AND Now to change (the pollution of) air. That of our cities is definitely too dirty: according to the latest report of Legambiente, In 2024 as many as 25 Italian urban centers exceeded the legal limits for particulatesthose fine dust that slowly poison us, without realizing it. Apart from the smell: just go to the cities for a few days to realize, on the return, how irresparable and “bad” the air we breathe daily is.
The unpleasant smell, however, is not the main problem, because The real trouble is the effect of the smog on health: “For a long time it has been believed that pollution hurt only in the lungs, instead it has negative consequences on the whole body because it causes chronic and generalized inflammation that damages organs and fabrics” says Sergio Harari, director of the unit of pneumology and internal medicine of the San Giuseppe hospital in Milan.
On the lungs, of course, the effect is almost devastating: There is no doubt that being exposed to smog increases the risk of asthma and chronic obstructive chronic bronchopneous, or chronic bronchitis and emphysema; In Lombardy, Harari, some time ago, has shown that pollution is also co -responsible for the appearance of a rare disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, more frequent in those who live in very busy areas.
Not to mention the increase in tumors“Even in those who do not smoke,” Harari points out. “It clearly emerged that in people with a genetic susceptibility to lung cancer exposure to smog increases the risk of getting sick, regardless of being smoking or not.
This of course does not give the green light to cigarettes, which greatly enhance the negative effect of pollution. However, the harmful consequences are not limited to the lungs: breathing “dirty” air increases the probability of heart attacks and strokes, diabetes and endocrinological diseases, also of neurological pathologies and learning disorders. Children and teenagers, who are in development, are particularly susceptible to the detriment of exposure to smog ».
In fact, it has been shown that exposure to particulates and other traffic pollutants has a negative impact on the cognitive development of children: The votes of the pupils who attend institutions in very busy areas, for example, are worse than those of the peers who study in the green. But it does not go better to those who are on the years, on the contrary: in Milan, according to the data presented during the last breathing congress, the rate of deaths in the suburbs without greenery and traveled by often congested roads of cars is higher than 60 percent than the center, where traffic is subject to limitations, and excess mortality “affects” especially the elderly, more fragile in the face of the damage from smog on the heart, vases on the heart. lungs.
In the face of a similar panorama you can understand each other without defense: we cannot help but breathe, not everyone can afford to live in the green or to escape from the city as soon as possible.
But, in reality, it can be done very much starting from small habits, as Harari points out: «Do not do physical activity in busy areas, use the FFP2 mask on days when there is a lot of smog, Airing the house well by opening the windows at the times with less cars in the street, enrich the rooms of plants That can help clean up the air are all actions that reduce excessive exposure to pollutants. Then, of course, there is a basic smog from which it is more difficult to defend yourself: against that we should go back to paying attention to environmental issues in the choices concerning the community “.
A tank of proposals against pollution
Even on broader topics and decisions it is not true that we cannot do anything: the experience of Citizens for Aria Onlusan association that is committed to asserting the right to breathe clean air and that does not fail to propose strategies and solutions to change. Reminding us that we have more power than we believe, with our daily choices.
“Everyone can conduct his small battle to improve air qualityfor example using public transport or bike more and reorganizing the days in order to reduce movements and make them less polluting: the first source of smog in the cities is still the car traffic »Anna Gerometta, president of citizens for Aria Onlus, intervenes.
«It would be equally important to change the wood -burning stoves or pellets in favor of heating systems that emit less particulateslike gas systems or even better heat pumps: this is important on a global level, because the emissions of the stoves contribute to altering the climate, but also for health, because the harmful particulate is dispersed in large quantities even inside the houses heated with the stoves.
Another choice that few think but that It can make the difference is to reduce the consumption of red meatnot only because it improves the healthiness of the diet, but also because intensive farms are among the major sources of pollutants ».
The key theme of transport
On the site citizensperlaria.org You can find many suggestions to help improve the air we breathe, From the purchase of high energy efficiency appliances to the choice of the train instead of the plane for travel, from the use of “green electricity”opting for supplier companies that produce it in sustainable mode, to the supply of zero -kilometer foods, up to the advice for sustainable driving: if you are forced to use the car, the environmental impact can be reduced for example using in moderation the air conditioning, removing unnecessary weights, checking the pressure of the tires And guiding without exaggerating with speed. “We forget too often that we have a weight and power as consumers,” says Gerometta.
“For this reason, in the first place, among the actions we propose to change there is “make your voice heard”: Many citizens remain silent but would like different cities and an economy managed with different, more sustainable conditions. When administrations decide how to spend their money it is necessary to make yourself heard ».
Citizens for air, for example, proposes to increase limited traffic areas in citiesdecrease the speed limit at 30 km/h and reduce the parked cars, which occupy on average 50 percent of the urban space by subtracting it from “sweet” mobility; The strategy for the most livable and healthy cities then passes from solutions such as the strengthening of cycle paths, the depavimentation of as many areas as possible by replacing concrete with greenery, the promotion of shared mobility and preferential lanes for public transport and the creation of “School roads”, to make children go to school on foot safely.
«All this will also be possible thanks to everyone’s personal choices: if we enroll the child to a school on the other side of the city, it can become impossible not to accompany it by car. Let’s try to prefer an institution in our neighborhood »concludes Gerometta.
The new rules are more stringent for cities
If the EU limits of 2030 are confirmed and nothing will change in Italy, many cities will be “outlawed”. So …
For the Legambiente ranking, Milan is the second most polluted city in Italy after Frosinone: In the first two months of the year, the limit of 50 micrograms per cubic meter of particulates PM10, on the 35 days plus threshold that are “granted” every year by the legislation, has been evaled 20 times. Which will soon become even more restrictive: from 2030 the limit will be reduced to 45 micrograms per cubic meter and can only be exceeded 18 times a year.
Legambiente pointed out how With the new air quality standards, 70 percent of Italian cities will be outlawed, 71 out of 98 the limits for PM10 and 45 percent would disappear for nitrogen dioxide. And if we were to look at the thresholds imposed by the World Health Organization, which are even more stringent, over 65 percent of urban centers would exceed them. The regulations, if they are disregarded, as has also happened in Italy, which has various infringement procedures open at the EU Court of Justice, impose the Member States to comply in a given time, often a few months old. After which, in the absence of positive shares, fines are triggered, measurable in tens of millions of euros. In addition to the possibility, already explored by various associations, of the path of the judicial case: a class action against defaulting administrations, to obtain compensation for damages
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