Clean air month

The month of November is celebrated as, among others, Philippine Clean Air Month, as stated in Presidential Proclamation No. 1101 issued in 1997. This year, the lead agency, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) coordinates with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on the launching of a major program called Linis Hangin sa Siyudad/Munisipyo Program. Under this program, local chief executives are encouraged to issue resolutions or enact ordinances on air pollution control and include clean air policies in their local development plan, conduct information campaigns on the value of smoke-free communities, and school institutions to actively support the campaign against air pollution in their localities. Newly-elected community leaders can start implementing this clean air campaign in the local neighborhood and encourage each member to participate meaningfully.

Few people realize that pollution can be very harmful. Air pollution harms the environment and people. Pollution can make it difficult for us to breathe, it can make our eyes itchy and our throats sore. I am particularly concerned about air pollution because it can cause a bad asthma attack. Smog results when the air is contaminated with particulate matter like aerosols, liquid particles from spray can propellants, volatile air compounds like gasoline, organic cleaning solutions and other compounds that tend to evaporate and remain suspended in air. Manufacturing activities cause the release of dangerous gases in the air like nitrogen and sulphur oxides, poisonous lead and other heavy metals. Most people don’t get worried simply because pollution cannot be seen. What pollution does is silently kill. This is the reason why there are more incidents and worst cases of cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases than before. The worst part is pollution stays and more and more people get seriously sick.

We cannot say enough about the continuous damage caused by human activities on the Earth’s protective ozone layer. Over the years, human produced gases containing chlorine and bromine have formed a hole over the South Pole and the Southern hemisphere. The ominous hole was first discovered in 1985. NASA’s latest report is that the 9.7 million square mile hole has shrunk about 16 percent from last year’s record high of 11.5 million square miles. But it is still the size of North America.

Margaret Mead, an American anthropologist in her Red Book talked about “The Energy Crisis — Why Our World Will Never be the Same Again”. She said, “We are living beyond our means. As a people we have developed a lifestyle that is draining the earth of its priceless and irreplaceable resources without regard for the future of our children and people all around the world”. Truly, our land has become uglier, the rivers are drying up, the forests thinning and the climate becoming more and more unfavorable.

We should all care with an urgency about what is happening to our environment. Only humans have been endowed by God with the power to create. We should protect, not destroy God’s creation.