Posted by: Colin Bunn
People have been getting sick in Delhi, India. Not because of some bacteria or virus, but because of the air. The Air Quality Index have routinely hit its maximum of 999. Its the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Just the thought that we could have a pollution riddled city like the ones in dystopian science fiction novels I’ve read is a haunting thought. My brain flashed back to of ,all things, Wall-E. How humans had to leave the Earth because our atmosphere was too poisonous.
When people are getting put into hospitals because of the air, what can a society do? Is it too late for the city? I would argue that the government should implement a mandatory evacuation. A government’s job is to protect the people. When doctors declare a public health emergency over something that has the ability to effect everyone in the city, action must be taken. If at this point no one has come up with an idea of getting rid of the cloud of death that hangs over the Delhi, then leaving is the only choice.
Its horrific that children are being struck the most. If there is any demographic of the population that must be protected, it is children. According to the BBC, four in ten children have “severe lung problems” in Delhi. Until the smog clears, the city should become a ghost town. Else this public health crisis will continue to send people to the hospital and might lead to death. Pollution leading to this must carnage and destruction has left me speechless. Now more than ever action must be taken against this ever present threat.