Apr.19: ENVIRONMENT SNIPPETS
- Posted by CERC India
- Posted in April
Raise awareness on e-waste: UGC Â Â
Ill effects
All higher educational institutes have been issued a letter urging them to make use of the content available and raise awareness about the health hazards of e-waste. The letter, issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC), says that they should also teach students about the best practices for environmentally safe recycling and related regulations in the country.
In the letter, UGC says that there is a need to initiate a sustained mechanism to create awareness to reduce the adverse impact on environment and health due to polluting technologies used in the unorganized sector for recycling e-waste. The content is available on the www.greene.gov.in website.
Vital lesson
India tops in under-5 deaths: WHO report on air pollution
Vulnerable children    Â
Air pollution in India has been linked to the premature deaths of around 1,10,000 children in 2016. The country witnessed the highest number of deaths of children under five years of age of 60,987 due to exposure to particulate matter (PM) 2.5. India is followed by Nigeria, Pakistan and Democratic Republic of Congo.
This was revealed by a World Health Organization (WHO) report titled ‘Air Pollution and Child Health – Prescribing Clean Air’. Between five and 14 years, India saw the deaths of 4,360 children. The report also says that pregnant women, exposed to polluted air, are more likely to give birth prematurely, and have small, low birth-weight children.
Toxic air
ACs will make world 0.5o Celsius warmer by 2100
Serious challengeÂ
The number of room air conditioning units (RACs) is projected to rise from 1.2 billion to 4.5 billion in the world by 2050 as a result of increasing incomes and urbanisation. India alone may account for one billion units. This poses a serious challenge to the fight against climate change and rising temperatures.
This projected jump in space cooling requirement will need three times more electricity. Global temperatures will rise by 0.5o Celsius through use of cooling units alone by 2100. These findings are part of a report ‘Solving the Global Cooling Challenge’ prepared by the US-based Rocky Mountain Institute.
Alarming report
