Every day, I get to literally walk through an Indian city landscape, out in the open air, for about ten kilometers on my mundane errands. While I have the opportunity, with the World Environment Day observance memories still fresh, I would like to recall my experiences on a daily basis breathing the city air. I have to say, I don’t really have many reasons to be thankful about breathing this air even though it keeps me alive. The reason being: every evening, when I get ready to freshen up, I find that the clean shirt which I put on in the morning would have a dirty collar as if it were not washed for days on end and my nostrils would be clogged with blackened dusty air particulates as if it were some sort of a mechanical air filter up for a clean-up.
But, on a serious note, I often feel burning and itchy sensations on my skin and eyes – which I am given to understand, acute air pollution has much to do with it. And, it makes me easily fall prey to the thought that I might be slowly falling susceptible to some serious ailment and I suspect that the feeling of utter fatigue and dizziness which I experience from time to time is also owing to the air I breathe.
Pouring deeper into my own thoughts tells me that I might already be living in air pollution paranoia. But the fact of the matter is: it is not only an individual who is bearing the brunt of a serious environmental crisis. It’s all-encompassing and hence, everybody including Mother Earth is paying the price.
June 5 may be observed as World Environment Day to remind all of us to take affirmative action amidst real and evident consequences of increasing global warming and deteriorating world natural environment. Sadly, it is not enough and we are falling short every day in our efforts to save our environment. As air pollution can also be directly linked with many an environmental crisis including climate change owing to global warming, the time is now or never to prioritize and seriously act on curbing air pollution and to pave the way for a cleaner future.
As much as the onus is on every stakeholder to control air pollution, including the government and the public in general, everybody does have a role to play. In other words, we are all in it together with the government, being the proverbial caretaker, having to set the tone and wheel in motion on concrete terms and also shoulder the bigger and difficult responsibilities in the overall exercise, one that is resolute, robust, and sustained. Will permitting, the government knows better what it has to do. But, the suffering public can have a big hand in pushing for government initiative, action and policy changes. Being key stakeholders, the public can also make a huge difference by making small changes in their daily lives.
The first thing, we have to do is take air pollution seriously, beware of it and spread awareness. The moment we start taking air pollution seriously, we would be conscious about how we as people and government are treating our life-sustaining environment. We would work to find ways to preserve and protect our environment. For a start, there is a need among people to make conscious decisions about covering the last mile by walking or by the usage of eco-friendly conveyance while the government needs to systematically manage use of air polluting agents, vehicles and implements. On top of everything, while not allowing any room for compromise when it comes to safeguarding the environment, the government must show the way and also lead by example.