For years, Delhi, India has been drowning in pollution. During the cold winter months, also known as "pollution season", a suffocating cloud descends on the city, unrelenting and poisonous.
People lock themselves inside with air purifiers. Others flee to safer territory. And most are left to suffocate and choke.Yet local leaders have done virtually nothing to stop this.At a
recent protest, local residents made it clear that they were fed up with the life-threatening air quality.
"Delhi is not a liveable city any more,
it's a death trap," remarked one protestor.
Another's sign read "BREATHING IS KILLING US!"These community members are demanding change, and it's time we amplify their voices!
Sign now to tell India's Minister of Environment Bhupender Yadav to finally treat this crisis with the gravity it deserves!Scientists use the air quality index, also known as AQI, to measure the level of pollution in a given location relative to what is healthy. Starting around October, the AQI in Delhi reaches truly shocking levels --
sometimes over one hundred times higher than what is considered safe by health experts.One local doctor described the air as
"literally killing our kids." And she's right: people in Delhi are more likely to die from pollution than they are from diabetes.
The root causes of this smog are absolutely solvable. Emissions from cars, waste-burning facilities, burns on local farms, power plants using coal energy -- these are all sources of pollution that we know can be substituted or made cleaner.
The 30+million residents of Delhi have had to breathe in this toxic smog for far too long, and it is time for local officials to finally step up.
Bhupender Yadav and his department must meet with protesters, treat this issue with the weight it deserves, and declare a national public health emergency! Sign the petition now if you agree!