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Delhi trapped under blanket of toxic air two days after Diwali
Overall Air Quality Index at 456 on a scale of 500, indicating ‘severe’ pollution
Published: November 06, 2021 15:48
Reuters
New Delhi: India’s capital was blanketed by toxic air on Saturday as pollution levels remained dangerously high for a second day after revellers defied a fireworks ban during a major Hindu festival and farmers in nearby states burnt stubble.
New Delhi’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 456 on a scale of 500, indicating “severe” pollution conditions that can affect healthy people and seriously impact those with existing diseases.
The AQI measures the concentration of poisonous particulate matter PM2.5, which can cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, in a cubic metre of air.
On social media, some residents complained about the hazardous conditions in Delhi, which has the worst air quality of all world capitals, with an annual spike often early in the winter.
“The pollution in Delhi makes it very difficult to live in this city. Or at least live here for too long,” resident Pratyush Singh said on Twitter. “We’re breathing smoke everyday.
Media will talk about it. Leaders will say they are fixing it.
It’ll go away and come back next year.” Toxic air kills more than a million people annually in India and takes an economic toll on the country’s populous northern states and the capital city of 20 million people.
The current pollution levels in Delhi were the result of fireworks on the night of the Hindu festival of Diwali on Thursday and from stubble burning in the surrounding farm belt, according to the federal Ministry of Earth Sciences’ SAFAR monitoring system.
Farmers in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana set alight the stubble left after harvesting at this time of the year to prepare their fields for the next crop.
The situation is expected to improve in Delhi from late Sunday onwards, but the AQI will remain in the “very poor” category, which can trigger respiratory illness on prolonged exposure, SAFAR said in a statement on its website.
Can somebody determine the amount of carbon entering the atmosphere from Diwali? I would like to know if it creates more carbon in two days than Canada does in a year?
Indo-Canadians also celebrate Diwali. Here in Abbotsford, B.C., I got to listen to 3 hours of fireworks four days after Hallowe'en. There were so many fireworks on the BC south coast and down into the Seattle area that on Hallowe'en evening I saw a good 1000 Canada Geese flying northeastward into the mountains. The wrong direction for migration, but they probably thought they were being shot at. There's a potential disaster there.
Global wine production expected to dip to 'extreme' low
due to harsh weather
By UPI Staff
Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Wine production worldwide is expected to fall to historic lows after severe weather conditions impacted multiple winemaking areas in Europe, according to an intergovernmental viticulture organization.
The International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) says it is forecast that harsh weather conditions in fertile areas in Italy, Spain and France have led to "extremely low" production volumes for the industry.
Compacting the problem, it says, is that demand for wine is almost back to normal levels that were disrupted by COVID-19.
"This would be the third consecutive year [when] the global production level is below average," OIV said in a statement Thursday.
"Italy, Spain and France ... lost about 22 [hectoliters] with respect to 2020 due late spring frost and overall unfavorable climatic conditions."
It seems there's a lack of global warming in southwestern Europe.
The OIV forecast is based on data collected from 28 countries, which account for about 85% of all wine production
in 2020. File Photo by Debbie Hill/ UPI
The organization said 2021 estimates are between 247 and 253 hectoliters -- which is 7% lower than its 20-year average.
France, Italy and Spain account for about 45% of global wine production and almost 80% of production in the European Union, OIV said.
"The impact of this downfall for the global wine sector is yet to be evaluated given the current context where the COVID-19 pandemic is still generating a relatively high degree of volatility and uncertainty," the organization added.
By contrast, the OIV forecast said that Germany, Portugal, Romania, Hungary and the United States have seen a slight increase in production.
COP26 climate change summit sets unexpected ecological record
12 Nov, 2021 13:58
A report commissioned for the UK government has shown that the COP26 meeting held in Glasgow has been twice as polluting as the previous climate summit, COP25, which was staged in Madrid.
The carbon footprint for the UN COP26 is expected to reach the equivalent of 102,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to an initial assessment report for the UK government. The figure is roughly equivalent to the amount of C02 emitted by 10,000 British households annually.
The document, compiled by sustainability consultant Arup, notes that some 60% of the emissions are related to international air travel of some 39,000 delegates who have taken part in the environmental crisis talks. Other major sources of pollution are cited as accommodation for the delegates, ferrying of guests to and from the summit, and venue catering.
The report authors add that COP26 is the largest summit held in the UK to date and the figures on carbon emission will provide an important measure to inform wider activities within the Carbon Management Plan.
The last UN climate change summit in Madrid welcomed some 27,000 people and produced some 51,101 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Data suggest the COP summits have been gradually getting more polluting, with the 2009 COP15 in Copenhagen producing around 26,000.
The British government has said it will undertake projects within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to offset emissions.
A number of critics have bemoaned the use of gas-guzzling luxury vehicles to ferry delegates back and forth to the conference venue. Others have labelled world leaders hypocritical for flying to Glasgow for the summit; some, it is understood, had come directly from the G20 meeting in Rome.
The BBC was told by aviation analytics company Cirium that some 76 flights involving private jets, or VIP flights, arrived at Glasgow and nearby airfields in the four days running up to the summit.
This man-made ecological disaster is brought to you by Stupidity Supreme the favourite drink of hypocritical elites the world over!
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