Throw a frog in boiling water, it quickly jumps put. But if it is placed in cold water and heated gradually, the frog will be cooked to death. It is unaware of the gradual change creeping up on it and fails to perceive danger. Over the past few decades, we have been ignorant to the gradual yet significant changes to the air we breathe today. Unlike Chernobyl or Bhopal, the bitter consequences are not felt immediately. Some health effects of dirty air are minor and reversible like headaches, tiredness and eye irritation. Some are debilitating like asthma and bronchitis. Some are fatal like cancer. According to World Health Organization estimates, ~500,000 deaths can be attributed to outdoor air pollution in Asia annually1. What this tells us is - Bengalurians are dying of dirty air, just how many is not known, yet.
By now, you have figured what Breathe Bengaluru's focus is. I'll say it anyway. Breathe Bengaluru focuses on the insidious dirty air plaguing the fifth largest metropolitan city of India, Bengaluru. The goal is to empower my fellow citizens of Bengaluru with information (especially on health effects) so we can form our own opinions and collectively understand the value of clean air. This I believe is the first step in our fight for clean air.
The idea is to compile and analyze information from various sources including government reports, scientific studies, newspaper articles and interviews with local citizen groups to bring the state of air report, to the residents of Bengaluru. With this I hope to spur public debate and bring the agenda of air quality management to the forefront of citizen activism and government action.
References:
