05 Jun 2019
Today is World Environment Day!
World Environment Day is celebrated on 5 June every year since 1974 and is designed to increase awareness and inspire everyone to take action for the protection of our environment. This year's theme is #BeatAirPollution!
So why has this year's theme #BeatAirPollution been chosen?
Quite simply, good clean air benefits us and our environment. Emissions have to go somewhere, and with multiple emissions from multiple sources the sheer density and complexity of emissions builds up in our atmosphere.
Globally, around 24 per cent of greenhouse gases come from agriculture, forestry and other land-use. NO2 emissions in dense urban areas and the burning of coal and waste are key contributors to poor air quality. Around 40 per cent of waste is still burned openly worldwide - 166 out of 193 countries openly burn agricultural and municipal waste.
Around 3.8 million premature deaths worldwide annually are linked to indoor air pollution. Three billion people across the planet use solid-fuel and open fires as their main heating and/or cooking source. Last year in the UK for example, air pollution was estimated to have cost the National Health Service GB£157 million. Global estimates of air pollution-related health care costs are around US$21 billion per year (OECD, 2016) not to mention significant damage to agricultural production from air pollution deposition on the earth, water and soils.
What can we do?
There are a few methods we can take in our day-to-day lives to reduce our global footprint, these are:
More information on global air pollution
‘Hashtag’, ‘share’, and ‘like’ on social media!
Image by Johannes Plenio from Pixabay
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