On how urgent it is to fight air pollution/ air pollution in the fire line

The visible deadly effects of pollution have already prompted some governments to take action for the sake of their
population. But so far, the measures have been both limited and insufficient, as shown through the set of
informative articles all dating back to 2014. While in the Sydney Morning Herald Heath Gilmore unveils the heavy toll
due to air pollution, in The Guardian John Vidal presents a European court decision compelling the UK to cut air
pollution. Finally Neela Banerjee and Tony Barboza penned / wrote an article for the LA Times (LAT) and revealed the
Environmental Protection Agency’s incentive to tighten the limit on ground-level ozone.

Air pollution has already caused / wreaked much havoc in people’s health and the Sydney Morning Herald article
takes stock of the death toll (death rate) in Australia. Beside higher risks of asthma, people may die from lung cancer
or cardiopulmonary diseases. The Australian newspaper also contends that fine particles shorten life expectancy by
65 to 72 days in Sydney and kills hundreds of people every year in other cities. The newspaper further reveals that
the deadly phenomenon has begot 2.1 million deaths worldwide. Like Gilmore, Vidal highlights the link between
cancer and fine particule emissions, but the former quotes a study that acknowledges how hard it is to draw a direct
correlation between pollution and diseases. This is said to be the reason why addressing air pollution could move
the goalposts.

The whole corpus underlines the manifold causes of pollution. According to Gilmore, emissions result from motor
vehicles, coal-fired power and fuel heaters as well as heavy industry, which all emit toxic gases like ozone, nitrogen
dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Though governments have been aware of the dangers most have fallen short of
complying with (fail to comply) the objectives set to limit pollution. Barnejee and Barboza assert that this is because
dismantling polluting industries may jeopardize the economy and manufacturing jobs in particular. They claim that
the stakes are so high for the US that measures fighting ground-level ozone have stalled. Therefore, countries are
faced with the conundrum of political objections and procrastination.

Yet, things may look up, as a new rule voted by the European Union will force member states to curb air pollution by
restricting diesel cars and heavy goods vehicles, according to The Guardian. Vidal further lists solutions such as
congestion charges, low-emission zones but also cycling or walking. Similarly, Barnejee and Barboza suggest
tightening current limits for ground-level ozone, banning polluting cars altogether to replace them with near-zero
emission vehicles.

There has been little to no effective government action so far, but growing awareness has entailed more drastic
measures, which might not be enforced overnight, though. (451)