I ask you to cast your mind
back to my previous Blog: “India:
Eco-warrior or Eco-worrier?”. With India’s rising emission ranking in mind
and the county’s need to drastically reduce its GHG contribution, I now invite
you to engage with ITV’s recent report concerning ‘climate suicide’ in India’s
New Delhi, ‘the world’s most polluted city’ (Jha,
2015).
The direct and rapid health
impacts experienced by Delhi’s population as a result of globally extreme GHG
emissions - sourced mainly from diesel cars - are a great cause for concern.
The health
implications of black carbon particulate matter is not a new phenomenon (Janssen
et al., 2012), begging
the question “why has India allowed this to happen?”, with Delhi’s most
polluted spot – the junction of Chandni Chowk - measuring
almost 28 times the World Health
Organisation’s (WHO) "healthy" limit of PM2.5 particles per cubic
metre (Jha,
2015).
Chandni Chowk Junction Traffic
As a result of rocketing GHG
emissions, ‘three people in Delhi die every hour' (Jha,
2015). Lives I think we can all
agree could have and should have been saved?
If that doesn’t shock you, India’s
hospital corridors are said to be overflowing with patients suffering from respiratory
problems, but it doesn’t stop there. India are witnessing an increasing number
of vulnerable babies born premature, underweight and with birth defects as a consequence
of pregnant women inhaling pollutants (Jha,
2015).
What is to be India’s fate if
new life is damaged before entry into the world?
The effect of pollution in
India is no longer invisible. It can no longer be ignored.
But is India too late to
change the environment they’ve created out of greed and act out of morality?
Is this the morbid wake-up
call that India needs?
Will premature death and ill
health force government and public to come together and combat this “climate
suicide”?
I hope so.
If this isn’t a domestic
dilemma then I don’t know what is.
I didn't realise the extent of the problem in India but some of those statistics are awful :( I would think that the issue is hugely fueled by rapid urbanisation and industrialisation that the health and air quality standards can't quite keep up with. India is pretty notorious for having some of the largest slum settlements, but these kind of issues have been seen in China before, so they really should have been more aware of potential consequences from the urbanisation.
ReplyDeleteI know, it shocked me too! I can't believe that development has been put above the health of both the planet and the country's own people. Exactly, you'd think that India would have learnt from China's recent problems with air pollution. Thanks for your comment Ben :)
DeleteHi Caitlin! While I agree that India is facing a serious problem and the results you mentioned should be forcing them to act, I am not sure if its fair to call their want for economic growth as greed particularly if that growth could help meet their other development objectives such as full employment, poverty alleviation and if that money could be re-invested in healthcare.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I totally agree that environmental issues such as emissions should not be put on the back burner (even though many nations do) especially when they have such major health costs!
Also realistically what do you reckon would cause countries like India and China to change their habits (e.g do they need to be forced into changing, would they be more likely to change if they see other nations change, will they only change if they experience a major impact etc)?
Hi Vasu, thank you for your comment, I admit I hadn't really thought about this side of the situation. I saw the figures and the health implications and immediately formed an opinion on it. But yes, I agree that this issue could be improved with re-investment. I think that negotiations at COP21 and the realisation of how extreme climate change could be if we don't combat and drastically reduce our emissions will help to convince India and China of its role in reaching growth below 2oC and will encourage them to find alternative methods of reaching their desires (and needs) for economic growth.
ReplyDeleteThank you for answering my questions Caitlin and I agree it will be really interesting to see what happens at COP21 especially to see the negotiations China and India make!
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