Title: Air Pollution Turned India's Capital Into a 'Climate Emergency.' It's Part of a Global Trend Killing 7 Million Prematurely Each Year Source: https://time.com/5718012/new-delhi-pollution-2019/ Date of article: 6th November 2019 Date of writing commentary: Word count: 747 1 Air Pollution Turned India's Capital Into a 'Climate Emergency.' It's Part of a Global Trend Killing 7 Million Prematurely Each Year Air pollution levels in India’s capital have soared to hazardous levels this week, leaving a toxic grey haze hanging over the city and causing poor visibility. The pollution has been so pervasive that national monuments were largely obscured by thick smog. Many who venture outside suffer teary eyes and troubling coughs. Delhi was already considered one of the world’s most polluted cities, and it’s only gotten worse this month. Air quality deteriorated so significantly that the local government declared a public health emergency, schools were shut down, and flights were canceled. By one estimate, breathing Delhi’s air for one day has the health impacts of smoking at least 25 cigarettes. Although Delhi typically experiences marked increases in air pollution around November, this year’s pollution prompted Delhi’s Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, to call the city a “gas chamber.” A ‘perfect storm’ Delhi typically experiences “striking spikes in air pollution” in the late-fall early-winter time period, although the deterioration of air quality this year is particularly concerning, Vijay Limaye, climate change, and health science fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council who has been studying air quality in India, tells TIME. “We’re exceeding the measurement capabilities” of some of these pollution particle sensors, Limaye says, explaining that the pollution levels were “effectively off the charts.” A combination of human and environmental factors including agricultural crop burning to clear fields and fumes from passenger and freight vehicles, combined to create a “perfect storm of pollution,” Limaye says. 2 The weather — slowing winds and stagnant air — also allowed for a build-up in pollution. The grey skies also come less than a week after Diwali, which is celebrated by many with fireworks — even though the Supreme Court has banned most of them. Public health experts and politicians are concerned by the magnitude of pollution, with Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal saying on Nov. 1 that the city had turned into “into a gas chamber.” Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist, tweeted that New Delhi was facing a “climate emergency.” Government intervention As many Delhi residents stayed cooped up indoors, India’s government and courts ordered short-term measures aimed at curbing pollution and keeping the public healthy. At least five million masks were distributed, according to Kejriwal. The Supreme Court weighed in on Monday, accusing state authorities of “passing the buck” on dealing with the crisis. The Supreme Court also ordered a ban on farmers burning crop stubble to clear their fields in nearby states. The government’s environmental monitoring agency found that satellite pictures showed more than 3,000 incidents of such agricultural burning in neighboring states, amounting to almost half of the city’s pollution, Reuters reported. “Delhi is choking every year and we are unable to do anything,” said Supreme Court Justice Arun Mishra, according to the BBC. The government also called for a two-week “odd-even” license plate program to reduce the number of cars on the road; vehicles with an odd-number license plate would only be allowed to travel on odd dates, while those with an even-number license plate would only be allowed to 3 travel on even days. Authorities said the restriction will lead to a reduction of almost 1.2 million registered vehicles in New Delhi every day, according to the Associated Press. The current levels of air pollution in Delhi is particularly dangerous because of the presence of tiny particulate matter referred to as PM 2.5. These particles are “many times smaller than the diameter of a strand of human hair,” Limaye says. They are “extraordinarily damaging because they can bypass our natural defense mechanisms — coughing or sneezing or swallowing — to get deep into the respiratory tract and actually enter our lungs and bloodstream,” he explains. The peak levels of pollution in Delhi early November far surpass the WHO’s standards for PM 2.5 levels. On Nov. 3, the level of PM 2.5 was more than 23 times higher than the corresponding WHO air quality guidelines according to data from the Indian Central Pollution Control Board. Smog is not uncommon in India’s capital, where pollution levels reach such high levels that visibility is reduced and it is hard to make out the color of traffic signals. India has long exceeded the WHO’s standards for air pollution. A study in Lancet Planetary Health found that in 2017 the average pollution PM 2.5 level across India was nine times the annual mean measure recommended by the WHO and that outdoor exposures to these small particles resulted in 670,000 deaths in 2017. That’s a sizeable proportion of the total 2.94 million global deaths from outdoor PM 2.5 pollution exposures that same year, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. At least 22 of the world’s 30 worst most polluted cities in 2018 were in India, according to a study from AirVisual and Greenspace Air pollution, a global ‘menace’ India’s battle with toxic air reflects a global trend of rising air pollution levels. More than 90% of the world’s population lives in places where air pollution levels exceed standards set by the WHO. 4 Juan Jose Castillo, a regional advisor in air quality and health at PAHO/WHO tells TIME that this kind of pollution is a “global menace,” he adds, noting that “we can absolutely say that air pollution is increasing globally.” And the effects are dire. About 7 million people worldwide die prematurely each year from air pollution-related diseases, according to a 2018 UN report— with 4 million of these deaths occurring in Asia-Pacific. Air pollution is associated with several serious health issues including heart attacks, asthma attacks, heart disease, and lung cancer. What’s more, “The science tells us that health risks related to pollution exposure increase the longer someone is outside,” Limaye says. But he adds that even short-term exposure to these small particles is enough to cause serious long-term health problems. Dr. Salil Sharma, a throat specialist, told the AP that 95% of his patients over the last 10 days are sick because of the pollution. The global air pollution crisis is connected to climate change, explains Limaye. “They are linked problems with linked solutions,” he says, explaining that higher temperatures can drive up some types of air pollution. The forces that are driving air pollution, like fossil fuel combustion, is “the same driver of carbon pollution that is exacerbating global climate change,” he says. So transitioning to cleaner renewable energy sources isn’t just about dealing with an “existential long term global threat” but can reap immediate public health benefits that can also help save on health care costs. “We need short term actions — the odd-even scheme, distributing masks, really dramatic action,” Limaye says. “But we also need sustained work to address the underlying problem and in doing so we can tackle the climate crisis. It’s really a win-win for climate mitigation and for public health.” 5 Commentary: The articles about the impact of air pollution in the Indian capital, New Delhi. The article highlights the economic concepts of negative externalities of production and consumption. Negative externalities of production refer to external costs created by producers. The problem of environmental pollution, created as a side effect of production activities.1 “A combination of human and environmental factors” such as the burning of the agricultural crop to clear fields and fumes released from passenger and cargo vehicles has caused the pollution levels in Delhi to rise to dangerous levels, which has created a lot of health issues and it’s estimated that breathing this air for a day has the “health impacts of smoking at least 25 cigarettes a day”. In the case of negative production externalities, the marginal social cost (MSC) spilling on to the society are greater than the marginal private cost (MPC) of production. In this diagram, the demand curve is the marginal private benefit (MPB) curve which is equal to the marginal social Tragakes, Ellie. “Market Failure” Economics for the IB Diploma. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2012. 103. Print 1 6 benefit (MSB), MPB = MSB. The intersection of the MSC and MSB curves show the optimum price, Popt, and quantity, Qopt, of agricultural products, the intersection of MPB and MPC curves show the market price, PM, and quantity, QM, of these goods which indicates that they are overproduced since MSC>MPC. The vertical difference between the MSC and MPC curves is the external cost of producing the goods. In response to the situation, the government implemented a ban on the burning of crops in the nearby states making it illegal to do so. If there is a ban, there is no divergence between MPC and MSC (MSC = MPC1) and the negative externality is corrected as there is no welfare loss. This is a diagram showcasing negative consumption externalities caused due to overconsumption of vehicles. The demand for the vehicles is shown by the curve MPB, since consumption of these goods creates an external cost to the society, the MSB curve lies below the MPB curve. Since this is a consumption externality, the supply curve represents both the MSC and MSB curves (S=MSB=MSC). The intersection of the MSB and MSC curves show the optimum price POPT 7 quantity, QOPT, of transportation, and the intersection of MPB and MPC curves show the market price, PM, and quantity, QM, of transportation. This shows there is overconsumption as MPB>MSB. The vertical distance between the two curves shows the external costs. Negative externalities of consumption refer to external costs created by the consumers, for example when consumers smoke in public, there are external costs that spill over onto the society in the form of cost to non-smokers due to passive smoking.2 In this case, an excess number of vehicles on the road causes an externality as there are extra emissions from cars and buses which create an external cost to people that do not use these modes of transportation. To tackle this situation the government has introduced a “two week “odd-even” license plate program to reduce the number of cars onto the road.” If implemented correctly this reduces pollution caused by fumes emitted by vehicles as the number of cars and buses are approximately halved. This leads to a leftward shift in MPB and hence there is a reduction in welfare loss. Government regulations are fairly easy to implement, therefore the most practical solution was to implement regulation as it limits the amount of emissions and can immediately be put in practice. Plus the fact that this is a rule, it would be illegal not to comply, which may not always be the case with taxes or other methods. However, these actions also have their disadvantages. Government regulations do not internalize the externality. They do not create an incentive for farmers to use methods that are more environmentally friendly and are therefore unable to reduce the size of the externality which means the pollution is reduced at a higher overall cost and it's only partially effective. Implementing these regulations means the government has to employ people to enforce law and order. This creates an opportunity cost as they could have invested into more beneficial initiatives such as improvement of infrastructure or medical facilities. Tragakes, Ellie. “Market Failure” Economics for the IB Diploma. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2012. 108. Print 2 8 In conclusion, I believe that government regulations to correct externalities are effective in the short term. They reduce pollution, can be easily implemented and the practical difficulties in implementing other solutions make these regulations more viable. However, in the long term the government should look to use other policies that will internalise the externality and are hence more effective. In addition to that, they have a higher overall cost of reducing pollution. Word count: 747 9
