We don’t want to turn this beautiful planet, the only living planet, into one huge waste dump, do we?
Facts first.
Global pollution is rising due to rapid economic growth, population increases, and insufficient environmental management, the World Bank states: This poses serious health risks for people and ecosystems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Contributing to these challenges, the global economy relies on deeply intertwined supply chains, sustained by more than 100bn tons of raw materials entering the system each year. Intensive material consumption depletes natural resources and causes negative environmental impacts at every stage of the product lifecycle. Global waste is expected to increase to 3.4bn tons by 2050.
Pollution undermines sustainable economic growth, exacerbates poverty and inequality in both urban and rural areas, and significantly contributes to climate change. As the largest environmental cause of disease and premature death, pollution is estimated to result in several times more deaths than from AIDS, TB and malaria combined.
Much of the summer that has just passed by witnessed worsening air pollution levels, choking a large section of the national population due to wildfires, drought conditions, emissions from vehicles that run on dirty fuels and emissions from beyond the national borders. This should have come as a wakeup call for the federal government, prompting increased investments in firefighting equipment, enforcement of stringent emission control measures and serious steps toward a green economy.
Melting Himalayas, polluted water bodies, rising temperatures, rapid losses of flora and fauna, lungs craving for a breath of fresh air and ever-growing waste dumps—they all point toward a climate emergency.
Granted that we as a nation have a nominal carbon footprint, but we still need to take some serious steps to curb pollution pervading the air, water, ether and land. While the major onus is on our governments at the center, provinces and locals to curb pollution within the national jurisdictions, we as a people should also desist from activities that contribute to this scourge.
How about honking less and less? How about minimizing the use of plastics? How about turning down the volume of our audiovisual systems? How about curbing the use of vehicles that run on dirty fuels?
And how about having indoor plants? Pollution control cannot wait. Let’s join hands against this scourge.
