{"id":31036,"date":"2018-10-27T11:55:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-27T06:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=31036"},"modified":"2018-10-27T11:55:15","modified_gmt":"2018-10-27T06:25:15","slug":"the-champions-of-clean-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-champions-of-clean-air\/","title":{"rendered":"The champions of clean air"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/todays-paper\/tp-opinion\/the-champions-of-clean-air\/article22840478.ece\"><b>The champions of clean air<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Context:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Here are five inspiring stories:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b> \u00a0A marathon battle:<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In November 2017, when pollution was at its peak in New Delhi, <\/span><b>Brikesh Singh<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a runner, decided to run the Delhi Half Marathon 10 days before the event. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His purpose was to record with a device the pollution level on the route to be taken by the runners.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Singh argued that runners or sportspersons engaged in rigorous outdoor activity were at far greater risk than average citizens going about their daily routine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><b> Bhopal in Slow motion:<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Shweta Narayan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, had been deeply moved by the social movement seeking justice for victims of the Bhopal gas disaster<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Motivated by what she saw in Bhopal, Narayan decided to start a campaign for clean air in Cuddalore<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Toxic chemical compounds were being released as effluents by the 18 companies in the industrial area. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Narayan helped set up a <\/span><b>Community Environmental Monitoring (CEM)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> team in December 2003, which started monitoring the area\u2019s air pollution using low cost devices. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><b> How to stop stubble-burning<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the town of Faridkot in Punjab, <\/span><b>Umendra Dutt<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been busy mobilising the local community- the farmers who burn crop residue.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He has set up the <\/span><b>Kheti Virasat Mission<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a training hub for the second Green Revolution<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He has been training and giving lectures to farmers on the concepts of agricultural ecology, highlighting how the State\u2019s climatic conditions are actually better suited for millet, oilseeds and pulses.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He has developed a manual on organic farming and trained over 30,000 farmers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><b> Protecting baby lungs<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Gopal Sankaranarayanan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an advocate with the Supreme Court had filed a petition on behalf of his bronchitis-afflicted toddlers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The case was criticised for being too focussed on Diwali, and as not addressing other issues. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the Supreme Court had banned sale of crackers in 2017<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Post-Diwali pollution levels were at their lowest compared to the three previous years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><b><\/b> <b>Data to the rescue<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientist <\/span><b>Sarath Guttikunda<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been using science to change the public discourse on pollution.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He is the founder of Urban Emissions, a website that forecasts air quality for over 640 districts in the country. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mr. Guttikunda is also the developer of the <\/span><b>SIM-air (Simple Interactive Models for Better Air Quality)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> family of tools.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His \u2018<\/span><b><i>Air Pollution Knowledge Assessments city program\u2019<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> launched in 2017 provides a starting point for understanding air pollution in Indian cities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The initiative aims to provide the necessary information base to pollution control authorities so that they can prioritise interventions \u2014 which could either be local (such as with public transport and waste management) or regional (power plants) \u2014 for better air quality.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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: \u00a0A marathon battle: In November 2017, when pollution was at its peak in New&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-champions-of-clean-air\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The champions of clean air<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704709006},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}