The International Pollution Day(s)

Not only in China but the conflict between culture and the environment is observed around the world. However, apart from practices like burning joss paper and idol immersion that have a long history, the situations of some “newly-invented” traditions are more interesting. In the previous post, we talked about how local people’s opinions towards the core conflict are centered around shared history, beliefs, and a sense of belonging. Thus, I grow curious about why people would prioritize their new traditions over the environment.

One study researched into people’s mindset toward consumerism during Black Friday in the UK. This study described how people would think of activities like shopping (referred to as consumer culture) as a tradition and part of their own culture despite the lack of long history (Smith et. al, 2015). Some of the motivations behind this consumer culture include the fear of missing out, pure impulse, and the ideology of liberalism. For example, people would compare themselves to people around them and want to surpass others in terms of materialistic achievement. Some people buy simply because they “can do anything they want”. Many people interviewed in the research expressed that their shopping activities are due to their own will. All these motivations work collectively and produce consumerism which is deeply rooted in many people’s minds.

However, if we think of this issue from another perspective, we would question the legitimacy of classifying consumer culture as a real tradition that holds value. First, consumer culture is not of any ethnic uniqueness. All the real traditions we talked about are practiced by specific ethnic groups. On the contrary, anyone in the world can just go to a shop and buy more than he/she needs. This lack of uniqueness leads to a lack of value. Second, consumer culture lacks connotation. Real traditions, such as fireworks in China, idol immersion in India, and Christmas all involve profound history, beliefs, virtues, and connotations. For example, fireworks are a symbol of people’s victory over wild beasts through the use of fire. Idol immersion is to show respect to benevolent deities. Christmas is the birthday of a saint who saved numerous people. Consumer culture, nothing. Thirdly, consumer culture is not even developed bottom up by people, but by capitalists as a means to earn more profit. In Smith et.al’s paper, they talked about the overwhelming advertisements by companies. Some ads aim to provoke people’s vanity. Some ads steer up unnecessary needs like better body figures and better hair quality. These create fake anxiety in people and the fear of missing out on something important. In conclusion, to me, consumer culture is not a tradition and holds zero cultural value.

But again, we tend to think of issues from our own perspectives. If we look at an economist’s point of view, the results may be very different. This reminds me of the Environmental Economy module I took at NUS. There are some concepts I learned from that module that I consider worth sharing. For example, the theory of every environmental problem should have an “internal solution” that balances the economy and nature. In fact, I don’t dislike the notion of compromise. If consumer culture can really create economic profits that far outweigh its environmental cost, it is not justifiable to put a stop to it. In reality, we are able to see the numbers on paper on how much money is earned but environmental costs are usually hard to quantify. Especially providing the fact that we don’t fully understand how nature works. This again emphasizes the importance of further scientific research about the environment.

But do all the reasonings make consumer culture acceptable? I would still say no. Even if the economic benefit is big, there will still be huge inequality in the sharing of benefits. Under this capitalist world order, that is what we see all day. Environmental injustice will become more prominent, which is yet another big issue in this field of study. In conclusion, we need to think of the values of real traditions and make careful, science-based policies to reduce their environmental damage but for fake traditions like consumer culture, there is a need to stop it.

Thank you again for reading my blog! Have a nice day!

References:

Oliver Smith and Thomas Raymen. (2015). Shopping with violence: Black Friday sales in the British context. Journal of Consumer Culture, 17(3), 677–694. https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1177/1469540515611204

Throughout this semester, we have looked at several festivals and the pollution caused by them. These festivals vary in terms of nation and ethnicity and the types of pollutants vary in terms of chemical structure, but there is something in common. I am confident to say that I have identified the core reason behind the problem of festival pollution which is the conflict between culture and the environment.

Almost all festival activities I talked about, including those I have not touched on yet, are traditional practices embedded in different cultures. I cannot emphasize more how people, especially those from cultures with long histories, value their traditions. This can be illustrated by the case of the Chinese government’s ban on fireworks. According to a study done in Jinan, China, The Air Quality Index (AQI) during the CNY period in 2018 is significantly lower than that in 2017, due to the implementation of the firework ban (Yu et al, 2021). Similar results were also observed in Beijing (Lai and Brimblecombe, 2020), signifying at least partial success of the firework ban in controlling air pollution.

AQI in Jinan 2017 and 2018 (photo credit: Yu et al)

Despite the positive effects of the firework ban, many Chinese people view it negatively. In Lai and Brimblecombe’s research (2020), Beijing people’s opinions towards fireworks were collected on social media. From 2014 to 2019, there is a significant increase in the percentage of posts talking about the loss of culture, customs, and traditional importance, with a total of 10% of posts expressing people’s need to retain the firework tradition. According to the study, one comment on this issue, which could represent many people’s opinions, says “Only five days are permissible for fireworks in the whole year, so what can be polluted? Does the media want to use the Spring Festival fireworks to divert people’s attention? Why not check the chemical industry? Poor wind and dispersion are among the most important factors causing heavy air pollution in Beijing”. Such comments are commonly seen on Chinese social media platforms including those I am using. Generally, Chinese people, especially the youth since they are those who frequently use social media, think of firework pollution as a trivial matter, and the government should not ban fireworks but better resolve pollution from other more pollutive sources first. Another research that is done by Lai and Brimblecombe (2020) in the first year of the pandemic also studied people’s opinions toward the ban on fireworks. The social media posts were collected from people living in the Chinese city of Ezhou, which lies very close to the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan. A significant increase in the proportion of posts talking about enthusiasm about fireworks and the loss of CNY culture is observed. There are also some people believing that the loud noise of fireworks could disperse evil spirits (the pandemic) as described in the traditional story.

Change in social media posts in Ezhou 2019 and 2020 (photo credit: Lai and Brimblecombe)

So what are the reasons behind Chinese people’s opinions? It might be difficult to understand from a foreigner’s perspective so I want to offer some of my own thoughts here as a PRC citizen. Most Chinese people cherish our cultural traditions very much since these practices include our shared history, beliefs, and sense of belonging. Hence, I totally understand why some of my people dislike the firework ban, considering the government prioritizing some “trivial matters” over our invaluable traditions. Unlike me as a GE4237 student, many people lack a clear understanding of environmental pollution, thus having poorly informed ideas. Also, it was the difference in value judgment that led to different opinions. Honestly, even I struggle with which to prioritize, culture or the environment. Facing such a dilemma, the government also chose an eclectic method of a not complete but partial ban on fireworks. I agree with the idea of an eclectic solution but as I talked about in the previous post, the problem with the ban is its enforcement and justice. Furthermore, another problem with the ban is people would tend to “retaliatorily” play with fireworks within the permissible period. This may cause drastic increases in the concentration of pollutants over a short time, which may result in even more severe air pollution. Overall, there are still many places for improvement with the firework ban.

I will continue on this issue in the next post and view it from a global perspective. Thank you for reading!

References:

Brimblecombe, P. and Lai, Y. (2020). Effect of Fireworks, Chinese New Year and the COVID-19 Lockdown on Air Pollution and Public Attitudes. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 20: 2318–2331. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2020.06.0299

Yu, S., Wang, C., Liu, K. et al. (2021). Environmental effects of prohibiting urban fireworks and firecrackers in Jinan, China. Environ Monit Assess 193, 512  https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1007/s10661-021-09315-4

Yonghang Lai, Peter Brimblecombe, (2020), Changes in air pollution and attitude to fireworks in Beijing, Atmospheric Environment, Volume 231,  117549, ISSN 1352-2310, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117549. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231020302843)

After several weeks of blogging on some other festival pollution, I think it is time to review and talk more about firework pollution, but from yet another perspective. It is well-known that fireworks emit air pollutants, and many studies have been done on the decrease in air quality caused by playing with fireworks. However, the majority of such studies were carried out in urban areas, especially megacities like Beijing, Xi’an, and Jinan. Around a decade ago, the central government implemented a firework control law, which prohibits the playing of fireworks in certain areas, during a certain period. Again, this control mainly focuses on urban areas (Zhang et.al, 2017), aiming to prevent severe pollution in places of great population density. In suburban and rural areas, fireworks displays continued without much control.

Rural areas in China, unlike more advanced countries like the US, are still underdeveloped. Many houses lack ventilation, which leads to the accumulation of pollutants, especially those that have a long residence time. A study done in Hunan province (southern China) discovered that the average PM2.5 level in rural households is considered heavily polluted with the Chinese AQI standards (Du et.al, 2021). The indoor PM2.5 concentration corresponds to an AQI value of around 200. Compared to the outdoors, indoor air quality is significantly worst. Moreover, it was observed that rural indoor air quality decreases greatly during the CNY period, presumably due to the playing of fireworks.

PM2.5 concentration in rural China (photo credit: Du et.al.)

Another study that focused on rural indoor Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in northeastern China yielded similar results (Li et.al. 2022). In this study, the authors emphasized the pollution effect of fireworks during the CNY period (January or February) which can severely impact rural air quality. In northeastern China, due to the extremely cold temperature, people rarely open windows and doors for ventilation, and this again worsened indoor air pollution. Heavier pollutants like PM tend to sink to the bottom of of the space. This makes indoor pollutants more damaging to children.

indoor PAHs concentration in rural northeastern China (photo credit: Li et.al. 2022)

US EPA (2023) defines environmental justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies”. Yet, people in rural China are facing environmental injustice, by receiving more damage from fireworks pollutants. Regardless of people’s opinions towards the firework control law, the government is protecting people from air pollution caused by fireworks. However, due to poor enforcement, this law failed to protect rural people. The social economic status of rural people makes them unable to afford houses with proper ventilation, thus are more vulnerable to indoor air pollution. Predictably, rural people will be more prone to respiratory diseases, which force them to spend more money on healthcare, worsening their financial situation. Looking at the whole world, rural Chinese are but a small proportion of people facing such a vicious cycle due to environmental injustice. There is still a long way to go in order to eliminate inequality caused by environmental pollution.

References:

Bai, Li, and Chunhui Li. (2022). “Investigation of Indoor Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Rural Northeast China: Pollution Characteristics, Source Analysis, and Health Assessment” Buildings 12, no. 2: 153. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12020153

Du, W., Wang, J., Zhang, S., Fu, N., Yang, F., Wang, G., Wang, Z., Mao, K., Shen, G., Qi, M., Liu, S., Wu, C. and Chen, Y. (2021), Impacts of Chinese spring festival on household PM2.5 pollution and blood pressure of rural residents. Indoor Air, 31: 1072-1083. https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1111/ina.12795

Junmei Zhang, Lingxiao Yang, Jianmin Chen, Abdelwahid Mellouki, Pan Jiang, Ying Gao, Yanyan Li, Yumeng Yang, Wenxing Wang, (2017), Influence of fireworks displays on the chemical characteristics of PM2.5 in rural and suburban areas in Central and East China, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 578, Pages 476-484, ISSN 0048-9697,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.10.212. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896971632410X)

US EPA. (2023). Environmental Justice. https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice#:~:text=Environmental%20justice%20is%20the%20fair,laws%2C%20regulations%2C%20and%20policies.

As mentioned in my previous posts, it is clear that festival activities can sometimes be major contributors to the environment. Until now, we have covered many pollutive festival practices such as playing with fireworks, immersing god idols, and burning joss paper. These are all traditional practices embodied in old civilizations that can date back at least one thousand years ago. Apart from those, new festival practices are continuously being developed and adopted by people. These new practices are already considered “traditions” and “must-do” by some. Some good examples of “new traditions” include massive shopping happening on Thanksgiving day, New year’s day, and Christmas. There are even some completely new festivals mainly designed for shopping, like Black Friday in the West, and its equivalent, “double 11” in China. Clearly, such new traditions are capitalists’ strategies for ritualizing consumption and advocating consumerism – strategies for increasingly higher profits. Consumerism is a global-scale phenomenon, from which problem arises, including depleting natural resources, waste generation, and exploiting labor in production units. In this post, I will talk about environmental pollution due to these new festival practices, focusing on microfiber pollution from garments and textiles.

Shoppers on Black Friday (photo credit: maybeMaybeMaybe)

Pathways of microfiber pollution (photo credit: Liu et.al)

Microfibers are a new category of artificial ultra-fine fibers with diameters of less than 10 micrometers. Some useful properties make microfibers good materials for clothes. The fibers are made from different plastics like polyester and acrylic. This means microfibers are also a subcategory of microplastics, whose sources are mainly from the textile industry and domestic laundry (Sunanda et al, 2019). Since nowadays textile production is concentrated in Asian developing countries, such countries undoubtedly become the major microfiber-polluting countries.

Types of microfibers (photo credit: Athey and Erdle)

Ocean receives the biggest impact from microfiber pollution. It is calculated that 2 million tonnes of microfibers enter the ocean each year and 1.5 million trillion microfibers are now present in the ocean(Sunanda et al, 2019). It is also estimated that 34.8% of all marine microplastic pollution is due to synthetic textiles (Boucher and Friot). Since microfibers are extremely thin and light, they are able to be dispersed and transported by the wind and water over a long distance and eventually deposited in oceans (Liu et.al., 2021). Due to their tiny size similar to planktons, microfibers are unknowingly ingested by filter feeders that are at the bottom of the food chain. This will pollute the entire food chain as microfibers in the oceans will then be consumed by marine faunas, mainly fishes, and accumulate in their bodies. Ultimately, fish that are polluted by microfibers are consumed by us. Similar processes also appear in freshwater systems. One research has shown that 83% of fish caught in a river in Brazil were contaminated by microplastic and around 50% of the plastics are fibers (Silva-Cavalcanti et.al, 2017).

Microfiber in fish (Photo credit: Silva-Cavalcanti et.al)

Microfibers have been found to be toxic to human beings. Their health impacts include damage to the liver, kidney, and intestines (Meeker et.al, 2009). A chemical called Bisphenol A is also present in microfibers which can cause damage to the female reproductive system (Meeker et.al, 2009). Microfibers do not only enter human bodies through the consumption of marine fauna, they can also be ingested through drinking water and breathing, as 83% of global drinking water was detected to be polluted by microfibers (Shakeri, 2017).

Percentage of tap water samples present in contaminated with microfibers (photo credit: Sunanda et al)

Microfibers are able to have synergistic effects with other pollutants. One study has shown that microfibers are able to attract other pollutant particles (Jeanne et.al, 2016). Nonylphenols and heavy water (D2O) molecules are found to be able to attach themselves to microfiber and the increase in humidity will strengthen the attractive force. Similarly, other studies also found that heavy metals (Cu, Cd, and Pb) can also attach themselves to microplastics (Sun et.al, 2019). In this study, researchers have found that the ingestion of heavy metal-attached microplastic severely damaged their target species: yellow seahorse, Hippocampus kuda, by suppressing their growth rate, resulting in decreased body length. Overall, microfibers together with other pollutants can bring huge damage to the ecosystem and human health.

Since the textile industry is the main contributor to microfiber pollution, it would be important to curb pollution from its source. Consumerism accelerated the process of garment production and shopping festivals become the perfect chance for people to overshop. As a result, people buy more clothes than they actually require. In this process, pollutants like microfibers are created and enter the environment, bringing damage to both the ecosystem and our health. However, there are still many people who consider such activities as “traditions” and refuse to stop. There is thus an urgent need for more sustainable garment production and consumption.

Thank you very much for reading. I will see you next week!

References:

Boucher J, Friot D (2017) Primary Microplastics in the Oceans: a global evaluation of sources. Gland, Switzerland

Jacqueline Santos Silva-Cavalcanti, José Diego B. Silva, Elton José de França, Maria Christina Barbosa de Araújo, Felipe Gusmão, Microplastics ingestion by a common tropical freshwater fishing resource, Environmental Pollution, Volume 221, 2017, Pages 218-226, ISSN 0269-7491, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.11.068. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026974911632396X)

J.D. Meeker, S. Sathyanarayana, S.H. Swan. Phthalates and other additives in plastics: human exposure and associated health outcomes Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. Ser. B Biol. Sci., 364 (1526) (2009), pp. 2097-2113. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rstb.2008.0268

Jeanne M. Hankett, William R. Collin, Pei Yang, Zhan Chen, and Melissa Duhaime. Low-Volatility Model Demonstrates Humidity Affects Environmental Toxin Deposition on Plastics at a Molecular Level. Environmental Science & Technology 2016 50 (3), 1304-1312 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b05598 (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.5b05598)

Liu, J., Liang, J., Ding, J. et al. Microfiber pollution: an ongoing major environmental issue related to the sustainable development of textile and clothing industry. Environ Dev Sustain 23, 11240–11256 (2021). https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1007/s10668-020-01173-3

Sima Shakeri. (2017). 83% Of The World’s Tap Water Contains Plastic Fibres: Study. https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/world-tap-water-plastic_ca_5cd4fedde4b07bc72973cf26

Sunanda Mishra, Chandi charan Rath, Alok Prasad Das, Marine microfiber pollution: A review on present status and future challenges,Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 140, (2019), Pages 188-197, ISSN 0025-326X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.01.039. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X19300451)

Sun Jinhui, Xia Sudong, Ning Yan, Pan Xia, Qu Jiahao, Xu Yongjian, Effects of microplastics and attached heavy metals on growth, immunity, and heavy metal accumulation in the yellow seahorse, Hippocampus kuda Bleeker, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 149, 2019, 110510, ISSN 0025-326X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110510. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X19306484)

Environmental pollution takes many forms. Tangible forms of pollution include air pollution, water pollution, and solid waste pollution we talked about in previous posts. There are also intangible forms of pollution, like noise pollution. However, the intangible nature of noise does not reduce its impact on the environment. Since the old times, festivals have become a huge noise generator. While some festivals emphasize silence and peace, the way we celebrate most festivals usually involves singing, dancing, and playing fireworks. There are activities that make us indulge in the atmosphere of the festivals. Such noisy activities may bring joy to us, but in actual fact, we willingly or unwillingly, become affected by noise pollution. Looking from a broader perspective, these noises not only affect us but also damage the ecosystem. In this post, I will be using examples of different festivals to explain the impacts of noise pollution.

The Nowruz is the equivalent of new year’s day in Persian culture, which is thus celebrated in Iran. The festival tradition includes singing and dancing. Nowadays, people also incorporated the playing of firecrackers as part of the celebration. Furthermore, the increase in traffic also contributes to noise generation. A study done in Dahok city, Iran, monitored the noise level during the Nowruz period and detected a 30% increase in noise level as compared to normal days (Yousif, 2022). According to the study, the average noise level in commercial and residential zones during the 2019 Nowruz eve was above 90 dB. That is around 25 dB higher than the WHO-recommended noise level.

Nowruz Festival (photo credit: Ninara)

Noise pollution has been long identified as being able to cause multiple health impacts. These include disturbance during sleeping, annoyance, anger, irritation and headache, loss of sleep, sleep deprivation, negative effects on the cardiovascular system, obesity, diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance, and anxiety disorders (Farooqi et al, 2020). WHO has advised people to prevent exposure to noise above 85 dB for an hour. Otherwise, serious consequences are likely to arise, including permanent hearing loss (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). Although many studies have monitored and recorded noise pollution from festivals, the correlation between loud festival noise and human health impacts is still understudied today. In my opinion, the current recommended noise levels may not suit the situation of festival noise. The current level system focuses mainly on industrial and traffic noises, which are by large unwanted noises. Festival noise on contrary, is enjoyed by many people, in which case they should not be called noises by definition. Thus, I urge further studies to be done in this field and maybe, just as PM2.5, we should not consider noise as a single pollutant but classify them into more detailed groups.

Unlike human health impacts, the ecosystem impacts of festival noise pollution are now being intensively studied. For example, a study done by Bernat-Ponce (2021) found how festival noise affects Avian species in Spain. Festival noises (mainly fireworks and guns) greatly affect the productivity of sparrows, as suggested by the juvenile/adult ratio. As a result, the local sparrow population decreased significantly. One reason behind this is the coincidence of sparrow breeding season and local traditional festivals. Another finding from the research is that due to the cancellation of festivals during the Covid-19 period, the sparrow population was not affected. This further proves that festival noise can greatly damage the ecosystem. The decrease in the population of a species may cause a great impact on the ecosystem. Sparrows are omnivorous and eat both fruits and insects. The decrease in the sparrow population may create a trophic cascade, as the insect pest population grows quickly due to the lack of predators. As a result, agriculture will be severely harmed and farmers would spray more pesticides as a response, which is going to create another set of problems – soil pollution.

Impact of noise pollution on the sparrow population (photo credit: Bernat-Ponce et al.)

Similarly, other researchers have also revealed how festival noises may impact the ecosystem. According to a study done in Brazil, the noise coming from the carnival of Salvador could impair local reef fish’s behavior (Antoine et al, 2021). In this study, it was found that carnival noise pollution on average decreases the Brazilian damsels’ Flight initiation distance (FID), which is the distance at which a prey escapes due to an approaching predator threat, by half. The reduced rate of success of fleeing predation thus results in a decreased population. Learning from the research, land-based sources of noise can also impact the surrounding aquatic ecosystem. The ecosystem disturbance due to festival noise pollution makes it even more difficult for coastal conservation, especially for large coastal cities that generate loud noises.

Thank you very much for reading this blog! I will see you next week!

References:

Antoine O.H.C. Leduc, José Anchieta C.C. Nunes, Carlos B. de Araújo, André L.S. Quadros, Francisco Barros, Heigon H.Q. Oliveira, Cássio Rachid M.A. Simões, Gabrielle S.M. Winandy, Hans Slabbekoorn, (2021), Land-based noise pollution impairs reef fish behavior: A case study with a Brazilian carnival, Biological Conservation, Volume 253, 2021, 108910, ISSN 0006-3207, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108910. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000632072030968X)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). Public Health and Scientific Information. (https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/public_health_scientific_info.html#:~:text=The%20World%20Health%20Organization%20(WHO,period%20to%20avoid%20hearing%20impairment.)

Edgar Bernat-Ponce, José A. Gil-Delgado, Germán M. López-Iborra. (2021). Recreational noise pollution of traditional festivals reduces the juvenile productivity of an avian urban bioindicator, Environmental Pollution, Volume 286, 2021, 117247, ISSN 0269-7491, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117247. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749121008290)

Farooqi, Z.U.R., Sabir, M., Latif, J. et al. Assessment of noise pollution and its effects on human health in industrial hub of Pakistan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 2819–2828 (2020). https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1007/s11356-019-07105-7

Yousif, K. (2022). Evaluation of Noise Pollution for Four consecutive years throughout Nowruz festival in Dahok city, Iraq. Journal of Geoinformatics & Environmental Research, 3(01), 22-33. (https://jgier.org/index.php/jgier/article/download/47/21)

The 15th of July in the Chinese lunar calendar is a special day in Taoism. In the old times, people believed that on this day, their ancestors’ spirits would return to the material world and visit their families. Now, this tale has evolved into a festival that focuses on the celebration of good harvest and ancestral respect. Generally, people refer to this day as the “ghost festival” and it is celebrated in regions that were once influenced by Taoism. For example, in Singapore, it is often called the “hungry ghost festival” while the Japanese call it the “bon festival”. Due to the tale behind the festival, people developed traditions that aim to worship their ancestors. While the exact activities differ according to region, these traditions usually include saying Taoist prayers, having big meals, and burning joss paper and incense.

Ghost Festival (photo credit: Tim Riley)

Virtually, there are always some forms of pollution due to the burning of materials. Not only will the combustion release excessive carbon dioxide, but the toxic substances inside the material will also be mobilized. In the case of joss paper, “golden powders”, which consist of heavy metals are used as decoration and would be mobilized after burning. There are multiple studies that revealed the array of pollutants released by burning joss paper and incense, as well as the decrease in air quality that comes after the dispersal of pollutants.

the burning of Joss Paper (photo credit: eazytraveler)

Particulate matters are an important group of pollutants but they are vaguely classified. Nowadays, the classification of PM is done according to their size. However, theoretically, the toxicity of PM would vary greatly according to the substances that comprise them. For example, in the case of joss paper and incense, Khezri et al (2015) examined the increase in heavy metal concentration in Singapore during the ghost festival period and found a proliferation in the heavy metal composition of PM.

Percentage increase in the elemental chemical composition of PM during August and September (Ghost month festival) (photo credit: Khezri et al)

Similarly, another study done in Hong Kong also proved the correlation between joss paper burning and increased heavy metal concentration in PM (Lau and Luk, 2001). In this study, it was found that the amount and type of heavy metal released differ according to the type and color of the “golden powder” attached to joss paper. Overall, the burning of joss paper releases more lead, while the burning of incense releases more iron, copper, and zinc. Moreover, the burning of joss paper and incense usually happens in an uncentralized way meaning there is not one point source of pollutants but many. The tradition is to burn joss paper and incense somewhere outside the residential gate, thus every residence can be seen as a source. The uncentralized burning makes it impossible for the waste gases to go through filtering and treatment, resulting in more severe air pollution.

According to Singapore NEA, the PSI on the 21st of August 2013 (the day of the ghost festival) was 39, in the “good” region, with a PM2.5 concentration of around 24 ug/m3. From my perspective, this result is questionable.  The PSI calculation is done according to the PM concentration, regardless of the substances within the PM. PSI would be useful under the assumption that PM constituents are fixed. However, unlike the normal time, the air pollution during the ghost festival has an increased heavy metal composition of over 30%. Heavy metals are widely acknowledged to be extremely toxic to the human body. For example, Cadmium is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the WHO, with a suggested daily intake of zero mg (IARC, n.d.). Therefore, the actual PSI should be higher than what we get using the traditional way of calculation. There is a thus need for a more holistic version of PSI to better quantify air quality, taking into consideration the more obscure types of pollutants.

PM is not the only pollutant released from burning joss paper and incense. polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin/dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) was also detected in the burning of joss paper (Hu et al, 2009). PCDDs include a group of toxins that are classified under an extremely toxic pollutant group called dioxins while PCDFs are another group of toxins under the furan group. They are among the deadliest toxins that could greatly damage our reproductive, nervous, and immune systems (Montse and Domingo, 2019). In Hu et al’s research which was conducted in Taiwan, joss paper combustion is proven to be a significant source of PCDD/F emissions as on average, one kilogram of joss paper contains 193 ng of PCDD/F. After combustion, much of the PCDD/F is mobilized into the atmosphere while a small proportion remains in the ash which enters the environment as solid waste. Again, the uncentralized characteristic of joss paper burning makes it very difficult to pollution treatment and control. There is thus a need for regulations on such practices.

Thank you very much for reading my blog! Hope to see you again next week!

References:

B. Khezri ab, Y. Y. Chan ac, L. Y. D. Tiong a and R. D. Webster (2015). Annual air pollution caused by the Hungry Ghost Festival. Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2015, 17, 1578-1586, DOI: 10.1039/C5EM00312A, (https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2015/em/c5em00312a)

Marquès M, Domingo JL. Concentrations of PCDD/Fs in Human Blood: A Review of Data from the Current Decade. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Sep 24;16(19):3566. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16193566. PMID: 31554236; PMCID: PMC6801747. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6801747/#B9-ijerph-16-03566)

Ming-Tsan Hu, Shui-Jen Chen, Kuo-Lin Huang, Yuan-Chung Lin, Guo-Ping Chang-Chien, Jen-Hsiung Tsai, Characterization of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin/dibenzofuran emissions from joss paper burned in a furnace with air pollution control devices, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 407, Issue 10, 2009, Pages 3290-3294, ISSN 0048-9697, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.01.037. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969709000771)

National Environmental Agency Singapore (n.d.). Historical PSI readings. (https://www.haze.gov.sg/resources/historical-readings)

O.W Lau, S.F Luk, Leaves of Bauhinia blakeana as indicators of atmospheric pollution in Hong Kong, Atmospheric Environment, Volume 35, Issue 18, 2001, Pages 3113-3120, ISSN 1352-2310, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(01)00069-3. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231001000693)

World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer. Agents Classified by the IARC Monographs. (https://monographs.iarc.who.int/agents-classified-by-the-iarc/)

Fireworks are undoubtedly a great human invention as we see them in virtually all festivals. Until now, I have talked about the various forms of pollution caused by fireworks in many previous posts, but I only tackled the pollution from playing with fireworks. In this post, we will look at fireworks again but from a different perspective – the firework manufacturing processes.

Firework factories (photo credit: Eric Jones)

Currently, the substance that is considered the major pollutant from firework manufacturing is perchlorate (ClO₄ ⁻) (Manish, K, 2020). Perchlorate is a contaminant of emerging concern (CEC) that is generally found near firework manufacturing industries around the globe. For example, a study conducted at Sabarmati river, India found perchlorate concentration peaked at 65 ± 0.5 μg/L, just before the Diwali festival (Manish, K, 2020). Such a concentration is about 100 times higher than the Reference Dose set by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2005), at 0.0007 mg/kg/day, equivalent to 0.7 μg/kg/day. This extremely high concentration is believed to come from the runoff from firework manufacturing factories located in the city of Ahmedabad alongside the Sabarmati river, as a response to the increasing demand for fireworks during the Diwali period (Manish, K, 2020).

Diwali fireworks (photo credit: Sriram Jagannathan)

Perchlorates have some properties that make them dangerous as pollutants. Perchlorates are generally highly soluble in water, making them able to reach high concentrations. Chemically, they are inert to reactions and adsorption to natural matter thus having a very long residence time of several decades (Prasanna, K et al, 2016). Another research done in Sivakasi, the fireworks production hotspot in India revealed that the properties of perchlorates make them able to accumulate in groundwater (Isobe, T et al, 2013). In the study, perchlorate concentration is much higher in groundwater (<0.005 to 7,690 μg/L) than in surface water (<0.005–30.2 μg/L) (Isobe, T et al, 2013). As many local people rely on wells for water, perchlorate contamination poses a great threat to them as 17 out of 57 samples of well water have perchlorate concentration above the safety standard set by USEPA (15 μg/L), and all 17 of the wells are located in Sivakasi (Isobe, T et al, 2013). This result also suggests the high correlation between firework production and perchlorate contamination.

Toxicologically, perchlorates attack our thyroid by decreasing the production of thyroid hormones (USGAO 2007). They also adversely affect our nervous, reproductive, and immune systems (Bernhardt et al. 2006; Gilbert and Sui 2008; USATSDR 2008). Research conducted in the city of Liuyang, the largest firework production base in China detected a much higher urinary perchlorate concentration in women of reproductive age, as compared to people from other places (Li, Q et al, 2014). As suggested by perchlorates’ toxicity, young women in the research area are under the threat of premature labor, yet uncertainty exists and further research is needed to reveal the correlation between perchlorate pollution and health risks.

The issue of perchlorate pollution is a piece of evidence that many CECs are understudied. Due to the controversies on the toxicity of perchlorates, two agencies in the U.S. offered very different safety standards. The one proposed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences is 0.7 μg/kg/day while USEPA proposed that it should be 15 μg/L. The arguments persist even until today resulting in an absence of a universally accepted standard. It is possible that some toxicological effects of perchlorate are chronic and thus need more time to become detectable. Whatever the truth is, according to the precautionary principle, the government should pay more attention to this pollution issue and prevent people from consuming too much perchlorates. Since firework production is a major contributor of perchlorates, policies should be implemented to demand compulsory wastewater treatment from the factories, decreasing perchlorate generation from its source.

Thank you very much for reading the post! I will see you next week.

References:

Bernhardt RR, von Hippel FA, Cresko WA (2006) Perchlorate induces hermaphroditism in threespine sticklebacks. Environ Toxicol Chem 25:2087–2096. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3252384/

Committee to Assess the Health Implications of Perchlorate Ingestion, N. R. C. (2005). Health implications of perchlorate ingestion. Washington: National Academies Press. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/11202/perchlorate_brief_final.pdf

Gilbert ME, Sui L (2008) Developmental exposure to perchlorate alters synaptic transmission in hippocampus of the adult rat. Environ Health Perspect 116:752–760. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430231/

Isobe, T., Ogawa, S.P., Sugimoto, R. et al. Perchlorate contamination of groundwater from fireworks manufacturing area in South India. Environ Monit Assess 185, 5627–5637 (2013). https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1007/s10661-012-2972-7

Li, Q., Yu, Yj., Wang, Ff. et al. Urinary Perchlorate Exposure and Risk in Women of Reproductive Age in a Fireworks Production Area of China. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 67, 42–49 (2014). https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1007/s00244-014-0042-6

Manish Kumar, Runoff from firework manufacturing as major perchlorate source in the surface waters around Diwali in Ahmedabad, India, Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 273, 2020, 111091, ISSN 0301-4797, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111091. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479720310185)

Prasanna Kumarathilaka, Christopher Oze, S.P. Indraratne, Meththika Vithanage, Perchlorate as an emerging contaminant in soil, water and food, Chemosphere, Volume 150, 2016, Pages 667-677, ISSN 0045-6535, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.01.109. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653516301242)

United States Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (2008) Toxicological profile for perchlorates. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/toxprofiles/tp.asp?id=895&tid=181.

United States Environmental protection agency. (2014). Technical Fact Sheet –Perchlorate. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2014-03/documents/ffrrofactsheet_contaminant_perchlorate_january2014_final.pdf

United States Government Accountability Office (2007) Perchlorate: EPA does not systematically track incidents of contamination. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07797t.pdf.

We have talked about Diwali last week and we will look at some other pollution days in India this week.

There is a unique practice in India that during some festivals, people make idols of the gods they worship, and immerse them in waterways. For example, Durga Puja (aka Durgotsava or Sharodotsava), a huge festival in the west Bengal region involves a ritual of immersing Durga idols. In the Hindu religion, such a practice symbolizes the deity Durga’s return back to the divine realm after defeating an evil Asura that harmed human society. Hindu people show respect and gratitude to their god through such a practice. Similar practices also exist in other festivals like Ganesha Utsav.

Durga idol immersion ritual (photo credit: Rajesh_India)

Unfortunately, such a practice has caused major water pollution in Indian rivers like the Ganges river. Research done by Dibasish et al (2021) revealed a drastic increase in water quality parameters like biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand(COD), and total dissolved solids(TDS), after Durga Puja. As a result, the water quality index of the Ganges river decreased from 0.5 to 0.3. Water pollutants are believed to come from two major sources, the material used to construct the idols and the dyes used for decoration.

WQI comparison before and after Durga Puja (photo credit: Dibasish et al)

The idols immersed vary in size, from 30 centimeters tall idols that are for personal worship, to several meters tall statues used by religious groups. The idols are traditionally made from clay and mud. Nowadays, there are many idols that are made from Plaster of Paris (POP) in order to reduce their weight and cost. POP contains phosphorous, CaSO4, sulfur, and magnesium( Sanjay et al., 2018). CaSO4 is a barely soluble salt in water and it slowly produces sulfate ions, which increase water acidity. This can be proven by the decrease in pH observed after Durga Puja (Ruhi et al, 2020).  The immersion activity will also lead to eutrophication as explained by Ruhi et al (2020), the increasing BOD level suggests a high nutrient level in the water body.

Traditionally, people used natural dyes for the exquisite decorations on the idols but currently, most paints used are artificial dyes. Such dyes contain heavy metals like lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), and cadmium (Cd) (Abhijit & Sufia, 2020). In their research, they discovered a huge increase in the concentration of dissolved heavy metal ions after Durga Puja at almost all study sites.

(photo credits: Abhijit & Sufia)

Heavy metals are known to cause damage to human bodies, and their ability to bioaccumulate. Usually, the government establishes water treatment plants to ensure drinking water safety. However, in India, the risk of heavy metal intoxication may be more severe as local people have a religious tradition that encourages drinking directly from the Ganges river. Moreover, the synergistic effect among pollutants may worsen the problem. In this case, immersion of idols leads to an increase in both acidity and heavy metal concentration. Based on the study done by Tasneem et al (2009), Lethal concentrations (LC25) of chromium (VI) decrease rapidly with higher acidity. In their experiment, in a duration of 96 hours, LC25 of chromium (VI) to freshwater channel fish Nuria denricus decreases from 6.1 mg/L at pH level 7, to 4.2 mg/L at pH level 5. Under the assumption that chromium (VI) has similar toxicological effects on humans and the experiment species, drinking directly from water polluted by immersing idols poses devastating health threats to Indian people, as well as the interconnected riparian ecosystems.

Thank you for reading! See you in next week’s post!

References:

Mitra, A., Zaman, S. (2020). Water Pollution and Its Mitigation. In: Environmental Science – A Ground Zero Observation on the Indian Subcontinent. Springer, Cham. https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1007/978-3-030-49131-4_8

Majumder, D., Dam, M., Bhattacharjee, R., Santra, S.S., Saha, S., Saha, R. (2022). Fuzzy Model for Evaluating Water Quality of Ganga During Durga Puja. In: Mandal, J.K., Hinchey, M., Sen, S., Biswas, P. (eds) Applications of Networks, Sensors and Autonomous Systems Analytics. Studies in Autonomic, Data-driven and Industrial Computing. Springer, Singapore. https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1007/978-981-16-7305-4_26

Ruhi G, Rupak J, Sumit K,& Susmita B. (2020). Water Pollution due to Idol Immersion in Water Bodies of
Kolkata. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) Volume: 07 Issue: 03. e-ISSN: 2395-0056. https://www.academia.edu/download/64549100/IRJET-V7I31093.pdf

Sanjay Dwivedi, Seema Mishra, Rudra Deo Tripathi, Ganga water pollution: A potential health threat to inhabitants of Ganga basin, Environment International, Volume 117, 2018, Pages 327-338, ISSN 0160-4120,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.05.015.

Tasneem Abbasi, T. Kannadasan & S.A. Abbasi (2009) A study of the impact of acid rain on chromium toxicity, International Journal of Environmental Studies, 66:6, 765-771, DOI: 10.1080/00207230903465296

We have been talking about CNY for two weeks. I think it is time to turn our focus on some other “International Pollution Days” practiced by other cultures. This week, we will talk about an Indian festival, Diwali.

Diwali is arguably the biggest festival celebrated by Indian people all over the world. In Singapore, it is also known as Deepavali and “the festival of lights”. It has thousands of years of history and is believed to be the day when light chases out darkness and good beats evil. Being a religious festival, many traditions are being practiced during the festival period. Every year, people would gather with their families and have feasts. Numerous small oil lamps called Diya are lightened up while Indian people prey to their gods. In Large cities like Mumbai and Delhi, firecrackers and fireworks are burnt, pushing the celebration to its climax.

Diwali Festival (Khokarahman, 2014)

Yes, firecrackers and fireworks again. They seem to be essential in almost all celebrations around the world. However, in places like Delhi where the ambient air quality is already low, and home to over 30 million people, the risk of air pollution due to fireworks is inevitably exacerbated. It is shown that last year, the air quality of Delhi in 4 out of 5 days of the Diwali festival period was marked by “very poor” with AQI exceeding 300 (Zaffar, 2002). Fireworks pollutant is a combination of toxic gases such as SO2, NOx, and ozone, with PM2.5 being the most harmful (BBC news, 2022). A report done by the New Indian Express (2021) found that after Diwali, hospitals in Delhi experienced an increase in patients with respiratory illness by two to three folds. Within the patients, the elderly are the most vulnerable and receive the heaviest impact. Why is that so? My hypothesis is that covid-19 situation was worsened by air pollution. Air pollutants made people more susceptible to covid infection and they (virus and pollutants) collectively did greater damage to people’s respiratory system.

Smog in Delhi (Prami.ap90, 2019)

Other forms of pollution associated with Diwali include the release of excessive CO2. Carbon footprint of Diwali mainly comes from two sources, diya lamps, and electrical lights. Every, there are millions if not billions of diya lamps being lightened up in India. This releases a huge amount of CO2 into the atmosphere, causing many problems. Furthermore, during the festival of light, cities would light up electrically for the entire night. Such prolonged light display consumes much energy and as a result, releases CO2. There are now trends in India that uses LED lights as replacements for diya lamps as LED is supposed to have a higher energy efficiency than oil lamps, thus reducing carbon footprint. Yet, this leaves another form of pollution unresolved.

Diwali celebrates the victory of light over darkness, which is a good metaphor religiously and ideologically. However, apart from the auspicious meaning of light, is light inherently a good thing? As an environmental pollution student, I tend to say no. Light pollution is a serious problem around the world. Excessive light during the night is proven to cause illnesses like stress build-up in human bodies (National Geographic, n.d.). More importantly, light pollution disturbs natural ecological cycles. Light at night can drastically affect animal behavior – an important feature in the ecosystem. For example, light makes nocturnal animals easily spotted by their prey and predators, affecting the predation ecology. Diurnal species, similar to humans, wake up due to light from cities. All of these will disturb the ecosystem and cause biodiversity loss as a result.

Light pollution (Mike Knell, 2006)

Thank you for reading this post! Next week, we will continue talking about other Indian festivals and their effects.

References:

BBC news. (2022). Delhi air: How Much Pollution Does Diwali Cause? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46138064

National Geographic. (n.d.). Light Pollution. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/light-pollution

The New Indian Express. (2021). Doctors Say Severe Respiratory Cases on Rise in Delhi amid Hazardous Air Pollution Levels. https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2021/nov/14/doctors-say-severe-respiratory-cases-on-rise-in-delhi-amid-hazardous-air-pollution-levels-2383570.html

Zaffar, H. (2022). Diwali Festival Pollution Worsens Delhi’s Winter Smog. https://www.fairplanet.org/editors-pick/diwali-festival-pollution-worsens-delhis-winter-smog/

In China, CNY is approaching its end as the majority of people have returned to work. However, there is still much to talk about, on pollution caused by CNY.

Another tradition that is shared by Chinese around the globe is having feasts during the CNY period. Like almost all foreign cultures, festivals are linked to cuisine. Being the biggest festival in Chinese society, the feasts during CNY must be exquisite, elegant, and most importantly, in large quantity. Especially for the new year’s eve dinner and the new year’s day lunch, a typical Chinese family (like mine) with around 10 people would prepare at least 15 dishes. Obviously, there is no way that all food can be finished and rather, it is deliberately made so due to a metaphor “年年有余”. Having leftover food means”to have abundance year after year”, a symbol of the family’s economic power and good wish for the future.

It was estimated that the amount of food waste produced in Singapore during CNY is 20% more than normal time (Gitnb, 2023). In China, this number is even higher at 30% (Tang, 2023). A large amount of food waste will inevitably cause pollution. Although food themselves may not be pollutants, the way we treat them may create problems. In Singapore, food wastes are either incinerated or dumped into landfill straightaway. The incineration of organic matter produces carbon dioxide, the culprit to many of our environmental problems: climate change, ocean acidification, and sea level rise. Those that go to the landfill without treatment, pose yet a bigger threat. Natural decomposition of organic wastes produces methane, a greenhouse gas that has a global warming potential 25 times higher than that of CO2. Food waste thus is a bad tradition that needs to be stopped.

If we broaden our horizons, we will see an increase in demand and amount purchased of not only food but almost all commodities during CNY. It is good that an increase in trade stimulates our economy, but the bad side is, people are purchasing far more than they actually need. A survey shows that for a typical household in China, on average, CNY commodities worths over 300 RMB go directly into the dustbin (Lei, 2013). These commodities include snacks, gift packaging, and Ang Pao (red packet). Many festival decorations like lanterns are only used once during CNY and new ones will be purchased in the next year. Every year, thousands if not millions of Ang paos are used. To give Ang pao an auspicious meaning, producers like to use “golden powders” to write Chinese characters on the packet. Those powders contain a range of heavy metals like Lead and Chromium, and they are easily scraped off and ingested (Zheng and Shen, 2020). Small children are extremely vulnerable to this pollutant as lead has a well-known effect that can decrease one’s IQ.

Golden Powder on Ang Paos (Brian, 2006)

Last but not least, noise pollution is another major concern during CNY. Noise comes from various sources, the two main sources are firecrackers and festival performances. Firecrackers create noise of more than 135 dB, a level that is dangerous to our hearing system (jy135.com, 2020). That is why I personally hate firecrackers ever since primary school time. Many cases of ear damage due to firecrackers were reported in China. It is estimated that of all primary school students with hearing disorders, 71.9% were due to firecrackers (Dong, 1992). Festival performances are another contributor to noise pollution. In Singapore and southern China, the lion dance is considered a nuisance by some people. Similarly, in Nothern China, we have many types of folk dances that are performed during CNY, and they are loud as well. I could remember waking up terrified of hearing the drums and gongs when I was in primary school by groups of people who were performing Yang Ge, our local folk dance.

Folk Dance Yang Ge

Thank you very much for reading! See you in next week’s post!

References:

Dong Yuyun. (1992). 鞭炮所致儿童听觉损伤. [children hearing disorder due to firecrackers]. https://xueshu.baidu.com/usercenter/paper/show?paperid=5df6030a9ac4b8b1a44facc2a2479851&site=xueshu_se

Gitnb. (2023). Good Luck, Good Health, Good Cheer and A Conscious Chinese New Year. https://www.greenisthenewblack.com/how-to-be-conscious-over-chinese-new-year-a-sustainable-guide-to-cny/

jy135.com. (2020). 烟花爆竹对环境的危害 [Environmental Damage brought by Fireworks and Firecrackers]. https://www.jy135.com/shenghuo/7416.html

Lei Shiyuan. (2013). 普通三口之家春节“年货浪费”多在300元以上. [Typical Households Waste over 300 RMB on CNY Commodities]. http://news.cntv.cn/2013/02/26/ARTI1361826324042670.shtml

Tang Keyao (2023). 我们的节日·春节丨要年味，不要浪费. [Our Festival: CNY / We Need the Ambiance, not the Wastes]. http://economy.jschina.com.cn/gdxw/202301/t20230119_3148978.shtml

Zheng Yue and Shen Juan. (2020). 小小红包，隐藏着担忧. [ hidden Concerns under Small Ang Paos]. https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_5613065

illustration created with NovelAI