Air pollution poses long-term hazards to people across the globe and effects human health on many levels, greatly enhancing the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. A recent study published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology, shows that it’s far more dangerous than previously thought.
To get their results they used a data-informed atmospheric model to calculate worldwide exposure to ozone pollution and PM2.5. This was then combined with the Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM) to estimate disease-specific excess mortality and loss of life expectancy (LLE) from 2015.
Using this same model, they looked at the effects of different pollution sources, from natural (wildfires, aeolian dust) and anthropogenic emissions that included fossil fuels. What they determined is air pollution plays a part in around 10,000 deaths every day around the world. The study points out:
Globally, the LLE from air pollution surpasses that of HIV/AIDS, parasitic, vector-borne, and other infectious diseases by a large margin. It exceeds the LLE due to all forms of violence by an order of magnitude and that of smoking by a third.
They also determined that around 40% of all air pollution deaths are from fossil fuels, much of which can be avoided if we take action. The paper states:
The fraction of avoidable LLE from anthropogenic air pollution that can be attributed to fossil fuel use is nearly two-thirds globally, and up to about 80% in high-income countries.
Asian countries top the list by a wide margin, East Asia had the highest rate at 35%, followed by South Asia 32%, Africa 11%, and Europe 9%. During the year 2015 1.6 million deaths were linked to air pollution and 700,000 were in India. The United States ranked third for air pollution-related deaths in 2015 with 200,000, while the combined deaths in Europe were an estimated 430,000.
As most people know, measures have been taken to try and cut carbon emissions. However, not everyone has complied or done enough to cut emissions. Governments around the world have more than $600 billion in new fossil fuel emitting coal projects planned. It’s as if they aren’t aware that wind and solar are not only cheaper, they also emit zero air pollution.
In Asia, the governments seem to not only not care, they claim it’s not harmful to human health. In Northern Thailand, the air quality has been so bad, that the levels of PM2.5 reached extremely hazardous levels of more than 400! This was not only for one day, during the “burning season”, which is happening now in March, the PM2.5 levels have stayed above 100 for longer than one month straight. To say it’s not taken seriously would be a massive understatement.
People say it’s up to the government to make changes, but we should be more demanding of these changes. This doesn’t only affect the government, it affects every living life form on this planet. Are people really that willing to sit back and happily say, well the government needs to do something?!
This study proves without a doubt, that air pollution kills an alarming number of people. We have the means, the knowledge, and the abilities to stop using carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Unless everyone just wants to sit back and let big oil companies, big coal companies, and their governments continue to kill them, it’s time to say enough is enough. They conclude by saying:
Our comparison of different global risk factors shows that ambient air pollution is a leading cause of excess mortality and LLE, in particular through cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
