GLOBAL WARMING PREVENTION & ENVIRONMENT AWARENESS
Air pollution is a major planetary health risk, with India estimated to have some of the worst levels globally. To inform action at sub national levels in India, we estimated the exposure to air pollution and its impact on deaths, disease burden, and life expectancy in every state of India in 2017.
The annual population-weighted mean exposure to ambient particulate matter PM2·5 in India was 89·9 μg/m3 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 67·0–112·0) in 2017. Most states, and 76·8% of the population of India, were exposed to annual population-weighted mean PM2·5 greater than 40 μg/m3, which is the limit recommended by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards in India. Delhi had the highest annual population-weighted mean PM2·5 in 2017, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Haryana in north India, all with mean values greater than 125 μg/m3.
Air pollution contributes substantially to premature mortality and disease burden globally, with a greater impact in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.1, 2 India has one of the highest exposure levels to air pollution globally.1 The major components of air pollution are ambient particulate matter pollution, household air pollution, and to a smaller extent ozone in the troposphere, the lowest layer of atmosphere. In India, the major sources of ambient particulate matter pollution are coal burning for thermal power production, industry emissions, construction activity and brick kilns, transport vehicles, road dust, residential and commercial biomass burning, waste burning, agricultural stubble burning, and diesel generators.3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Household air pollution is caused mainly by the residential burning of solid fuels for cooking and to some extent heating, the major types of which are wood, dung, agricultural residues, coal, and charcoal.12, 13, 14
Ground level ambient ozone is produced when nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted from transport vehicles, power plants, factories, and other sources react in the presence of sunlight.15 Rapidly developing countries such as India face the dual challenge of exposures from both ambient and household air pollution
Among the different variables used to evaluate the condition of an ecosystem, the content of leaf nitrogen, chlorophyll and other pigments are the most important. Since, they are closely related to the photosynthetic capacity and physiological status of plants. The plants act as a sink for the pollutants and thus changes in its essential components indicates stress. The occurrence of micro-plastics in the environment is considered a global issue with environmental, economic and health implications. Plastic is often the dominant pollutant in aquatic environments. Micro-plastics can also alter the physical conditions of marine habitats, according to a senior official in the Environment Department.
CORA during the year 2004-2006 had successfully conducted about 130 programs on environment awareness and global warming prevention programs . The Intervention program consisted of guest lecture by experts from reputed institutions and along with that an Exhibition on ENVIRONMENT AWARENESS is also conducted during the program. A pre-test and post KAP Study was done to the participants with standard questionnaire. The Pretest or post test was done either by game method for illiterate participants and for others they were given the questionnaire to fill them. In addition to this the participants were distributed with IEC materials developed by CORA on ENVIRONMENT AWARENESS such as pamphlet, booklet and leaflets. The Intervention programs planned through VILLAGE MASS CAMPAIGNS were done with street play, folk dance, puppet show etc with guest lecture and distribution of IEC materials. These programs were funded by a Spanish donor agency ANESVAD. The programs could not be continued due to completion of the funding by the donor agency.
GLOBAL WARMING PREVENTION AWARENESS PROGRAMS - PHOTO GALLERY
ENVIRONMENT AWARENESS PROGRAM - PHOTO GALLERY
