As you all know, today is “International Day of Clean Air for blue skies” and we will be discussing the impacts---wait….you didn’t know about that? Well if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t either. This day was recently designated by the United Nations to acknowledge what they describe as ‘the single greatest environmental risk to human health.’ I am certain that we have all heard about air pollution in the past. Perhaps you had to write about it in school, read a pamphlet in a waiting room, or came across an article similar to this one; but how exactly does this issue affect us in our daily lives? And what can you do about it?
Pollutants in the air can lead to long term sicknesses like heart disease, lung cancer, and numerous respiratory diseases. The UN indicates that it is one of the main *avoidable* causes of death and disease globally, accounting for approximately one in every nine deaths. And it pretty much goes unnoticed, shrouded in a fog of obscurity and recklessness. According to a recent report published on Wired, Trinidad & Tobago has been named the tenth most ‘toxic’ country in the world. This was measured based on the following:
Energy consumption, per person
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fuel combustion, per person
Air pollution
Deaths attributable to air pollution, per 100,00 people
Renewable energy production
Now I don’t know about you, but for me, with roughly 200 countries in the world, seeing this tiny island sitting so high up on that list, left me feeling a little less than flattered. I have to say, looking at the top 20 countries on the list left quite a curious expression on my face. Trinidad and Tobago is the only country present from the western hemisphere and even beat out the likes of the ‘world’s manufacturer,’ China, who sits at number 20. How is that even possible? We’ll get to that later.
Air Pollution and Climate Change
Let’s talk about Climate Change for a bit. There’s a decent chance that you’ve at least heard about it by now, if not, then I can’t blame you. It’s not exactly the type of story the media is looking for, and its nowhere near as heavily ‘marketed’ as the Covid-19 pandemic, but it possesses far graver consequences. This crisis has been brought on by a number of human activities.
Burning of fossil fuels for energy.
Emissions from transportation: Planes, motor vehicles, Ships, Trains, etc.
Large scale animal farming.
Deforestation (largely for the facilitation of the previous point).
All of these factors and more contribute to air pollution and by extension, Climate Change.
Here in Trinidad, we love to complain about how hot the sun is, but most do not realize why. 2019 was recorded as the second warmest year on record(since 1880) only behind 2016. From 2015-2019? The five warmest years on record. I remember looking at the temperature here in Trinidad years ago; the hottest it got was around 33°Celsius. Now I frequently see temperatures in the 34°-36°Celsius region. That is not an accident. Climate Change is very real, and its effects are already apparent.
Apart from annoyingly hot temperatures, what else is there to worry about?
Well, due to the Earth’s surface rapidly warming over the last few decades, the arctic ice has been melting at an equally alarming rate.
Over this time period from 1984 to now, we can see the arctic has lost a mind-boggling 95% of its mass. Researchers say that by 2030, it could all be gone. This will lead to a staggering rise in sea levels, which will no doubt greatly impact Caribbean countries, who are partially or entirely surrounded by water. Some other potential effects are:
Longer dry season and shorter rainy season, affecting crop growth and food supply
More frequent and severe tropical storms and hurricanes
Degradation of nature
Pollution of key water resources
Extinction of native animal species
...And the list goes on.
It’s okay to be overwhelmed at the magnitude of these things. You may wonder how on Earth can you even do anything about it. Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector accounts for around 35% of our GDP. With an economy so heavily reliant on fossil fuels, it is easy to see why we are tenth on that list. Though China is the biggest carbon-emitter globally, they are by far the world’s leader in renewable energy generation, which explains why they aren’t higher up. However, they still rely mostly on crude oil for power so there is still quite a way to go.
Progress on Climate Change solutions have only been stunted by denial, greed, and those in power being generally oblivious to it. We have the capacity and the technology to control it before it gets to the point of no return. However, companies pay top dollar to ensure that we don’t even hear about it, much less do anything; all in the name of continuous growth and profit.
To me, it is crucial that the general public is at least aware of these issues. This information should be spread in the same way as pandemic statistics or the latest memes.
After all, what good is profit, if there's no planet?
P.S Click here to learn more about today.
Sources:
https://www.cnc3.co.tt/tt-breaks-temperature-rainfall-records-for-august-2020/