In the News
November 28, 2018
Noted US economist Michael Greenstone on Tuesday has said a person staying in Rohtak could live up to eight years longer if the air quality was kept within the standards prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). He said air pollution was a bigger threat to life than smoking and drug abuse but its long-term impact were often ignored. Greenstone was speaking at the Chaudhary Ranbir Singh memorial lecture organised by Maharishi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda were also present.
Greenstone is a professor at the University of Chicago and had served as the chief economist for US President Barack Obama’s council of economic advisers. Greenstone’s study indicates that the average particulate matter (PM) 2.5 concentration in Rohtak was 95, which was almost 10 times higher than limits prescribed by the WHO and only marginally lower than the 114 of New Delhi. He said the national average for India was 54, more than five times the WHO standards.
“Around the world today, people are breathing air that represents a serious risk to their health. But the way this risk is communicated is very often opaque and confusing, translating air pollution concentrations into colours, like red, brown, orange, and green. What those colours mean for people’s well-being has always been unclear,” said Greenstone.
“My colleagues and I developed the AQLI, where the ‘L’ stands for ‘life,’ to address these shortcomings. It takes particulate air pollution concentrations and converts them into perhaps the most important metric that exists — life expectancy,” Greenstone added.