POLLUTION: PM2.5 DAMAGE
According to researchers in Germany and Cyprus, air pollution caused 8.8 million extra deaths in 2015 - almost double the previously estimated 4.5 million. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates smoking kills about 7 million people a year globally.
The European researchers of the European Society of Cardiology research claimed that air pollution caused an estimated 790,000 deaths. Between 40% and 80% of the dead are from cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and stroke.
Worldwide, air pollution caused 120 extra deaths in every 100,000 people per year. I some parts of Europe the rate is even higher: up to 200 in 100,000.
The problem of these deads, according to the European Heart Journal, is the pollution particles, known as PM2.5, in ozone. Such particles are harmful to health as they can seeping into the lungs and may even be able to cross into the blood.
Source: Life cycle assessment from Botta Packaging
But what are these PM2.5?
It refers to particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less.
Fine particulate matter PM2.5 is produced by industry, heating, vehicular traffic and combustion processes in general.
There are two types of PM2.5:
- primary type when it is emitted as such into the atmosphere directly from sources
- secondary type when it is formed by chemical reactions between other pollutant species.
In the European Union, the amount of PM2.5 is currently set at 25 micrograms per cubic meter. Urged a reduction as it is 2.5 times higher than the WHO guideline.
A solution to reduce it is using renewable energy. When we use renewable enery, we mitigate the effects of climate change, following Paris Agreement. Besides, we could also reduce air pollution-related death rates in Europe by up to 55%.
PM2.5 does not help to bring global temperatures below 1.5C.
In 2020 we saw several environmental disasters.
In Indonesia and Bangladesh were deadly floods.
In Australia were bushfires and wildfires in California. Both drought and record rainfall in China, Siberian wildfires and extreme storms from the Philippines to Nicaragua.
A growing climate emergency means ever greater threats to water and food security, destabilised ecosystems, and millions of migrants.
Reference
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-pollution-health-idUSKBN1QT185
