Everyone is breathing in bad air. Here’s how you can reduce your risk
Hanoi: Everyone loves fresh air breath. Unfortunately, our air is often anything but fresh. While the air quality varies dramatically and day -day -day, almost 99% of the global population – is exposed to air at some points that do not meet the strict standards set by the World Health Organization , The agency has told.
Polluted air, nokas ges or small, laden with invisible particles, who bury in the human body, kills 7 million people prematurely every year, the United Nations Health Agency is estimated.
And for millions of people living in some smogest cities of the world – many of them like New Delhi in Asia; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Bangkok and Jakarta, Indonesia – Bad air may look unavoidable.
But there are things that people can do, start with understanding that the wind is not only polluted when it looks smooth, said Tanushree Ganguly of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute in India. “Blue Sky cannot guarantee you clean air,” he said.
What are the air pollutants and the most dangerous types of their sources?
Air pollutants often come from people who burn people: fuel like coal, natural gas, diesel and gasoline for electricity and transport; Crops or trees as a result of agricultural purposes or as a result of wildfire.
Fine, inhelling particles, known as particulate matter, are the most dangerous. The most of these are known as the younger -PM 2.5 because they are less than 2.5 microns in diameter – humans can be deep in the lungs and most of the fuels are made by burning. Thick particles known as PM10 are associated with agriculture, roadways, mining, or air blowing dust, according to the WHO.
Other dangerous pollutants include gases such as nitrogen dioxide or sulfur dioxide, which are also produced by burning fuel, said Anumita Roychovadhari, an air pollution specialist at the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi.
The sources and intensity of air pollution vary in different cities and seasons. For example, the old motorbikes and the industrial boilers are the major contributors in the poor air in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, while burning agricultural waste is a major cause of air pollution spikes in Thailand and India cities. The brick kiln burning coal connects pollution to Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. And seasonal wildfire causes problems in Brazil and North America.
What health problems can occur due to air pollution?
According to the recent report by the Health Effects Institute, air pollution is the second largest risk factor for early death globally behind hypertension, behind high blood pressure.
Short -term risk can trigger asthma attacks and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, especially in elderly or people with medical problems. Prolonged risk can cause severe heart and lung problems that can cause death, including heart disease, chronic resistant pulmonary disease and lung infections.
A recent analysis by the UN children’s agency found that more than 500 million children in East Asia and Pacific countries breathe unhealthy air and pollution is associated with the death of 100 children under 5 every day. UNICEF Regional Director June Kunugi for East Asia said that polluted air development causes damage to lungs, and affects cognitive abilities.
“Every breath matters, but every breath for a lot of children can harm,” he said.
What is the best way to tell what is the air safe?
More than 6,000 cities in 117 countries now monitor air quality, and many season mobile apps include air quality information. But trying to believe how bad the air is by seeing these numbers can be misleading.
To help people understand the level of air quality more easily, many countries have adopted an air quality index or AQI – a numerical measure where a large number of large numbers mean bad air. They are often given different colors to show whether the air is clean or not.
However, air quality in different countries is different. For example, India’s daily PM 2.5 border is 1.5 times higher than Thailand’s border and is 4 times higher than WHO standards.
This means that the country calculates AQI differently and the numbers are not comparable with each other. This is the reason that the AQI score can be different from the people calculated by national regulators using strict standards by private companies.
What are the best ways to protect yourself from air pollution?
Certainly, the target is to limit when the air quality is bad, staying inside or wearing a mask. However, staying inside is not always possible, especially for those who live outside or should work, said an air quality researcher Danny Deeram at an environmental advocacy group World Resource Institute. “They can’t go out,” they said.
A Bangkok office worker, Pakfol Ashwakomlt, said that he wears a mask every day and avoids riding to work on a motorcycle. He said, “When I come to work in the morning, I get sore throat and I forget to wear a mask.” People should also be aware of indoor air pollution that can often be caused by normal domestic activities such as cooking or even burning an incense stick.
What are the benefits of air purifiers – and boundaries – what are there?
Air purifier indoor indoor can help reduce air pollution, but they have limitations. They work by pulling the air from a room and push it through a filter that implicates pollutants before circulating back.
But they are most effective when used in small places and when people are nearby. Air purifiers can only clean the air in a certain amount of air, Rajasekhar Balasubramanian said, who study urban air quality at the National University of Singapore. “If we have a small air purifier in a large room, it will not be effective,” he said.
Air purifiers are also expensive for people in many developing countries. Wri’s Djarum said, “Most people who are affected by air pollution cannot actually air purifier.”
