Essay and Audio by Magda Jazmeen Moreno

What kind of air are we breathing in Bogota?

Audio: Here

Have you ever thought that something as natural and obvious as breathing might kill you or at least affect you?, if you are in a large city like Bogota it could be time to think about it. In 2012 according to The World Health Organization’s data the air pollution was the responsible for the death of 6.5 millions of people, it has been five years since then, and for sure now the problem is worse worldwide, and Bogota as a great urban city not just in Colombia but also in Latin America is not an exception, while the majority of the population as a response is taking ineffective treatments or ignoring the problem, personally I consider to see the reality as the first step to minimize the adverse effects in the humans’ health.

Bogota as Capital of Colombia is known nationally and internationally as a modern city with tall buildings joined in contrast with historical and cultural places which show part of the history of our country, on top of that, lots of places to work, to study or to recreate; following this illusion and beautiful shine many people have wanted to be part of this city, one of the nicknames of Bogota “The city of everybody” is not a joke, Bogota is not just the largest city of Colombia but it is also the most populated city, this implies that social and environmental problematics are as diverse as the people who live here, for localities we might find different problems and situations as homeless people, trash on the streets or insecurity, among many others, the citizens are awake of these problems and everyone wants an answer for them, but there is an environmental problematic that usually is forgotten by the population, even for the government, The Air Pollution, because this kind of pollution is not visually shocking, and the air quality that we are breathing is not something that we often think in this busy society, so this situation is increasing and the majority of people don’t care about, but the air pollution is as quiet as dangerous, one of the variables why this issue needs more attention is the future effects in the respiratory health of the population, The World Health Organization (WHO) affirms that “the airborne particle PM2.5 (particulates less than 2.5 thousandths of a millimeter across) can penetrate deep into the lungs, in urban areas the level may be twice than the limit that has been set as safe” (1990), this shows the real danger that every person who is living in a place with high level of air pollutions as Bogota might face in a near future, now it’s clear why I consider that this problematic should be treated as careful as others.

After to recognize that the air pollution is critical and something to worry in order to know the point to start, I hold the view that it will be important to see what kinds of situations have been influencing the problem, as citizens we know that Bogota is crowded and the traffic can be chaotic, too much vehicles running on the streets, additionally the mount of cars increases every year in this city, a study by the Secretary of Health of the District in collaboration with (JICA) concluded that “the most important source of pollution in Bogotá was automobiles; 70% of the pollution could be attributed to cars” (1990), but the vehicles are not the problem by themselves, but the condition of these, cars account for almost all of the carbon monoxide emissions, if they are in bad conditions the emissions are worse, even when the authorities make regular revisions, it seems to me that these efforts are not enough and there are still on the streets vehicles in bad states polluting the city without a punishment, in my eyes this means incompetence of the regulations or there is not attention and interest by the authorities and obviously irresponsible behaviour from some citizens, this is not the only reason of the air pollution, on other hand the industries that we can find in Bogota as center of the development of the country also affects this problematic, especially when industries and factories throw the waste of gases and smoke without precaution in an illegal way, I have no doubt that this cause as the previous one would not be a problem if the authorities, district and citizens take the problematic as something serious for the public health, in special for the vulnerable people, children and ancients, who have been more affected, the situation might improve or at least be controlled.

Since my view the lacks in information, prevention and disinterested calm towards the topic is what is blinding us to take special treatments as citizens, because even when it is a responsibility from the district to find ways to decrease the air pollution level in Bogota, it is also a matter of every citizen, as everyone is breathing this air also everyone should be responsible for the air quality, for example being careful and not causing wildfires and following the laws of the acceptable condition of automobiles not for fear at the monetary consequences but the health consequences and risks that our society will face if nothing changes, if we keep thinking that everything is okay in a few decades after of lots of inhalation of these gases, serious respiratory illnesses will be as common as a cold, and any regret or lie will be enough to change the situation, it is time to do something now for our future generations and us.  

Reference:

Lozano, Nancy, Air Pollution in Bogotá, Colombia: A Concentration-Response Approach. Desarrollo y Sociedad [Online] 2004, (September): [Fecha de consulta: 19 de noviembre de 2017] Disponible en: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=169114661004  

Puentes, J. (October, 2016). La pequeña gran mentira de la contaminación en Bogotá. [Online – El Tiempo]. Consulted and available from http://www.eltiempo.com/bogota/contaminacion-en-bogota-36856