The World Health Organization, (or WHO, not to be confused with the rock legends, The Who), recently declared that 7 million people were killed by air pollution in 2012.
Dr. Maria Neira, Director of WHO’s Department for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, issued the following statement: “The risks from air pollution are now far greater than previously thought or understood, particularly for heart disease and strokes. Few risks have a greater impact on global health today than air pollution; the evidence signals the need for concerted action to clean up the air we all breathe.”
Air pollution’s health effects concern me quite a bit – but here’s what throws me off: Neither Neira nor WHO provide immediate solutions to combat this issue. This leaves the global community to fend for itself as we scramble to innovate and experiment with ways to lessen and reverse the impact we have on air contamination.
G.I. Joe has always declared that knowing is half the battle. The other half is taking action. Strategic action. That’s quite difficult to do when you’re not exactly sure what you should be doing. Or even worse, you lack the resources needed to do anything but what you’ve always done, which is the case for people in the most affected areas: Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific regions.
Families in these regions