On Thursday morning, I woke up to posts and pictures of New York City shrouded in an orange haze, all over my social media feed. The city’s air quality index recorded 353-500 (AQI), according to the Swiss company IQAir, which said NYC was seeing the worst air pollution of any major city in the world — 56 times above WHO’s recommended limit. The reason for the toxic haze was the wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia in Canada that travelled southward, towards northeast America.
There was, of course, the comparison with Delhi (even as Delhi’s AQI remained below 200 from January to April this year — the city’s best air quality since 2016). But what caught my eye, within the sea of orange that covered the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty, was the sense of indignation about NYC air quality from those who have been residents of India for over two decades at least (the “depressing” fact of it feeling like Delhi). On my feed, most Indians in New York are part of the urban, upper-middle-class who were able to afford to migrate, either for education or employment. Their expectation was of a better life, with cleaner air and a healthier environment.
Of course, the first world affords first-class lives. It is as if people in India are condemned to live in an unhealthy environment, but those in the US deserve “cleaner” living. This, despite the US being the second-highest contributor to CO2 emissions after China — India ranks third, with less than half of the US’s share. Historically, America’s share is much higher. According to an analysis by Carbon Brief, since 1850, the US has been the largest contributor of CO2 until 2021 — 20.3 per cent of the global share. India stands in seventh place with 3.4 per cent of the total share.
If we break this down by pollution per capita, India’s contribution climbed to 1.9 metric tons in 2021, while America’s in the same year was at 14.24 metric tons. This means that the contribution to CO2 emissions per person in America is more than seven times that in India. All of this has made the whole world much more vulnerable to the dangers of climate change.
Yet, one day of orange skies in NYC and New Yorkers are up in arms about it. The fact that New York City, “where dreams are made of”, experienced similar consequences of climate change as the Global South does regularly, was alarming for even non-US residents.
It is about time that those responsible for the lion’s share of climate change face up to their actions. It is also about time for those who have experienced this disproportionate consequence to understand that while they may have been able to move on to greener pastures, there are many others in the same spaces who have not been afforded this privilege. The condescension of believing that one is entitled to a better life only because they have been able to “get away” from the adverse impact of climate change reeks of ignorance. The fact of being able to make the choice to move must not come with losing perspective of the bigger issue of climate change at hand. More than that, it must not come with an inflated sense of self where it is “depressing” that New York may now be closer to Delhi than imagined.
adya.goyal@expressindia.com
