Pakistanis are Learning to Wage War Against Deadly SmogWithout the Government

Abid Omar/PAQI

Lahore has some of the worst rates of smog in the entire world. A fed-up populace ignored by elected leaders is taking action on its own.

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

Continuing its annual year-ending trend of plummeting air quality numbers, Lahorethe capital of Pakistans Punjab province and home to 12.5 million people finished 2021 topping the list of the worlds most polluted cities. On the Air Quality Index (AQI), a 500-point scale used around the world to measure air pollution, parts of Lahore crossed a score of 450well beyond the hazardous threshold of 300multiple times in just the final 10 weeks of the year.

These apocalyptic numbers are caused by smog, mostly produced by outdated industrial and agricultural practices along with automobile emissions. The winter climate and cooler temperatures allow pollution particles to hang in the air for longer periods of time. Residents ended 2021 plagued by low visibility and worsened respiratory health. Of course, smog in Lahore is a constant problem, no matter what season it is.

Smog engulfs a local mosque near Lahore's busy Liberty Market.

On Their Own

Citizens have armed themselves with monitors and are sharing information to give Lahoris a sense of what the real-time air pollution is like so that they can take effective measures, Ahmad Rafay Alam, a Lahore-based environmental lawyer and activist, told ishonest. When you look online and can see the AQIs at 400 or 300, youll put a mask on. It has encouraged people to take that first remedial step. People are now increasingly investing in air purifiers. I have several in my house as well. We make sure with small hand held monitors that the air quality inside is in double digits.

Alam, who also has an AQI monitor at his place, said the increasing number of Lahore citizens looking to buy air purifiers has spurred some groups to start manufacturing and assembling them locally. The states peddling of environmental conspiracy theories has actually pushed many groups to start educating people independently on the real causes of smog, as well as instructing people on how to protect themselves and their families. Many people have joined ventures such as the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative, which aims to independently and accurately spotlight the AQI numbers across the country.

Even certain industries that are actual contributors to smog have stepped up on their own to improve air quality. For example, crop burning is a major contributor to smog. Farmers burn crops to clear the fields off the remnants of the cultivated crop and prepare it to harvest the next. To protect their livelihoods and at the same time help fight the climate battle, many farmers have been adopting what are called Happy Seeders.

Limited visibility on the Lahore Ring Road. The air pollution monitor reading is Hazardous at 500 AQI, the upper limit of the air quality index.

Abid Omar/PAQI

Happy Seeders remain out of reach to many farmers due to high costs. The government has been urged to provide subsidies to ensure that those agriculturalists or industrialists taking the environmentally friendly route are facilitated. But theres been little movement so far to help make these technologies more affordable.

Local agricultural machine vendors are doing their best to make the technology accessible to local farmers.

This year there has been an increased demand for Happy Seeders among the local farmers, Danish Hameed, the CEO of Lahore-based Agro Power Store, told ishonest. Not every company has it because the technology is still new and isnt used by everyone, but we are doing our best to make sure it becomes available to every farmer who wants to use Happy Seeders.

Workers at a brick kiln within Lahore city limits. Brick kilns in Pakistan are notorious for using waste as fuel, and for labor rights violations.

Abid Omar/PAQI

Agro Power Store has been supplying Happy Seeders to farmers across central Punjab in recent months as the demand grows. According to Hameed, many agricultural machinery providers like him believe that the autumn of 2022 will see an uptick in Happy Seeder demand in and around Lahore.

The local brick kiln sector has also come up with its own innovations to combat smog. With AQI numbers rising in Pakistan, the Brick Kiln Owners of Pakistan (BKOP) swiftly moved to adopt the zigzag approaches to building kilns, in which bricks are arranged in zigzag patterns, instead of straight lines, along with insulation of kiln walls and floor. This reduces carbon levels in smoke and further reduces energy losses.

Brick kilns contribute a small fraction to the smog, but we voluntarily took the initiative, Mehar Abdul Haq, general secretary for the BKOP, told ishonest. We trained our people in zigzag technology, without any financial or technical support from the government. According to Haq, this approach reduces pollution produced by brick kilns by 85 to 90 percent. Pakistans climate change ministry also has said that zigzag technologies could reduce the amount of carbon emissions produced by brick kilns by 60 percent.

Not only has the zigzag tech allowed us to reduce carbon levels, it has also made us more energy efficient, Haq added. Using around 30 percent less fuel also helps us protect the countrys energy resources for future generations.

White smoke spews out of the smokestack of Port Qasim Coal-Fired Power Plant on an unusually clear blue sky day, located at the outskirts of Karachi.

Big Limits

But whereas farmers and brick kiln owners have gladly stepped up to play their part in making the environment clean again, the governments policies dont reflect a similar understanding. Public officials are quick to take credit for voluntary efforts taken by brick kiln owners or the agricultural sector, but remain silent on the outdated automobile technologies and low fuel quality that bludgeons the air with pollutants.

Pakistan is still adhering to the European Unions Euro-2 fuel standards for vehicles, which was passed back in 1996. This standard allows for vehicles to emit more than double the amount of carbon dioxide allowed by newer vehicles under newer standards like Euro-5 (issued in 2009). Pakistans persistence with Euro-2 means the country is using fuel last deemed fit for vehicular use over 25 years ago.

Smog engulfs a local mosque near Lahore's busy Liberty Market.

Sulman Ali

COVID-19 lockdowns in the spring of 2020 gave Pakistan a climate wakeup call. For the first time in years, people saw clearer skies and breathed easier, thanks to a huge drop in vehicles on the road. Critics of the governments climate policies maintain that the next (and perhaps most decisive) technological innovation needed to address the Lahore smog would have to come in cleaner vehicles. Climate activists have cited the smog reprieve in 2020 as a demonstration for why the government needs to reconsider its fuel policies and urge a rise in battery powered vehiclesharkening that those fresher days could be a mainstay for the countrys future.

To be sure, electric vehicles are on the rise in Pakistancitizens are enthusiastic when their wallets allow for it. But the market will stay small unless there is a bigger investment by the government itself.

Sheikh believes that a share of the money spent on oil import could be spent on electric vehicles to virtually halve vehicular pollution. Even the person using [those vehicles] will spend less money on the battery than he currently is on fuel, he said. Previous research has shown that government subsidies are responsible for about 50 percent of the electric vehicle market.

So while Lahores residents have shown tremendous ingenuity and initiative in coming up with their own solutions to the air quality crisis, substantial change cannot come with government action. Lahoris have bought themselves some time and have raised new alarms that have helped to turn more heads and bring more attention to this issue. They have taken the lead in these and other efforts to go green. Now it will be incumbent on government representatives to follow suit and finish what Lahoris have started.

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