Inside Delhi’s air pollution crisis

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.2 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2021

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Over the past few weeks, a thick brown smog has enveloped Delhi. The pollution is so bad that the capital and surrounding states have shut schools and imposed work-from-home orders. Toxic air at levels 20 times higher than those deemed healthy by the World Health Organization has become a seasonal occurrence in India, causing about 1.6 million premature deaths every year. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Guardian South Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen and environmental researcher Karthik Ganesan about what it is like to live with poisonous air – and what needs to be done. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is the Guardian.
0:05.0	Ignat the Explorer in you and plan your next trip to Texas, where outer space meets fast deserts, rodeo meets classical ballet, and where
0:16.7	you can meet adventure.
0:19.4	Experience the thrill of a Texas rodeo.
0:22.1	Sample your way around the local food scene,
0:24.0	or tore the diverse landscapes of the state's grand national parks.
0:28.0	Uncover more at the Guardian.com forward slash Discover Texas.
0:32.0	This message was paid for by Travel Texas.
0:33.8	Visit Austin. Visit Dallas. Visit Houston and visit Fort Worth. This week people in Delhi have been told to stay at home as schools and offices were forced to shut down.
0:52.0	But this lockdown isn't to control COVID-19 infections.
0:57.0	It's to tackle lethal levels of pollution.
1:01.0	It's like living in a sort of toxic furnace really. It's this sense your
1:06.4	body has, you know, when you're in it, you can feel it on your body, you can feel it on
1:10.0	your skin. It's what's known in India as pollution season and it's now
1:15.9	something that happens every single year as the country heads into winter. Everyone is
1:22.1	coughing, everyone is sick, everyone is unable to work and
1:26.2	it stops people going out and living their lives and it has such a physical impact on
1:30.7	almost everyone who lives here.
1:32.8	Toxic air kills around 1.6 million people in India every year.
1:39.1	It accounts for 18% of all fatalities. So where does this deadly smog come from and what's being done
1:47.8	about it? From The Guardian, I'm Madeline Finley, and this is Science Weekly.
1:54.0	How dangerous is Delhi's air. You wake up in the morning out the window what looks like a kind of brown smog is there and you've kind of got all your windows and doors
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Guardian, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Guardian and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.