Air Pollution: New York vs New Delhi, what are the differences?

I would have been in New York this week as the summer holidays started June 1, but instead, I will be working on a project on the impact of the farming practice of crop burning in Punjab on air quality in New Delhi​.​

Reading about the hazardous situation in New York due to the forest fires in Canada, made me think of the similarities and differences between the experience in both situations. We've now all read about the air in New York turning to an ominous red colour with poor visibility, giving a dystopian feeling to the impact of climate change on the planet. Of the 32 million people living in Delhi who heard or read about the situation in New York, most must have thought that New York's situation is almost a daily occurrence in our city. New Delhi is the 4th most polluted city in the world according to IQAir’s 2022 World Air Quality Report. The AQI has reached over 1200  (if that's even a real number, since AQI monitors max at 999, which means on very bad days the measurements are well off the charts), on days just following the festive season of Diwali when firecrackers are used to celebrate, which is also sandwiched between the harvest seasons of rice and wheat that is the reason for crop burning in Northern India. This past week, New York reached 868, the highest ever recorded in the United States. The sources of pollution, the level, and the duration all vary from that of the situation in New Delhi. Below is my list of the difference and similarities between the situation in New York and New Delhi.

• AQI peaked at 868 in New York on June 7, 2023 and over 1200 in New Delhi on November 2, 2019

• 8.8 million people were impacted in New York vs. 32.9 million in New Delhi (NCR)

• The source of the pollution in New York is from the forest fires in Canada. The sources of pollution in Delhi are industrial activity, construction, motor vehicle emissions, crop burning, burning garbage, wood-burning fires, and cow dung combustion.

• New York is on the Atlantic coast and wind patterns allowed for the pollution to dissipate within days. New Delhi is a land-locked city, considered to be in a valley, that traps poor air for a longer duration.

•  Most of the people of Delhi are largely unaware of the levels of pollution in the city. Every New Yorker was aware of the situation.

• New Yorkers either stayed home or were masked if outdoors, many schools were closed, museums were closed and events around the city were postponed. In Delhi, only a select few wear masks and outdoor activity is rarely cancelled.

• The situation in New York was a discrete event, while the air quality in New Delhi is an ongoing battle!

I was born and raised in a city where I have only known air pollution. Back in 2015 when I was 9 years old, we started wearing masks and outdoor activity at our school was cancelled when the AQI reached above 300. This has been my motivation to start this blog and continue my research this summer on the impact of crop burning on the air quality in New Delhi.