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Breath of Death

What's in the city air?

It's a new month. You have just received your salary and can't wait to get the car back on the road. It's been about two weeks since your Subaru was last seen consistently on the road... the struggle is real. Being a member of the floating middle class often means you have to find ingenious ways to hide the fact that you are broke. Sometimes it means using the car on Monday, Thursday and Friday so that the week starts and ends strong with you driving. We both know nobody ever notices the days in between. You woke up in high spirits today, dressed in record time, kuku danced (popular Kenyan dance) to your car, ignited the engine and observed a moment of silence to listen to the engine roar...it coughed a little. Not quite the smooth sound you were hoping for but it will do. "I will service her next time," you thought and vrooom...on your way you went leaving behind your signature fumes of death to join fellow motorists.
Photo credits: KARA

Meanwhile, the walking nation is moving. With every step on non-existent or dilapidated sidewalks, lose dust particles arise. The city county workers have started sweeping, they see no need to sprinkle water onto the lose dirt to curb the dust. Ignorance perhaps. The matatus, as usual, cannot stand being in traffic. They overlap furiously on any space that looks passable...more dust and deathly fumes fill the air.

It's a busy day today. Jua Kali artisans are hard at work in the industrial area welding, moulding and polluting. Factories exhale thick white fumes...unparalleled billows of smoke coupled with the smoking zones, the open sewers, the charcoal burning, the land fills, the burning plastics...*Gasp!* our air is lethal!

My simple advice: Don't breathe, ever! 

It is true that African nations are not yet on the worst offenders list when it comes to air pollution, but we need to be on high alert. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that approximately 3 million deaths are recorded annually across the globe as a result of air pollution. In China alone, one third of the annual deaths are as a direct result of air pollution.
Photo Credits: AFP

Photo Credits: AFP
An academic paper researched by four universities (Massachusetts Institute of Technology- MIT, Tsinghua University, Peking University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem) concluded that bad air has cut the life expectancy of residents in Northern China by 5.5 years. This means that if life expectancy was at 70 years, more and more people would begin to die at 64 and a half years.

We do not have to wait for things to get this gloom for us to act. It is quite evident that Kenya is and will continue being among the leading industrializing countries in Africa. The vision is to break through the ranks and limitations to become a leading nation in development worldwide. As the resounding call echoes "It's time for Africa", let us nurture our environment. We need a healthy environment to be a healthy, prosperous nation. #IsupportBanPlasticsKE and #WorldEnvironmentDay (Follow the links to find out more.) 


YouTube: Air Pollution Facts



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