For Asian countries like Thailand, South Korea, China and India, they’ve been locked under a blanket of smog for years that will only continue to get worse with time. All the countries, including Hong Kong, are facing dangerously high levels of pollution while coal heating and emissions contribute to the already thick layer of smog. Not just including the Asian area, the World Human Organization has documented that almost nine out of ten people across the globe all breathe in air that contain high levels of harmful pollutants affecting Asia and Africa the most. In Thailand, the levels of pollution in the air have been around 150-200 micrograms per cubic meter which is highly unsafe to be breathing given the fact that according that the World Health Organization, the safe breathing is around 25 micrograms. In South Korea, the breathing levels are even more harmful with a blanket of dust covering the area with pollutant levels of 150-225. On the other hand in China, they’ve been put on “orange alert” due to the levels of heavy smog around their meteorology headquarters. With all the other areas just having unsafe breathing levels and potentially threatening lives of infants, in India pollution kills up to a million deaths per year and air in New Delhi is considered the worst in the world. Compared to the other areas, India’s air levels surpass the others with a level of 300 in normal cities, reaching extremely hazardous levels and a problem that has been in the capital area for years. Previously in November following the Hindu Festival of lights, the pollution levels reached 999, beyond the reading of the chart that stops at 500 being considered extremely hazardous. All countries are aware of the problem and how it’s caused; the burning of fossil fuels, primarily coal which is used for heating in 83% of homes in China according to Greenpeace. Other toxins like formaldehyde, coming from smoking cigarettes and kerosene lanterns, have been found to be playing a possible outsized role in the problem that is plaguing the area. All areas are trying to stop the problem by launching planes to drop water to passing new acts that will reduce pollution in the coming years.
