Smog sickness: India's capital struggles as pollution surges

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Solo_Camping_Girl@reddit

For anyone living in India's capital right now, how does it feel? Generally curious here. I've experienced my fair share of bad pollution but not bad enough for the government to issue warnings. I can't imagine wearing N95 masks 24/7 would be a solution.

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Romanian_Breadlifts@reddit

I was there in January. Everyone, including the children, coughs like a 30- year smoker. Visibility is poor. When you're flying in, you can see belts of smog flow like fog through the landscape. Leaving the city center marginally improves air quality.

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Tensor3@reddit

I cant comprehend that people do this..

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Quacker0ats@reddit

Here's a good video.

It's in Hindi/Urdu but you can have the auto-generated subtitles translate to English.

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dumnezero@reddit

India's Supreme Court last month ruled that clean air was a fundamental human right, ordering both the central government and state-level authorities to take action.

But critics say arguments between rival politicians heading neighboring states—as well as between central and state-level authorities—have compounded the problem.

Because the changes are hard. This a nice example of what's ahead.

For example, they can't do electric cars, that shit's too expensive and just leaves behind a mass of older ICE cars. A pollution tax can help, but it's a mild reform. What they need is public transit and bicycles (even electric bicycles). And that goes for every city.

Not sure what they can do about the trash fires. And agriculture fires require farmers to diversify and get incentives to stop burning stuff. There are machines that can help with that, but they are expensive, so that probably means having a public agriculture service type of deal if they want it efficient. And some farms probably need to be converted to entirely different plants.

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StatementBot@reddit

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Portalrules123:

SS: Related to collapse as smog season is just beginning in New Delhi, India, but it is already having dramatic effects on the health of people such as those interviewed in the article. Cooler air temperatures and lower winds make winter much more prone to smog from industry and agricultural fires. While especially hard on vulnerable populations like the young and elderly, smog levels dozens of times higher than the WHO safe limit are not a good thing for anyone. This comes after similar reports of severe smog in Pakistan’s second largest city, Lahore. A court in India recently ruled that clean air is a fundamental right, but talk is cheap and there seems to be no sign of governments taking effective action to mitigate the threat. Expect smog events to continue as overpopulation and our exploitation of the Earth accelerates.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1gkl6xw/smog_sickness_indias_capital_struggles_as/lvm56j1/

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Portalrules123@reddit (OP)

SS: Related to collapse as smog season is just beginning in New Delhi, India, but it is already having dramatic effects on the health of people such as those interviewed in the article. Cooler air temperatures and lower winds make winter much more prone to smog from industry and agricultural fires. While especially hard on vulnerable populations like the young and elderly, smog levels dozens of times higher than the WHO safe limit are not a good thing for anyone. This comes after similar reports of severe smog in Pakistan’s second largest city, Lahore. A court in India recently ruled that clean air is a fundamental right, but talk is cheap and there seems to be no sign of governments taking effective action to mitigate the threat. Expect smog events to continue as overpopulation and our exploitation of the Earth accelerate.