He climate change It is not an exaggeration or a tool to do politics, it is a reality. With each passing year, the natural ecosystems of our planet suffer because of us, and the irresponsible production chains they are taking a toll on our planet. The deterioration of natural resources is causing many species of flora and fauna to fall in danger of extinctionand the increase in global temperature is generating a major crisis at the poles. Seeing how an iceberg breaks off can be very spectacular, but what we should worry about the most is what we cannot see with the naked eye.
A new study published in Lancet Planetary Health has set itself the goal of measuring the quality of the Earth’s air in recent decades, and comparing it with the minimum parameters that the WHO considers healthy. Air quality has been measured taking into account the microparticles or “fine particles” (PM2.5) it carries. The WHO considers air that does not contain more than 15 μg/m³ (micrograms per cubic meter of air) of fine particles to be safe. If this were a test Earth would have crashed.
The terrible air quality of the Earth triggers the alarms
The study was able to determine that, at the edge of 2019, only 0.18% of the planet’s surface met these minimums. This percentage is alarming, and more taking into account that this small portion of the earth that has pure air, is not being used by any human, since they are natural places where the impact of pollution has not yet reached serious levels. In any part of the world that you visit, if it is inhabited by humans, you are breathing air that does not reach the minimum of the World Health Organization.
If we can highlight a positive point in the data revealed by the study, it is that territories such as North America or Europe have improved their air quality in the last two decades, but it is still not enough. South Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Central America and the Caribbean form the counterpoint to this advance, and their air quality it’s progressively worse. If we make a global average, from the year 2000 to 2019 the planet’s air contained 32.8 µg/m3 of fine particles, more than double what the WHO recommends.
We have done a lot of damage to our planet in recent years, but to close this article with a positive reflection, it seems that we are fighting for fix that bug. The UN recently approved a historic treaty for the protection of the oceans, and nature preservation programs are giving hundreds of animal species a new lease of life. The rise of the electric driving model and the new revolution in renewable energy give us hope that the future may be somewhat greener and more sustainable.