Earth Day: How your health is linked to the Earth’s health

April 22nd is Earth Day

Earth day has been celebrated every year for the last 45 years, across the world, to create awareness about environmental protection and acknowledge the fact that we have been blessed to inhabit a beautiful planet like the Earth. This year’s theme is ‘It’s Our Turn to Lead’ and we need to understand how our actions can make a difference. One of the ways to set an example is to take the road to sustainable development.

What is sustainable development?

To understand what sustainable development is and how our irresponsible actions take a toll on our health, we caught up with the former chief planner of Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Developmental Authority (MMRDA), Kedarnath Rao Ghorpade. According to him, sustainability cannot be narrowed down to one particular thing as it is inclusive of all aspects of the environment. Sustainability is to be able to survive or thrive and be productive for a very long time. He explains that a development that promotes urbanisation by utilising all the natural and renewable sources of energy and also helps economic abundance is a sustainable development.

Rapid urbanisation without proper planning is one of the main reasons for increasing temperatures and prevalence of various diseases. For many years now, we have been conveniently ignoring our actions that have caused heavy pollution.

Land pollution

Concretization of open spaces to build houses and industries has given rise to urban heat islands. An urban heat island is an area in a metropolitan region that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas. In urban areas, buildings are constructed close to each other, which prevents the escape of heat. This heat gets trapped increasing the temperature of the area. As temperatures increase, the prevalence of conditions like heat strokes and heat exhaustion also increase.

Wayward planning has also resulted in a loss of agricultural land. So crops are cultivated far away from metropolitan regions, and the cost of transporting them leads to an increase in their price, affecting the dynamics of the economy.

Water pollution

Haphazard dumping of industrial waste products and domestic sewage in rivers and other sources of water like ponds and lakes only worsen the situation. Polluted water can leach into the groundwater, contaminating it. There are high chances that this contaminated water enters the sources of drinking water and give rise to a variety of water-borne diseases. Polluted water resources not only affect our health but also affect the biodiversity of the water body, destroying the habitat of the fauna that thrives there, hence disturbing the ecosystem.

Air pollution

Our dependence on auto-mobiles is increasing day by day. Combustion of petroleum products for the generation of energy adds pollutants like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide to the air. These gases convert into acids in the atmosphere to give rise to acid rains that can cause skin rashes and irritate the eyes. They also give rise to a number of respiratory disorders and can cause impaired lung function. Combustion of fossil fuels also adds to the load of particulate matter in the atmosphere. Exposure to particulate matter can reduce lung function and give rise to a number of respiratory disorders as particulate matter gets lodged in the lungs.

We cannot change the damage that has already been caused. But it’s time we alter our course and imbibe sustainable living for better living.

Image source: Shutterstock

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