Our Desk | Who needs air anyway?

Renato Marques

Considered less important than the melting of the icecaps, Greta’s “stolen childhood” or the tiny plastic particles in your fish is the air. Yes, the air. That invisible thing used by humans, animals and plants just to breathe.
The air, or better said, the quality of the air we breathe has recently been disregarded when compared to other problems, such as plastic pollution and how much CO2 a cow produces in her (poor) lifetime.
This topic has come up precisely during a week when the air quality in Macau has registered as very poor and is edging on pollution scores seen more often in Beijing.
Maybe it is a sign of the times, but is it because we getting closer and closer to Beijing or because we have done absolutely nothing to address this problem?
I am perfectly aware that unlike other forms of pollution, like emissions, which are possible to address in a more direct manner, air pollution is more complex, comes from everywhere, and is caused by basically everything we do in our daily lives. Contrary to other forms of pollution that can be “easily” reduced or recycled, air pollution is “harder to catch.”
My point here is simple: since air quality (or the lack of it) influences all other forms of pollution and the quality of life, we should put it at the top of our priority list as conscientious adults. But are we?
No, I do not think so. We tend to act in a manner that some may say is typically lazy of humankind, and we tend to push the easiest problems to solve to the top and leave the difficult ones for “someone else to solve.”
Others may think that I am completely wrong and that there are other problems more important than the air, for instance, water pollution.
I know how important is to “clean” or avoid extreme pollution in our rivers and seas. I know that as humans we cannot live long without water. But how long can you live without air?
Let’s try it. Let’s do a simple exercise. Cover your mouth and nose, and try to read the rest of this column without breathing a single time and then, when you reach the end of it, let me know how it feels.
Honestly, for me, I felt like I immediately forgot how many billions of pieces of microplastic are released into your brew by using a single tea bag, though I accept that others might think differently.
Allow me to simply establish a different list of priorities which is topped by the air we breathe.
If the air is toxic, the rain will be toxic and our water supply tanks will become toxic. Then we will irrigate the fields that produce our food and cook with this toxic water that will then enter our system through our food. Let us not forget that both animals and plants will “drink” it or live in it, so no matter what you eat or drink, it will get to you anyway.
Are there any ways to address the air pollution? I would start with a simple one: stop lying to people about it. Just tell them the truth. Tell people that the air is bad. Tell them to protect themselves. Because if “tweaking” figures on some economic fields is “just” dishonest, doing the same thing when it comes to something which is so vital to life should be a crime.