Diwali is a festival of lights and happiness. But when we burn firecrackers during this festival, we invite our own death. Pollutants released by firecrackers cause various respiratory ailments. The pollution from firecrackers is harmful to COVID patients as well as people who have just recovered from COVID-19. So while celebrating festivals, we have to take care that we do not bring about harm to our health. We should only celebrate in a way that will not bring any harm and will, instead, benefit us.
In 2019, air pollution contributed to 6.67 million deaths worldwide. In the same year, air pollution moved up from the fifth to the fourth bleeding risk factor for death. Air pollution accounts for 20% of newborns deaths worldwide. In such a grave situation, we cannot increase rates of pollution just for our mere recreation.
Several environmentalists and studies are warning not to use firecrackers during the Diwali festival, especially the ones with a lot of sound and smoke. Pollution leads to a wide range of chronic respiratory diseases including COVID by weakening our immunity and the ability to fight diseases. Therefore, we should reduce pollution as much as possible, especially pollution due to our recreation.
Celebrate a green and healthy Diwali instead by planting a sapling and decorating the house with diyas and candles to signify the enlightening in the minds of people which is the true spirit of Diwali. Stop burning firecrackers that are causing air pollution and noise pollution and keep yourself safe from chronic respiratory diseases caused due to this pollution and also many accidents that occur.
Photo by Udayaditya Barua on Unsplash
There are many reasons as to why we should not use Crackers.
Fire-crackers contain Sulphur which when burnt leads to many harmful respiratory diseases like bronchitis and even lung cancer. There’s no use by cleaning and sanitizing our surroundings if our body immunity is not able to fight diseases. Pollution weakens this immunity and the ability of our body to fight diseases. Everyday our body is affected by pollution as we ride our comfortable, luxurious vehicles. Further burning crackers for recreation is actually threatening our own health and weakening our immunity.
On the other hand, steps such as planting of trees should be undertaken which will protect us from adverse effects of pollution and give us clean, fresh air, boosting our immunity and also keeps our lungs clean, resistant to diseases. Lighting diyas and candles will give an eloquent peace and represent the true spirit of Diwali as burning crackers is not part of religion, but only a life-threat!
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A nature lover and an environmental activist, Oindrila is a class 11 student from Visakhapatnam. You can frequently see her striking on fridays and fighting for several other issues. She is one of the most active volunteers at FFF AP and a few other organisations. She loves to paint, listen to music, feed stray animals, and care for trees.