18 million hectares of bushland were destroyed during the Australian Wildfires of 2019. The resulting smoke plume spanned an area of 1.3 billion acres, which roughly equates to the size of the 11 largest US states combined. According to the UN World Meteorological Organisation the smoke plume from the Australian Wildfires reached South America and Antarctica. The size and scale of this wildfire event is barely imaginable.
Polluted air is a global health crisis. Every minute ten adults die prematurely because of dirty air inhaled over their lifetime. The five million deaths annually attributed to air pollution is larger than the annual death toll from war, murder, car accidents, plane crashes, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and Ebola combined. Breathing clean air, with complete peace of mind should be a fundamental right for all persons.
“We don’t want people to think that just any piece of cloth is good enough and have a false sense of security.”
These were the words of Dr. Scott Segal, chair of anaesthesiology at Wake Forest Baptist Health, a leading US medical education and research, when discussing the effectiveness of cloth masks in the fight against the global pandemic we are currently facing. Â
So, you are looking at getting yourself a face mask? Good Call.
2020 has demonstrated that protecting yourself from exposure to harmful particulate matter is now a necessity in today’s world. From the bushfires smoke that engulfed Australia and California, and soaring pollution levels in Delhi and Lahore, to the Covid-19 global pandemic, it is clear; face coverings are here to stay. Let’s cut through the noise and discover the best mask to choose, according to science.
Air pollution is the silent killer that we are not talking about, it’s time we stopped taking the air we breathe for granted. We must become empowered and informed around the dangers of air pollution and the measures we as individuals can take in order to stay safe.
