I am a student and a resident of Dhaka. It has been 18 years since I saw Dhaka. For different purposes, I visited many rural areas and saw the daily life of residents. Sadly, according to US AQI Dhaka is ranked 1 as the most polluted city in Bangladesh, 49th in Asia.
As mentioned in a recent media report, Dhaka ranked 4th on the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality with an air quality index (AQI) score of 139.
According to Wikipedia, Dhaka is the ninth-largest, seventh-most densely populated city in the world and about 23,210,000 people live in the city. In this urban jungle, going from one place to another becomes so hard due to traffic jams, time constraints and personal chores.
For this reason, it becomes hard to go a little far in a healthy environment. So, people mostly go to shopping malls, restaurants, movies and in such places with artificial entertainment.
Leaving the working city to visit natural places is harder for service holders and their families living in the urban. To bring a natural environment to urban entertainment many restaurants decorate and name their places with a solid natural vibe.
Some of them are The Forest Lounge, The Green Lounge, Green House, Adda and more. For the young generation, these become a good place to hang out with friends and family for photo shoots and more social media-related issues, for the adults these are good for the natural vibes.
For the names, their decorations and food quality there is no chance that people don’t like these places. But, with the natural taste, the buildings are full of air conditioning (AC) and they have to use them for the full opening hours.
Some restaurants have their kitchen pipes open to the road and all their black burned smokes are spreading openly.
Recently I visited some air condition selling shops and they said they sold more than 10 times more than their target sale of this year and many times they went stocked out and started a pre-order or booking system.
And for this large sale, the price of these cooling systems went on fire. It increased more than 30 per cent from their regular price. For the extremely hot weather of Bangladesh, most restaurants, and families are accepting the price and installing AC in their places.
In some houses, there are more than enough artificial cooling systems. Some restaurants are closing their open environment spaces, and making them air-controlled. Having an AC in the home, car, educational institutions and places of entertainment for human beings is becoming mandatory.
They do not want to go to those places where there is no cooling system, they refuse to walk openly, and sometimes going to one relative’s place where AC is not available is not ok. With these restricted parts, the environment is also getting polluted by the air conditions.
Air Conditioning units work by removing the warm air from inside your home and pumping it outside while releasing the cool air back into the room, reducing the temperature.
When the liquid becomes gas, it absorbs heat, and in principle, this is how the AC functions. Air conditioners use a lot of energy.
The increased demand for energy is causing more fossil fuel to be burned and this is what leads to an increase in CO2 emissions that are harmful to the environment. Air conditioners emit Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which cause damage to the ozone layer of the atmosphere.
The AC doesn’t affect only the environment. It affects our health and financial matters also. In healthy individuals, exposure to air conditioners with very cold air can cause alterations in the respiratory airways.
Additionally, air conditioning at work and home can lead to problems, such as colds, fevers, headaches and fatigue. Also in the context of pre-existing conditions such as asthma, ACs can increase the risk of developing a respiratory illness.
In babies, ACs may trigger symptoms such as shivering, slow breathing, a pale look, and cool skin.
The temporary tranquillity we are ignoring the permanent problems created and increasing by the use of too many artificial air methods. Outside of Dhaka where these artificial resources are not easily available, people are using natural ways to live cooler.
The children there play outside, do physical activities, and walk miles to eat foods that make the body chilled. They enjoy the changes of seasons and the diversity closely. They take all the heat changes normally and face them easily.
By decreasing the use of artificial, non-eco-friendly systems we can make the climate fit again, which will make life and living healthy for us, our future and the existing past. We can think about it again and again to make a better world. Let’s sing a song with Michael Jackson, “Heal the World.”
The author can be reached at: [email protected]
