Delhi grapples with air pollution every year. “Fifty per cent of India’s population is under 25 and the average age is 29. Given this, the concerns of most of the young population are to get ahead in life instead of their health. For those who are concerned, we must realise that air pollution is such that it does not affect us immediately in contrast to drinking polluted water which will produce immediate results.
The fact is that we are all walking, talking air purifiers. We breathe in PM 10, PM 2.5 and PM 1 particulates and breathe out CO2,” says Kamal Meattle, who recently co-authored, How To Grow Fresh Air, with Barun Agarwal. Meattle advocates small changes.
“We spend 1/3rd or 1/4th of our life in our bedroom and this is an area where we have maximum control over. We can do this by a combination of special green plants or technology namely air purifiers that do not emit ozone,” he says.
Talking about an overhaul in the situation, he explains, “I do see a green urban future but fully not till about 2030, at the current speed of change — about 10 years after Bharat Stage 4 vehicles are introduced in 2020 and when we fully are able to recycle the agri-stubble produced in Haryana, Punjab and UP, and currently burned.”
“India’s pollution has its roots in politics. Farmers and city dwellers are important constituencies for different parties, and neither side wants to make concessions. We must get away from making pollution a political issue as it is not. It is affecting the health and cognitive ability of our politicians as much it is of the man on the street!”