India Times, 18 Nov 2018
A public perception study designed to see the level of awareness in people about air quality, pollution, precaution and solution revealed that 90 per cent of the people interviewed have heard of air pollution but they lack awareness about the causes and effects.
The study was commissioned by the Clean Air Collective which is an umbrella body with 80 civil society organisations, citizen groups and experts working on the issue and air pollution. The study was conducted by CMSR Consultants, a multidisciplinary research group.
Roughly 5000 people were interviewed in the study which found Delhi residents most aware closely followed by Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune and Kolkata.
“This comprehensive survey reveals that while awareness of the adverse effects of air pollution is very high, most people seem to think that they need to do nothing at the individual level. This perception needs to be addressed. It is only when people make this a priority issue will politicians wake up and take action,” Debi Goenka of Conservation Action Trust told The Hindu.
He was speaking about people’s initiatives to control pollution — which only looked at walking whenever possible (59.7%), tree plantation (40.2%) and reduced energy consumption at home (36.2%).
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