International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies

International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies

September 7th is the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. It is a resolution adopted in 2019 at the 74th United Nations General Assembly. This is the day created to raise the awareness of air pollution and encourage global citizen to work together for blue skies. What is interesting about this day is that it is the first UN’s official international day initiated by South Korea. This idea first came from a South Korean in August 2019, selected by UN in December the same year, and designated as a national day of South Korea in 2020.

 

Image from Pixabay

Actually in Korea, air pollution is a serious problem. In 2019, 61 cities out of 100 cities OECD member countries with serious fine particulate matter came from South Korea. Though average annual fine particulate matter level of South Korea reduced to  20.4㎍/㎥, which is 15.4% lower compared to 2014, it is still very serious level by WHO standard which is 5㎍/㎥.

Image from Pixabay

According to WHO, about 7 million people die from air pollution each year. WHO’s report analyzed the effect of air pollution on human’s life expectancy and find that a person’s life expectancy shortens by 2.3 years on average as a result of one’s exposure to fine particulate matter for a long time. This is 3.8 times worse than drinking alcohol or unclean water and 5.8 times worse than car accidents.

Image from Pixabay

What can we do for blue skies? It is simple and you already are aware of these solutions. First, avoid using disposable products to reduce carbon emission occurred from incinerating the trash.  Second,  try to maintain moderate indoor temperatures to reduce the use of heating/air conditioning systems which increases high concentration fine particulate matter. Last but not least, let’s try to use public transportation and talk a close distance! Let’s try to keep our skies blue and high with simple things we can practice in our daily lives!

Image from Pixabay