Think about how bad the air quality is in China right now. In 2015 alone, Beijing issued two red alert warnings following unhealthy amounts of smog in the city. Issuing a red alert calls for cars to be off the road, work to be paused at factories and school to be cancelled depending on local authorities. That’s how bad air pollution is in China right now.
Even more alarming is the number of people that die each year due to the awful air quality in China. Studies have shown that 1.5 million people die each year due to pollution – that’s 17% of the country’s deaths each year. The red alert system was put in place in order to decrease the number of deaths.
It’s not just in China that is suffering from bad air quality. Even rural areas in the United States are seeing higher smog levels these days. Given that smog can be a cause of breathing and cardiovascular problems not just for those with allergy or asthma, why is this post even suggesting that there might be a potential benefit of air pollution? Read on to find out.
List of Pros of Air Pollution
1. It makes people pay more attention to the environment.
Air pollution has been a problem since way back, but it’s only in recent years that we have been seriously considering the effects of this problem. We inherited Earth but we failed to protect it. Our activities have caused the planet to suffer and if levels weren’t this bad, would we even pay attention?
Why does it take the threat of a sixth extinction for us to act to save our world? Shouldn’t we have done that in the first place? Although it may be blasphemous to suggest a benefit to air pollution, then maybe the widespread air pollution we are witnessing today is a wakeup call for us to clean up our act.
Our world is slowly dying and it’s only us who can try to make it a habitable world for future generations. And if the continued rise of air pollution around the world won’t make us do anything, then we might just as well bid farewell to the only place we call home.
List of Cons of Air Pollution
1. It is contributing to global warming.
People who have lived long enough in this world can tell you that everything has changed. Summer these days means being exposed to oppressive heat. While complaining about warm summer days in the past would cause people to label you as a constant complainer, these days you have valid reason to do so. The heat is indeed oppressive and it shouldn’t be the case. The same can be said for the coldness of winter seasons these days.
And one of the leading causes for the changes the earth is experiencing is air pollution. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases such as methane and sulfur dioxide are contributing to the warming of the planet.
2. It is causing deaths.
As mentioned earlier, 17% of China’s death can be attributed to air pollution. How many others around the world are falling victim to bad air?
Crystal Lombardo is a contributing editor for Vision Launch. Crystal is a seasoned writer and researcher with over 10 years of experience. She has been an editor of three popular blogs that each have had over 500,000 monthly readers.
