Air Quality Awareness Week 2022 | Four affordable things we can do as South African's for better Air Quality in our Country
Apex Environmental cc
Southern Africa's Occupational Hygiene and Environmental Compliance Experts
As the Alamo Region approaches the beginning of ozone season, wildfire season and World Asthma Day the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has designated May 2- May 6 2022 Air Quality Awareness Week (AQAW).
In South Africa (SA) we too are approaching the annual winter fire season and can learn a lot from AQAW resources.
AQAW stakeholders, AirNow, EPABurnWise, EPAAir and EPAairmarkets aim to share air quality information and details of how Air Quality effects health to encourage people to incorporate the Air Quality Index in their daily lives.
AQAW2022 focused on the following topics, which you can access by clicking the links below
So what is the current status of Air Quality in SA? ?
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) Air Quality guidelines are “a set of evidence-based recommendations of limit values for specific pollutants"; according to Professor Peter Orris of the University of Illinois, Chicago, South Africa’s Air Quality standards are weaker than the WHO guidelines. Chloe Williams, in her 2020 article “As South Africa Clings to Coal, A Struggle for the Right to Breathe” states how “At their peak, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide levels are 10 times higher than those considered safe for human health.”
In fact, as recently as the 18 of March 2022, Mpumalanga province’s air pollution levels were declared unsafe and in breach of residents' right to an unharmful environment thanks to the case, “Deadly Air", brought against the government by environmental groups groundWork and Vukani Environmental Justice Movement Action. For an update on the verdict follow the link to the Daily Maverick's latest article on the matter.
Moving away from a coal-powered country is the single biggest step South African’s can take to simultaneously improve our own air quality (and health) and reduce our Republic’s exorbitant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to The Carbon Brief Profile, SA is the world’s 14th largest GHG emitter, even though SA has the 25th largest population in the world, making up only 0,76% of the word population.
To mitigate the effects of load shedding we are already seeing innumerable SA industries and businesses investing in alternate energy sources, however, we’d like to remind everyone that diesel generators are not a sustainable option as burning 1 tonne of diesel emits 3149 carbon dioxide equivalents (calculated using the SA Carbon Tax Act 2019 Fuel Combustion Emission Factors). Akinbami, Oke and Bodunrin’s article “The State of renewable energy development in South Africa: An overview” recommend steps?to further drive the integration of renewable energy technologies into SAs present energy mix.
How can my household contribute to SA''s air quality? Here are to four most cost-effective recommendations:
1.??????The most affordable change South African citizens can make to contribute to better air quality is to use public transport, or carpool. How many cars do you see on your daily commute containing the driver as the solitary occupant? How often are you that solitary driver?
2.??????Buy LED light bulbs for your home; residential LED's can use up to 75% less energy than incandescent lighting and have lifetime up to 25 times longer, saving you money in the long run.
3.??????Encourage your household to eat sustainably; the World Wildlife Foundation recommends ten tips for “eating for the planet” and better air quality.
4.??????Stop buying so many clothes! Bet you didn’t know that the clothing industry contributes about 2.1 BILLION tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in a single year, 4% of all global emissions. Click Here to find out more about how clothing yourself is making our air hard to breath.
Air Quality issues in our country may be a result of outdated and inefficient energy production methods and insufficient transport systems, but when we take responsibility for the ways we can lighten the load on those systems, we empower ourselves to positively contribute to a better environment and ultimately, our own health.