Exposure of earth to pollution

Environment degradation is a major concern for this earth over the past few decades. Nature is being destroyed by various human activities. This degradation harms the environment and reducing its capacity to cater the social and ecological needs. Our environment provides us a wide range of benefits such as the air we breathe in, the water we drink, the food we eat but we are showing a lack of concern for these necessities and destroying it continuously. Smog also contribute as one of the major outbreak for environmental deterioration.

Smog is also known as a photochemical haze which is caused by the action of solar ultraviolet radiation on atmosphere polluted with hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen especially from automobile exhaust. Smog is a devastating problem especially due to the fast modernizationIt is caused by chemicals, automobiles, industrial waste and vehicle’s exhaust fumes and much more. It is formed by the interaction with sunlight with different types of chemicals in earth’s atmosphere.

Smog is hazardous in so many ways. It’s a notable threat to mother earth and every being living on it. These toxic fumes may increase the air concentration and lead to numerous undesirable health effects, economic, environmental destruction .When a town or a city is covered in smog its consequences are faced there and then. Dense smog is liable for decreasing UV radiation greatly, which means damaging the ozone layer thus acting as harmful rather than being a safety as ozone is a layer in atmosphere preventing the UV radiation from sun on the earth. It is highly unfavorable for humans as deaths were also recorded as a result of smog. Smog can be responsible for any ailment from minor pains to deadly pulmonary diseases such as lung cancer.

Smog is well known for causing irritation in the eye. It may also result in inflammation in the tissues of lungs; giving rise to pain in the chest. Other issues or illnesses such as cold and pneumonia are also related to smog. The human body faces great difficulty in defending itself against the harmful effects of smog.

Worldwide, smog caused an estimated 4.2 million deaths in 2016, about 90 percent of them in low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization.

We need to be more environment friendly in order to ace a sustainable environment. It can be brought down by executing certain modifications in your lifestyle, lowering down the consumption of fuels that are non-renewable and by replacing them with alternate sources of fuel which will reduce toxic emissions from vehicles. We should lessen the use of products that release high levels of VOCs. For example, use low-VOC paints.Drive less. Walk, bike, carpool, and use public transportation whenever possible. Avoid gas-powered yard equipment, like lawn mowers and prefer electrical appliances. We should Fuel up during the cooler hours of the day either late night or early morning. This prevents gas fumes from heating up and producing ozone. These slight changes will lead to a major positive change.

Unfortunately Pakistan is one of the county facing this immense problem. Lahore and other areas of northern and central Punjab are usually encircled by a thick layer of smog with sunshine becoming totallyimperceptible as haze spread over the sky.

The Punjab capital is ranked the second most polluted city in the world, according to Air Visual, which records air pollution levels across the globe in real time. The issue of smog started in 2006 and it is increasing since then.
Whereas Karachi is the seventh most polluted city in the world with an AQI of 167 and is classified as ‘unhealthy’.

Hence it is necessary to take measures regarding the increase in environmental degradation caused by polluted air.