Industrial sources, such as power plants, factories and chemical plants contribute significantly to air pollution. Countries where there is poor regulation of emissions. Another type of air pollution is from the burning of organic matter, including forest fires (wildfires) or burning of crop stubble. These sources of air pollution can be very significant in some parts of the world, such as parts of Indonesia.
There is growing evidence that breathing in polluted air contributes significantly to cardiovascular disease. Air pollution affects the lungs as they are constantly exposed to polluted air. This also leads to respiratory diseases like Asthma. For instance, in countries like India air pollution intensifies every year as temperatures cool and wind speeds drop. Over a million Indians died in 2017 because of the country’s dirty air, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study.
Moreover, in 2019, the Russian state weather and environment service reported that around 56 million Russians across 143 cities are breathing bad air. The air pollution is not only contributing to climate change but also is responsible for causing several health problems including stroke, heart disease and lung cancer.
Environmental risk factors contribute to more than 100 diseases and injuries. Water pollution and improper sanitation have led to diseases like cholera, typhoid, and tuberculosis. Arsenic in drinking water has threatened more than 60 million individuals especially in the most populated province of Punjab. The future health consequences of arsenic exposure through drinking water could be enormous and could have detrimental impacts on the overall development of the population.
Rapid Urbanisation is also a leading cause of environmental issues which impact the health of people. It is estimated that half of the global population already lives in cities, and by 2050 two-thirds of the world’s people are expected to live in urban areas. Urbanization leads people to change their environment through their consumption of food, energy, water, and land and in turn, the polluted urban environment affects the health and quality of life of the urban population. An instance of this can be Mexico City, wherein 2019, the air pollution was so bad that officials declared an environmental emergency as pollution had reached levels potentially dangerous to human health.
However, in some instances, humans are responsible for their own health. Diseases like Hypertension, Mental Illnesses and Obesity are not caused by the environment but due to erratic lifestyle and improper diet. Despite this, it cannot be denied that environmental issues have an impact on people’s life.
