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IQAir's annual pollution report is out for 2023, and it is not looking good for Asia. Their list of the top 100 most polluted cities contained just one city outside Asia (Benoni, South Africa), and 83 of the 99 cities in Asia were located within one country: India. The city of Begusarai, in the eastern state of Bihar, was ranked number 1 on the list, followed by Guwahati, Assam, Delhi, and Mullanpur, Punjab. 29 out of the top 30 most polluted cities were located in either India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh. Pakistan's Lahore came in at 5th, India's New Delhi at 6th, and Bangladesh's capital of Dhaka at 24th. According to the research, over 96% (1.3 billion people) of India's population live in an area with pollution levels over 7 times above the World Health Organization (WHO)'s recommended amount of extremely tiny, dangerous particulate matter (PM2.5), which is 5 micrograms per cubic meter. Also, in total, over 92.5% of the 7,812 cities included in the report had pollution levels over the WHO's PM2.5 guidelines, which is the main reason why so many people die each year due to pollution. Millions of people are killed by high pollution levels in unhealthy air every year, and millions of others have their lifespan shortened and suffer from diseases due to the effects of high PM2.5 levels-- and pollution continues to increase every year due to the burning of fossil fuels. After the coronavirus struck, pollution levels all over the world began to decline, but they rebounded in 2023. However, awareness for pollution levels has been rising, and new research is done each year to discover the real impacts of pollution on the Earth. For example, almost all of Africa is normally underrepresented on these statistics, but a good amount of the continent was included on the 2023 report after an expansion of their research area.
Fact of the Day: Silly string, confetti, and stink bombs are all illegal in Alabama.
Quote of the Day: It takes determination to see a dream come to pass. The question is not will you start, but will you finish. (Joel Osteen)
Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Allege (verb)- To allege something is to assert it without proof or before proving it.
In a Sentence: Consumer advocates allege that the company knew about the faulty switches but sold the product anyway.
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