The Air, The Air is Everywhere and Some of It is Killing People


The blue moon was particularly beautiful in the night sky yesterday. The sky and its changeable looks never fail to fascinate me. I like high cirrus clouds and puffy ones too. Stormy skies and lightning and clear starry skies also appeal. But the air I breathe, that holds such importance for life on this planet is so easily taken for granted as it surrounds me and I look through it toward the heavens, is in trouble because of air pollution.
Air pollution kills more than 2 million people each year worldwide, just not so many here as in Asia where air pollution has increased markedly in recent years. Death associated with air quality is set to become the world's top environmental challenge. Particulates, or fine particles that penetrate the lungs are behind and estimated 2.1 million deaths from heart and lung disease and ozone and climate change are also linked to respiratory disease and death. These statistics I read about didn't address personal lung pollution from cigarettes either but there it is, another kind of pollution that some willingly choose and in second hand fashion share with others.

Air, one of our most important natural resources, may be free but protecting it comes at a cost. Not protecting it comes at the cost of human lives.