The Silent Killer We Don't Talk About
If you head over to Worldometers and check out their Coronavirus section, you'll see over 2.9 million people have died since the pandemic started.
This is a huge number. One which shouldn't be downplayed. The virus has wreaked havoc during the past year.
But there's another killer out there, which is more deadly, silent, but not invisible like Covid. What is it you ask?
Air pollution.
The World Health Organisation estimates anywhere from 4.2 to 7 million people die from air pollution every year, A mindboggling number.
What's even crazier is the same research estimates nine out of ten people on the planet breathe air containing high levels of pollutants!
As someone who suffers from asthma, I know the dangers of breathing in polluted air. When I travelled to Bangkok back in 2015, I couldn't believe how thick the smog was.
My breathing suffered as a result. The same was true walking through the centre of Manila with beeping cars all around me.
Burning fossil fuels is one of the main contributors to air pollution. One of the benefits of the lockdown in the early months of 2020 was clean air.
With most activity curtailed, the smog enveloping a lot of cities was lifted. Delhi saw its air quality improve as a result of reduced economic activity.
Shutting down our economies isn't a long-term solution to the problem. So what is?
Transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewables is a start. Another is to reduce the number of cars in city centres. The Netherlands is ahead of the game on this, with its cycle-friendly city centres.
Not only does it improve air quality, but quality of life and the overall health of the population.
Millions are dying because we choose not to address an issue to which we already have solutions.
If we want to prevent millions of people from needlessly dying every year, taking air pollution seriously is a necessity.