According to the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, air in Delhi is very toxic due to high concentration of Particulate Matter (PM), which is the sum of all the solid and liquid particles suspended in air. The matter has been recorded at 2.5. The high level of PM concentration can cause respiratory illness on prolonged exposure since it penetrates deeply into lungs.
It has also been reported that in another 10 years, Delhi might record world's largest premature deaths.
What is Air Pollution?
The basic definition of Air Pollution says that it is the introduction of particulates, biological molecules, or other harmful materials into Earth's atmosphere. Air pollution causes disease, death to humans, damage to other living organisms such as food crops, or the natural or built environment. Some of the pollutants that are present in the environment include Sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, Nitrogen oxides, toxic metals such as lead and mercury, ammonia, chlorofluorocarbons which can harm the ozone layer and many more.
Facts on air pollution:
• Inhaling air pollution takes away at least 1-2 years of a human life
• It has effects as small as burning eyes to as large as death
• Pollutants that are released into the air are the most harmful than the pollutants released in water and land
• The air pollution in Beijing has brought a new disease called the Beijing cough
• Toxic air pollution poses a greater threat to children because of their smaller physical size and lung capacity
• Smog can affect dolphins and makes them suffer from black lung diseases
• Reports say that air pollution in India is estimated to cause 527,700 deaths, every year
• Recent reports on air pollution say that by 2050, 6 million people will die per year due to air pollution
• Indoor air pollution is 2-5 times worse than the air outdoors.
Some random facts on pollution:
• Almost half of all sea creatures have been documented with plastic found in or around their bodies
• Light pollution causes major problems to many animals. Due to air pollution, birds often confuse days and nights
• It has been also found by the scientists that light pollution can even change migration patterns in some animal species
• According to a scientific study, about 1 in every 8 deaths is associated with air pollution
• Fish, turtles, dolphins etc. die after swallowing plastic bags that resemble jellyfish
• It takes over 400 years for a plastic bottle to decompose
• Noise pollution is one of the most ignored types of pollution. It can cause serious damage to a human being including stress, hearing loss, sleep disorders, high blood pressure etc
• Air in China is so much polluted that breathing in China equals to smoking over 20 cigarettes a day
• In India, almost 80 percent of all urban waste is dumped into the river Ganges
• Every year, more than 6 billion kilograms of garbage is dumped into the world's ocean. Most of it, is plastic.
