Delhi has been called the smog capital of the world. Now, the smog is so bad that breathing the air in Delhi is the equivalent of smoking 44 cigarettes a day. The Delhi government has suspended all civic construction projects, and schools are closed and children are advised to remain inside. Doctors are being flooded with patients exhibiting symptoms such as chest pain, breathlessness, and burning eyes. The pollution is thought to be a combination of vehicle exhaust, smoke from garbage fires and crop burning, and road dust.
Pollution has always been a negative side effect of industrialization, but now, the seriousness of it all is starting to hit. And for Delhi, it already might be too late. The pollution is reversible, but for the millions of people who have been breathing the equivalent of 44 cigarettes a day, the effects on their health are not. The question is: How did it get this bad? How did it need to get to emergency crisis levels for officials to do something about it? Pollution needs to be better managed and regulated, or at least monitored, to keep a crisis like Delhi from happening again - be it in India, America, or anywhere in the world.
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Winter is upon us, and overall, the massive wildfires that swept California this fall are over. Most people assume the worst is over; we can get back to life, to rebuilding, to living. However, an invisible enemy is now poised to take even more lives. The massive amounts of smoke pollution in the air from the wildfires is a major concern. Every year, particulates in the air kill 3 million people, and that's without the major spike in particulates from this year's more-disastrous-than-normal wildfires. People with heart and lung conditions, or even something as simple as asthma, may be at risk from the smoke that is traveling to places in California where the wildfires themselves were never even a concern.
As well as affecting the human population, the pollution caused by wildfires will have a similar effect on animals. By harming the wildlife and the humans, increased pollution can send the environment into a tailspin. Clearly, the primary way to prevent it is to prevent wildfires, but not all of it is caused by the fires. We can also prevent pollution from other sources such as industry and carbon emissions. Clearly, it is a hazard to human health, and that alone should convince people to take pollution seriously if the disastrous effects on the environment aren't enough. Marijuana is known as a good crop to grow in the economical sense - it doesn't take up a lot of room and can be sold for a lot of money. However, scientists are discovering new unprecedented reasons why marijuana farming should definitely be regulated - and it's not the moral issues. One acre of marijuana causes up to 1.5 times more forest loss than other plants, and 2.5 times greater fragmentation of the landscape. Marijuana takes a lot of nutrients out of the soil, and it also leads to soil erosion and deforestation. In some cases, it was even found to be a rodenticide when it got into the waterways.
Just last November, marijuana was legalized in California, making the total number of states where marijuana is legal 30. This will surely, and already has, lead to a spike in the number of people trying to get in on the profits by growing marijuana. Clearly, this is bad for the environment. This may lead to some issues for people who voted yes on legalizing marijuana but would have voted no if they knew the environmental cost. At any rate, if marijuana is to continue being legal in California and other states, new laws need to be drafted to lessen the environmental impact. Because clearly, unregulated marijuana farming will spell disaster for the environment in our own backyard. |