How to protect yourself from air pollution

What Can I Do to Help Reduce Air Pollution?

Every time we drive to school, use our heater or air conditioner, clean our windows, or even style our hair, we make choices that affect air pollution. These steps, as well as many others, are things we all can do to help reduce air pollution.

• Conserve energy – remember to turn off lights, computers, and electric appliances when not in use.
• Use energy efficient light bulbs and appliances.
• Participate in your local utility’s energy conservation programs.
• Limit driving by carpooling, using public transportation, biking and walking.
• Combine errands for fewer trips.
• Keep your automobile well tuned and maintained. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions on routine maintenance, such as changing the oil and filters, and checking tire pressure and wheel alignment.
• Avoid excessive idling of your automobile.
• Use electric or hand-powered lawn care equipment.
• Be careful not to spill gasoline when filling up your car or gasoline powered lawn and garden equipment.
• Run dishwashers and clothes washers only when full.
• Choose environmentally friendly cleaners.
• Use water-based or solvent free paints whenever possible and buy products that say "low VOC".
• Seal containers of household cleaners, workshop chemicals and solvents, and garden chemicals to prevent volatile organic compounds from evaporating into the air.
• Purchase and use low-polluting outboard marine engines and personal watercraft (4-stroke and direct fuel injection 2-stroke outboard marine engines).
• Advocate for emission reductions from power plants and more stringent national vehicle emission standards.

HARDER TO BREATH !

It is depressing -- but not surprising -- to learn that Dhaka and other cities of Bangladesh suffer from some of the worst air pollution in the world.Various sources can be responsible for air pollution, but in Bangladesh, the biggest culprits are brick kilns, vehicular emissions, construction work, and the rise of fine particles and coarse dust from dried-up rivers -- all made worse in the dry season, from October to April.

It is no surprise that a rise in respiratory diseases is seen around this time, especially in children. Furthermore, the top ten causes of death in the country, including lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and strokes, can all be linked to air pollution.While there are some laws already in place to control factory emissions, they need to be enforced -- we need to be particularly tough on brick kilns which do so much damage to the environment every winter.It is time to face facts -- the air pollution problem in Dhaka is too big to ignore. With thousands of vehicles plying the streets of Dhaka every day, there is also a need for rigorous policing of emission standards on cars and policies regarding lubricants and fuels used. Air pollution is a particularly insidious enemy as it is often an invisible one, but it carries enormous environmental and health costs. Dhaka and other cities need to be revamped so they can become cleaner and greener -- we could take a lesson from highly liveable cities around the world like Singapore, Vancouver, or Melbourne, which have placed a high value on air quality without sacrificing economic growth.  For all our sakes, we need an effective strategy to fight this evil.

Pollution in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has been ranked highest in the US Air Quality Index (AQI), for having the worst level of air pollution in the world.According to data available from a smartphone application named AirVisual, which shows the user real-time air pollution index of any city across the globe, Dhaka can be found at the top of the chart almost all the time, signifying high level of air pollution.A real-time map of the US AQI, found on web portals aqicn.org and waqi.info also supported the data showed by the smartphone application.Till the filing of this report, US AQI of Dhaka was standing at 608.

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