Pollution

Just tell me what to take

Even if you live in the country, you are probably breathing polluted air. From campfires to jet engine exhaust, the obvious polluter - automobile exhaust fumes - there are cigarette smoke and chemicals emitted by industry - as well as ozone.. (Ozone is a form of oxygen that is a bluish irritating gas of pungent odor and it is a major agent in the formation of smog.) Many pollutants can be airborne over long distances, and all can enter your system.

Smog contains a long lineup of chemical nasties, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and tiny particles of everything from asbestos to soot, that can settle deep in the lungs and cause general havoc.

You should be especially aware of this fact if you work outdoors in a large city. You may be exposing yourself to more than one ton of pollutants - including heavy metals, carbon monoxide, and ozone - every year.

A high concentration of or long exposure to any one of these chemicals can cause shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, bronchitis, pneumonia, headaches, inability to concentrate, chest pain and, in some cases, lung cancer. Breathing polluted air changes the way that the lung cells do business.

Smog can make the lung cells vulnerable to attack by bacteria and viruses. Smog can kill cells, making the lungs less efficient at doing their job of gas exchange (absorbing oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide).

Many of the harmful interactions between the noxious substances in smog and lung cells happened during the chemical process known as oxidation. During oxidation, free radicals, which are unstable molecules of harmful chemicals, snatch electrons from the healthy molecules that compose the cells in order to balance themselves. This starts a chain reaction of electron stealing. The end result is serious damage to cells.
(See article Free Radicals and Antioxidants)

The hormone system is very sensitive to environmental chemicals. These contaminates can mimic hormones. The body gets confused and the artificial "hormone" connects to the cell receptors. When the cell receptors are full up with these false hormones, the real hormone cannot find a place to connect to the cell (sort of like trying to find a parking space in NYC). As time goes by, these receptor get full. The glands don't have a place to send their hormones to and the body can weaken. One of the main symptoms of this is accumulation of fat as the cells cannot burn it anymore. This is not only when you get older as younger people exposed to these environment toxicity develop the same problems Weight gain is a symptom of a physical problem. It is not the problem. Finding the correct problem can be found in these pollutants.

There are such things as Endocrine disruptors. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is doing research on this. And endocrine disruptor is and environmental poison that mimics, blocks or otherwise disrupts the normal function of hormones. These disruptors are pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, plastics, solvents, heavy metals, The EPA found that 90-95% of all pesticide residues are found in meat and dairy products.

Source : http://www.mcvitamins.com

Management of air pollution in Jakarta and Surabaya

A report by the Stockholm Environment Institute [1], in cooperation with the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) together with the Korea Environment Institute (KEI) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), says pollution levels in most Asian cities, including Indonesia's two largest metropolises Jakarta and Surabaya, are getting better but still cause 537,000 premature deaths each year across Asia.

The study examined twenty cities in Asia - Bangkok, Beijing, Busan, Colombo, Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Metro Manila, Mumbai, New Delhi, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Surabaya, Taipei and Tokyo, and ranked them on their air quality management (AQM) score.

Dirty Surabaya.

Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo were classed as having excellent AQM capability. A total of six cities (Colombo, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kolkata, Metro Manila and Mumbai) have moderate capability while Dhaka, Hanoi, Kathmandu and Surabaya have limited AQM capability.

Using a scale of Minimal - Limited - Moderate - Good - Excellent, the rankings for Jakarta:

• Measurement of Air Quality - Moderate
• Data Assessment & Availability - Moderate
• Emission Inventory - Good
• Air Quality Management - Moderate
• Overall Score - Moderate

Rankings for Surabaya:

• Measurement of Air Quality - Limited
• Data Assessment & Availability - Limited
• Emission Inventory - Limited
• Air Quality Management - Moderate
• Overall Score - Limited

Source : Indonesia Matters

The issues that most seriously threaten progress towards sustainable development in Indonesia are

Perverse incentives that hinder the sustainable use of natural resources
Natural resources are an important contributor to Indonesia’s GDP and Government budget. Agriculture, forestry, and mining contribute about 25% of Indonesia’s GDP and about 30% of overall Government budget revenue (in 2005, income tax on oil & gas represented 7% of revenue, and “non tax receipts” on natural resource revenues represented 22% of state revenues). Yet, Indonesia’s macroeconomic policies (tax and non-tax revenue policies and fiscal balancing formulas) appear to favor resource depletion over sustainable use as they reward district governments on resource revenue and not performance or stewardship, under-tax forestry and fisheries (relative to other natural resources), and do not allow charitable contributions by individuals or corporation.

Gaps between policy and practice following decentralization could slow significant improvement in environmental quality
Under decentralization, the extent to which sub-national governments feel bound by national guidelines is being put to the test; the civil service is no longer part of a unified chain of command, regulatory bodies in many provinces and districts now fall directly under the command of the governor or district head, who is often also the proponent of the projects or activities that must be regulated. Despite the substantial investment in environmental policy and staff development, actual implementation of rules and procedures has been poor. These problems are unlikely to get better under decentralization unless a more effective approach to regulation can be developed.

Many provinces and districts are making new interpretations of existing rules, or else inventing entirely new regulatory procedures. While some of these innovations strengthen environmental controls, many relax them or bypass national standards entirely.

Public perception of environmental issues and the Government’s development priorities
Public awareness is an essential part of the effort to address Indonesia’s environmental problems, from disaster risks to biodiversity conservation. Informed and aware citizens can take action to address environmental issues, and can form constituencies for improved efforts at the political and local government level. At a broader level, however, environmental values are not deeply embedded in society, leading to undervaluation of natural resources and environmental services. Participation and voice in decision making is an essential element of good governance. Recent environmental disasters (floods, mud, fires, erosion) have stimulated greater environmental concern, but further analysis of knowledge, attitudes and practices would be needed to determine how far or deep this understanding goes outside of urban centers, and what tools can best be used to build on this basic awareness.

Social, environmental and economic benefits , risks and costs of alternative development paths
Energy policy, forest sector practices and climate change issues are intricately linked in Indonesia. Fossil fuels dominate energy consumption in Indonesia both in rural and urban areas and Indonesia is gradually increasing the proportion of energy produced from coal (approximately 40% in 2002). Indonesia is also a large greenhouse gas emitter, generating 80 %of greenhouse gases from changed land use following logging and forest/swamp fires.

National energy policies propose to increase reliance on renewable energy sources, including biomass, geothermal, and hydropower. At the same time, the Government plans a large scale up in the use of coal to reduce Indonesia’s dependence on oil imports. Increased coal use would lead to significant negative environmental impacts associated with high sulfur content and potential impacts on forests from land clearing. Alternative energy solutions are necessary for more remote areas that are appropriately priced and supported by the public sector.

Source : worldbank.org