Air pollution kills as many people every year as the world wars did: Sonam Wangchuk

Adding to his point Wangchuk said, “Air pollution matches the death rate for the first and second World Wars yet the difference is that we know them as ‘World Wars’ but this (air pollution deaths) we don’t even recognize.” The third world war is not in the future but it has begun, not between nations but between man and nature, he added.

Quoting Mirza Ghalib’s famous couplet “hazaron khwahishen aisi ki har khwahish pe dam nikle, bahut nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhi kam nikle”, Wangchuk explained the harms of consumerism and how it leads to the destruction of the planet. Humorously remarking that people in Delhi use thicker blankets than people in Ladakh due to the air conditioning being on full blast, Wangchuk said that the people of Pune were much better.

Gurudas Nulkar, Professor, Director Centre for Sustainable Development at GIPE, also spoke at the event and said, “People like Sonam and so many other activists who are working there know the pulse of the people. The elected representatives need to be brought along with that on a much larger scale.”