The champions of clean air

The champions of clean air

Context:

At a time when clean air is turning into a rare commodity in India, battle of five Indians for a cleaner air offers a ray of hope to fellow citizens

Here are five inspiring stories:

1.  A marathon battle:

• In November 2017, when pollution was at its peak in New Delhi, Brikesh Singh, a runner, decided to run the Delhi Half Marathon 10 days before the event.
• His purpose was to record with a device the pollution level on the route to be taken by the runners.
• He shot a video as he ran the 20 km stretch, documenting at each turn the spiralling pollution levels on his device, and uploaded it on social media.
• Singh argued that runners or sportspersons engaged in rigorous outdoor activity were at far greater risk than average citizens going about their daily routine.
• When Delhi Half Marathon took place, it managed to spark a public debate on whether sports events should be held in a city where lungs are exposed to such high levels of particulate matter.

2. Bhopal in Slow motion:

• Shweta Narayan, had been deeply moved by the social movement seeking justice for victims of the Bhopal gas disaster
• Motivated by what she saw in Bhopal, Narayan decided to start a campaign for clean air in Cuddalore
• The area around the town had become a hub of intensely polluting units after the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu set up of a 200-hectare industrial estate 8 km away from Cuddalore town.
• Toxic chemical compounds were being released as effluents by the 18 companies in the industrial area.
• Narayan helped set up a Community Environmental Monitoring (CEM) team in December 2003, which started monitoring the area’s air pollution using low cost devices.
• It was the CEM report on air quality in 2004 that prompted the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee to direct the Central Pollution Control Board to formulate standards for voluntary organic compounds in the air
• CEM programmes were also successfully implemented in other industrial clusters in Kodaikanal, Mettur and Trichy in Tamil Nadu, and among pollution-impacted communities in Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh.

3. How to stop stubble-burning

• In the town of Faridkot in Punjab, Umendra Dutt has been busy mobilising the local community- the farmers who burn crop residue.
• During paddy harvest, plumes of smoke turn the sky grey as the farmers burn the stubble left behind by the big threshing machines over thousands of acres.
• He insists that it is the government policy of trapping farmers in the cycle of wheat and paddy cultivation that has created environmental problems, such as stubble burning, falling soil productivity and rising vulnerability to pests.
• He has set up the Kheti Virasat Mission, a training hub for the second Green Revolution
• He has been training and giving lectures to farmers on the concepts of agricultural ecology, highlighting how the State’s climatic conditions are actually better suited for millet, oilseeds and pulses.
• He has developed a manual on organic farming and trained over 30,000 farmers.

4. Protecting baby lungs

• Gopal Sankaranarayanan, an advocate with the Supreme Court had filed a petition on behalf of his bronchitis-afflicted toddlers.
• The case was criticised for being too focussed on Diwali, and as not addressing other issues.
• However, the Supreme Court had banned sale of crackers in 2017
• Post-Diwali pollution levels were at their lowest compared to the three previous years.

5. Data to the rescue

• Scientist Sarath Guttikunda has been using science to change the public discourse on pollution.
• He was one of the first to point out that conversations around air pollution peaked around Diwali, and tended to die down for the rest of the year.
• He is the founder of Urban Emissions, a website that forecasts air quality for over 640 districts in the country.
• Mr. Guttikunda is also the developer of the SIM-air (Simple Interactive Models for Better Air Quality) family of tools.
• With applications for Asian, African, and Latin American cities, it is capable of assessing short- and long-term air pollution scenarios in a multi-pollutant environment.
• He has been credited with taking the pollution conversation beyond Delhi through forecasting models that show what the ambient air pollution levels will be in cities across India.
• His ‘Air Pollution Knowledge Assessments city program’ launched in 2017 provides a starting point for understanding air pollution in Indian cities.
• The initiative aims to provide the necessary information base to pollution control authorities so that they can prioritise interventions — which could either be local (such as with public transport and waste management) or regional (power plants) — for better air quality.