by Isa Swaleh Khan,
There is an expanding problem you must be aware of; air pollution. Lahore is one of the most polluted cities on the face of the planet in terms of air quality. One of the biggest effects on the average citizen are schools and workplaces closing. This may have caused disruption, but more seriously, there has proven to be several thousand cases of lung diseases caused by the air. Even with this being known, there is no long term plan in place for things to get any better. Three to five million tons of crop residue is burnt on the Pakistani side of Punjab while the Indian region has around 15 million tons burnt annually. The pollution on our side can be easily stopped with the implementation of a few laws, but the burning of crop residue on the Indian side may be a bit challenging, requiring Pakistan to place an international law. There is debate about large factories releasing carbon emissions and it may be true, but this isn’t the only factor contributing to bad air quality. Although it would be amazing to transition over to factories designed in order to prevent as many greenhouse gasses from being released, it’s too big of a transition to make looking at the current political and economical state of our country. A better way to start would be to make smaller laws. This can include laws on waste burning, testing new vehicles for on-road emission, preventing or heavily fining old vehicles that surpass the emission, and littering.
Isa Swaleh Khan,
Karachi American School
