Prøve GULL - Gratis
The right way to talk about air pollution
Hindustan Times Pune
|November 14, 2025
India's air in the northern plains is visibly polluted. Air inside homes is likely unbreathable, too. But this is now an annual occurrence; little seems to change. Why, then, has this become one more harm we live with, almost silently?
Is it that we still don't fully grasp what it means to breathe such polluted air? The science has been clear for years: Pollution is cutting our lives short. So, what's missing is not information; it's the right storytelling.
We still haven't found a way to make clean air an issue that truly moves people, policymakers, and markets. The discourse remains centred on measurements - with hints of flaws - and blame, not so much the human costs of pollution, especially on health. When citizens see air pollution as an environmental issue, it feels distant. But when it is framed as a public health emergency stealing years from our lives, the response becomes more urgent, more personal, and, ultimately, more political.
A shift from evidence to stories making clear the human cost is how communication can shape policy. Consider the University of Chicago's Air Quality Life Index : By translating pollution levels into years of life lost, it changed how people view the stakes involved. The conversation was not about micrograms of pollutant concentration but about time lost - of togetherness for families, of education, play, and other activities for children, thanks to related illnesses, of productivity due to worker absence. That's the kind of storytelling India needs, connecting science to lived experience.
Denne historien er fra November 14, 2025-utgaven av Hindustan Times Pune.
Abonner på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av kuraterte premiumhistorier og over 9000 magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
FLERE HISTORIER FRA Hindustan Times Pune
Hindustan Times Pune
Abhishek Sharma bats at nets; readies for Colombo blockbuster
A few wrinkles might have vanished from the foreheads of the Indian think tank watching Abhishek Sharma blazing through his big shots at nets here on Saturday.
2 mins
February 15, 2026
Hindustan Times Pune
Varun looks to fox Pakistan batters with new variations
For a long time, Varun Chakravarthy has been packaged as the mystery spinner batters are meant to decode.
3 mins
February 15, 2026
Hindustan Times Pune
India exercises strategic autonomy: EAM in Munich
India continues to pursue a policy of strategic autonomy and the country’s decisions on energy purchases will be made after considering availability, cost and risks, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday against the backdrop of Washington's assertions that New Delhi has committed to reduce Russian oil imports.
2 mins
February 15, 2026
Hindustan Times Pune
1 killed in Mumbai metro slab collapse
A 46-year-old man was killed and three others injured after a portion of a parapet from an under-construction Metro line collapsed onto vehicles passing below in Mumbai's Mulund area on Saturday, officials said, adding that five people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
1 min
February 15, 2026
Hindustan Times Pune
MBA student rapes, kills classmate; held in Maha
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) student was arrested in Mumbai on Saturday for allegedly raping and killing his 25-year-old classmate in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, and posting the video of the sexual assault on their college’s WhatsApp group.
1 min
February 15, 2026
Hindustan Times Pune
Parks and playgrounds must become inclusive
That Sunday seemed as good a day as any for a trip to the park.
2 mins
February 15, 2026
Hindustan Times Pune
ROHIT WRITES TO SHAH, DGCA FOR PROBE INTO AJIT PAWAR AIR CRASH
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) legislator Rohit Pawar on Saturday said he has written to Union home minister Amit Shah seeking a comprehensive and transparent probe into the January 28 plane crash that killed Ajit Pawar.
1 min
February 15, 2026
Hindustan Times Pune
Abhishek Sharma bats at nets; readies for Colombo blockbuster
A few wrinkles might have vanished from the foreheads of the Indian think tank watching Abhishek Sharma blazing through his big shots at nets here on Saturday.
2 mins
February 15, 2026
Hindustan Times Pune
Russia poisoned Navalny with lethal frog toxin: UK and allies
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin with a rare and lethal toxin found in the skin of poison dart frogs, five European countries said Saturday.
1 min
February 15, 2026
Hindustan Times Pune
A moodier return to Punjab with a less taut investigation
The second season of Kohrra turns out to be strikingly different from the first.
1 mins
February 15, 2026
Listen
Translate
Change font size
