Wassener, Bettina. "Asian Cities’ Air Quality Getting
Worse, Experts Warn." The New York Times.
The New York Times, 06 Dec.
2012. Web. 08 Dec. 2012.
This article discusses the air
pollution that has worsened in Asian cities. It is reported that in recent
years air pollution has worsened and has become a growing threat to human
health. A conference of experts was held on Wednesday in which experts discussed
the worsening air pollution. Clean Air Asia, a regional network on air-quality
management, aggregated data from more than 300 cities in 16 Asian countries and
found that levels of fine particulate matter – a key pollutant in terms of its
impact on human health – were below targets recommended by the World Health
Organization in just 16 cities, most of them in Japan. It is reported that
pollution levels in 70 percent of the cities exceed even the most lenient of
several targets recommended by the World Health Organization. It is said that
the number of people living in the developing cities in Asia is expected to
swell by 1.1 billion over the next 20 years, making urban air pollution a
particularly relevant issue for the region. A study by the World Health
Organization published in 2008 estimated that outdoor air pollution caused 1.3
million premature deaths worldwide per year, 800,000 of them in Asia.
This is very interesting since pollution is a
major problem in the world at the moment. It is important that experts are
finding this out now since something has to be done to remedy this matter. A
report by an organization warned that air pollution could become the biggest
environmental cause of premature death by 2050 if action is not taken to
improve air quality.
I believe that the author did a great job with
the article. The article covered an issue that is very distressing because of
the reports that pollution has caused many deaths. Overall I enjoyed this
article because I thought it was very informative.
Naomi’s review of “’Asian Cities’ Air Quality Getting Worse, Experts Warn,” successfully summarized the key information presented in the article without getting into too much detail. I think that it was good that she included some of the statistics mentioned in the article, including the ones about how many premature deaths outdoor air pollution led to four years ago. It is also scary to think that air pollution could one day become the biggest environmental cause of premature death by 2050! I think that this was an important fact to include because it demonstrates the significance of the article. I like that the reviewer chose a very current and pertinent article to review.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I think the reviewer could have included was a connection, either to our Biology class or life in Bronxville (or even New York City). Since Asia is on the other side of the world, it is interesting to observe that this might not just be happening in Asia, but closer to home as well. As the reviewer did not include a link to the article, it was a little more difficult to find than usual. I think that the article itself could have included more detail, for example, the response of the government to this issue.
Overall, the article was interesting but also served as a warning sign of what could become all over the world- which is a frightening thought. It will be interesting to see what sort of action people will take (and how these changes affect people’s lives).