80% of City Dwellers Breathing Dangerous Levels of Polluted Air, says WHO:-
Three million premature deaths caused by ambient air pollution occur each year because 80 percent of urban dwellers are exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution.
“Urban air pollution continues to rise at an alarming rate, wreaking havoc on human health,” Maria Neira, the head of WHO’s department of public health and environment, said in a statement.
The rising air pollution in urban cities is hurting millions worlwide, and it is worst in poorer countries, WHO notes. Those people effected usually succumb to death because of respiratory diseases, stroke, heart disease and lung cancer.
In UN’s latest air pollution data base, the report, which looked into data gathered from 795 cities in 67 countries between 2008 and 2013 conclude that four out of five city dwellers live with dangerously intoxicating air. The data examined PM10, particulate matter measuring less than 10µm, which can include dust, pollen and mould spores; and PM2.5, particles measuring less than 2.5µm.
The report also took into account the disparity between the rich and poorer nations. With the latter being 98% affected, while just 56 percent of people in rich countries were affected by the massive air pollution
Most of the low to middle income countries breathe air that exceed WHO’s safety standard.
The highest levels of small and fine particulate pollution, known as PM10 and PM2.5 respectively, were generally found the eastern Mediterranean and South-East Asia, with the average annual levels often exceeding five to 10 times the safe limits in low and middle-come states.
Dr. Carlos Dora of WHO emphasized the importance of eliminating industrial emissions to achive long-term improvement in cutting carbon emission, as well as utilizing green transport, solar and wind power.
In a press release, he said: “when air quality improves, health costs from air pollution-related diseases shrink, worker productivity expands and life expectancy grows. Reducing air pollution also brings an added climate bonus, which can become a part of countries’ commitments to the climate treaty.”
3 Recycling Trends You Need to Know Right Now
Reduce > Recycle > Reuse
The recent years have seen many exciting developments in the field of recycling. Many countries have taken the task of recycling their wastes while some countries seem to be having no success at all. As an individual, here are some things that you need to know about recycling – some latest trends that have been developing. Perhaps, you can implement these in your lifestyle and look forward to a better and waste-free planet Earth.
Plastic Bans
It’s not a mystery that most plastics take hundreds, if not a large number of years to photodegrade (which is still awful for the earth), or that they’re uncontrollably perilous to neighbourhood biological communities and untamed life. That is the reason numerous urban communities are beginning to address the plastic waste produced inside their outskirts.
Styrofoam specifically has been examined broadly, and cities and towns have been banning polystyrene. While it’s financially savvy and sufficiently robust for bundling, its light weight makes it inclined to being effortlessly spread by the wind, and it can leak styrene into the earth and groundwater.
Disallowances on Styrofoam, plastic shopping pack bans, and even bans on plastic bottles are ideally the push to eliminate unsustainable and pervasive plastics from earth’s surface.
Composting
Just 5% of the 26 million tonnes of sustenance waste in 2012 stayed away from a landfill. This implies there are still a large number of massive amounts of nourishment sitting at the base of a landfill that could have been transformed into a solid manure material for individual or city use. That is the reason more districts across the nation are beginning to make programs for natural material composting, and some are notwithstanding making it required.
3-D Printing
3-D printing has opened up ways to assembling that were at no other time thought to be opened: from business use and large scale manufacturing, even down to more private, individual use at home. 3-D printing innovation may even have the capacity to assemble a house in a day. Obviously, this innovation dangers expanding our reliance on plastic significantly further.
Thankfully, some are discovering crushed plastics from around your home – even used Legos and other plastic waste – can be a feasible alternative for printing. Certain reused plastics are less expensive per pound than virgin plastics at any rate. 3-D printing has endless positive applications, yet we ought to guarantee that the materials utilized are as economically sourced as could be allowed.
The Amount of Plastic Waste on Earth Is Enough to Wrap the Whole Planet
The amount of plastic wastes on the planet today is enough to cover the planet with plastic, according to an Australian organization. With 5 billion tons of plastic waste it looks like it is true.
Man begun producing plastic on the onset of the 20th century and since then there were 5 billion tons of plastic wastes.
This problem is so alarming that paleontologist, Jan Zalasiewicz, said that if the plastic wastes will be transformed into a cling wrap, it will be enough to cover the globe.
That’s why experts are hoping that mankind to seriously consider the conservation of our planet.
One possible solution is to increase recycling rate when it comes to plastic. Another is to lessen or even deviate from producing non-biodegradable plastics.
The scenario of future generation unearthing fossilized plastic is appalling. This is the consequence for man’s penchant to produce too much plastic without thinking about disposal.
During the latest flight of Solar Impulse over the Pacific, the pilot has had an alarming view. Pilot Bertrand Piccard said he passed by a sea of plastic wastes which is as large as a continent which goes to show that this is indeed a global problem visible in all parts of the world.
Environmental Impact on Health:-
Note – Datas are important in this case which can be quoted to write answers which will be more authentic than just stating a statement that is not backed up by data.
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- In the Large States category (overall), Chhattisgarh ranks 1st, followed by Odisha and Telangana, whereas, towards the bottom are Maharashtra at 16th, Assam at 17th and Gujarat at 18th. Gujarat is one State that has seen startling performance ranking 5th in the PAI 2021 Index outperforming traditionally good performing States like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but ranks last in terms of Delta
- In the Small States category (overall), Nagaland tops, followed by Mizoram and Tripura. Towards the tail end of the overall Delta ranking is Uttarakhand (9th), Arunachal Pradesh (10th) and Meghalaya (11th). Nagaland despite being a poor performer in the PAI 2021 Index has come out to be the top performer in Delta, similarly, Mizoram’s performance in Delta is also reflected in it’s ranking in the PAI 2021 Index
- In terms of Equity, in the Large States category, Chhattisgarh has the best Delta rate on Equity indicators, this is also reflected in the performance of Chhattisgarh in the Equity Pillar where it ranks 4th. Following Chhattisgarh is Odisha ranking 2nd in Delta-Equity ranking, but ranks 17th in the Equity Pillar of PAI 2021. Telangana ranks 3rd in Delta-Equity ranking even though it is not a top performer in this Pillar in the overall PAI 2021 Index. Jharkhand (16th), Uttar Pradesh (17th) and Assam (18th) rank at the bottom with Uttar Pradesh’s performance in line with the PAI 2021 Index
- Odisha and Nagaland have shown the best year-on-year improvement under 12 Key Development indicators.
- In the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu and, the bottom three performers are Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers were Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram; and, the bottom three performers are Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya.
- Among the 60:40 division States, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are the top three performers and Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Delhi appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland; and, the bottom three performers are Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
- Among the 60:40 division States, Goa, West Bengal and Delhi appear as the top three performers and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura were the top three performers and Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh were the bottom three performers
- West Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were the top three States amongst the 60:40 division States; while Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan appeared as the bottom three performers
- In the case of 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura were the top three performers and Nagaland, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand featured as the bottom three
- Among the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and the bottom three performers are Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Goa
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland and the bottom three performers are Manipur and Assam
In a diverse country like India, where each State is socially, culturally, economically, and politically distinct, measuring Governance becomes increasingly tricky. The Public Affairs Index (PAI 2021) is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the Sub-national level and ranks the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India on a Composite Index (CI).
States are classified into two categories – Large and Small – using population as the criteria.
In PAI 2021, PAC defined three significant pillars that embody Governance – Growth, Equity, and Sustainability. Each of the three Pillars is circumscribed by five governance praxis Themes.
The themes include – Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption.
At the bottom of the pyramid, 43 component indicators are mapped to 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are relevant to the States and UTs.
This forms the foundation of the conceptual framework of PAI 2021. The choice of the 43 indicators that go into the calculation of the CI were dictated by the objective of uncovering the complexity and multidimensional character of development governance
The Equity Principle
The Equity Pillar of the PAI 2021 Index analyses the inclusiveness impact at the Sub-national level in the country; inclusiveness in terms of the welfare of a society that depends primarily on establishing that all people feel that they have a say in the governance and are not excluded from the mainstream policy framework.
This requires all individuals and communities, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have an opportunity to improve or maintain their wellbeing. This chapter of PAI 2021 reflects the performance of States and UTs during the pandemic and questions the governance infrastructure in the country, analysing the effectiveness of schemes and the general livelihood of the people in terms of Equity.
Growth and its Discontents
Growth in its multidimensional form encompasses the essence of access to and the availability and optimal utilisation of resources. By resources, PAI 2021 refer to human resources, infrastructure and the budgetary allocations. Capacity building of an economy cannot take place if all the key players of growth do not drive development. The multiplier effects of better health care, improved educational outcomes, increased capital accumulation and lower unemployment levels contribute magnificently in the growth and development of the States.
The Pursuit Of Sustainability
The Sustainability Pillar analyses the access to and usage of resources that has an impact on environment, economy and humankind. The Pillar subsumes two themes and uses seven indicators to measure the effectiveness of government efforts with regards to Sustainability.
The Curious Case Of The Delta
The Delta Analysis presents the results on the State performance on year-on-year improvement. The rankings are measured as the Delta value over the last five to 10 years of data available for 12 Key Development Indicators (KDI). In PAI 2021, 12 indicators across the three Pillars of Equity (five indicators), Growth (five indicators) and Sustainability (two indicators). These KDIs are the outcome indicators crucial to assess Human Development. The Performance in the Delta Analysis is then compared to the Overall PAI 2021 Index.
Key Findings:-
In the Scheme of Things
The Scheme Analysis adds an additional dimension to ranking of the States on their governance. It attempts to complement the Governance Model by trying to understand the developmental activities undertaken by State Governments in the form of schemes. It also tries to understand whether better performance of States in schemes reflect in better governance.
The Centrally Sponsored schemes that were analysed are National Health Mission (NHM), Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme (ICDS), Mahatma Gandh National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SmSA) and MidDay Meal Scheme (MDMS).
National Health Mission (NHM)
INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS)
MID- DAY MEAL SCHEME (MDMS)
SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SMSA)
MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME (MGNREGS)