continue to rise due to climate change, it alters the concentration and distribution of air pollutants, causing the pollutants to be more resilient and able to stay in the environment for a prolonged period of time. This just shows how human activities can have an exponential effect onto urban pollution as one of the primary causes of climate change is due to anthropogenic lifestyles.

But this is not the end! We are not screwed (yet). There is still more we can do to restore our urban environments. Hang around for more!

You Live in Urban, You Fight for Urban.

Your Metropollution Warrior,

BriChua

References:

D’Amato, G. (2002). Environmental urban factors (air pollution and allergens) and the rising trends in allergic respiratory diseases. Allergy, 57(s72), 30–33. https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1398-9995.57.s72.5.x