In the words of Babu Rajan, at Tata Consultancy Services, a subsidiary of Tata Group which is the largest manufacturing company in India (the 3rd most polluted country in the world after Bangladesh and Pakistan), “destruction is a man's will, nevertheless prevention is also a man's will. It’s a man's choice to choose between destruction and prevention”.
We all can acknowledge that pollution of all types is unacceptable and is killing us slowly yet commercial air polluting has become almost normalized all over the world. Industrialization in Bangladesh, China, USA, Russia, India, and Pakistan generate massive greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing companies to vehicle exhausts making up the most common form of pollution.
Acid rains caused by air pollution accounts for the worldwide reduction of soil nutrition, loss of aquatic life, increase in heavy metal content in soil and water and ultimately, adversely impacting human health. The aviation industry, which directly patronizes the air space has grown over the last 20 years, releasing enormous amounts of fumes from diesel engines into the atmosphere and causing a plethora of health-related problems across borders.
As we continue to cut down trees without replacement and hinder the air cleaning process of photosynthesis, we expose our environment to degradation of all types which, has now opened the flood gates to global warming and flooding in our nations. Scientists have concluded that deforestation creates destruction of flora and fauna, forcing a disruption of our Earth’s ecosystem.
Studies have shown that the known pollutants in the air (carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxides and Sulfur Dioxide) are now found in the respiratory organs of the unborn, are one of the major causes of higher infant mortality, lower birth weight, impaired lung development and increased later respiratory morbidity. It is without debate that all nations need to cut back on emissions on all forms of greenhouse gas emissions and promote active research on alternatives.
The recent global pandemic should be a wake-up call for all Earthly nations as we collectively continue to experience the crushing and devastating blow an airborne disease dealt the human race. It is one Earth. It is our habitat. World leaders may redraw maps, covet lands, grab power, suppress people, incite war, push corruption – none of these changes the course the human race is on. It is hence, in our own best interest to not only choose prevention, but also, preservation since, we are already barreling towards very precarious tipping points which contribute to an already deteriorating, livable state of our world.