Bang bang cough
Residents of India’s capital, Delhi, woke up to smoky skies as air quality dropped after the festival of Diwali. People in the city burst crackers late into Sunday night despite a ban on fireworks due to high pollution levels.
Delhi has been battling toxic air for weeks, with the government announcing an early winter break for schools in an effort to protect children. The city has high pollution through the year due to factors including vehicular emissions and dust.
So let’s definitely make it worse by making loud bangs to celebrate a religious festival. That’s an excellent reason to make more people have worse lung damage.
The same thing happens in Seattle with the 4th of July and/or New Year’s Eve. Gotta make a lot of bangs, no matter what the weather and air quality are. Making bangs is a human right. Bangs are people too.
On Monday afternoon, according to the federal government’s Safar app, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi was 445, with some places recording readings above 520. The AQI measures the level of PM 2.5 – fine particulate matter that can clog lungs and cause a host of diseases – in the air.
But totally worth it for the bangs!
I’ve sat through many a Fourth of July thinking about the added emissions. It’s ubiquitous.
I have neighbors that do fireworks from May through August. This is not a wealthy neighborhood, so I can’t imagine how they afford it. But, even if they aren’t in the U.S. Constitution as a right, Adams did write that this is how we are supposed to celebrate the Declaration of Independence!
I’m no longer as excited by them as I once was. Other than the pollution, I associate them with mosquitoes.
Last night just after 10 pm I started hearing some loud bangs. I eventually saw some firework type of lights, so I concluded it wasn’t some stupid or nasty enough to be firing a gun repeatedly. This suggests who might have been setting off fireworks in November in Calgary.
I hear occasional fireworks around here year round. Some people say that some of those sounds are gunfire. They probably are, but I don’t know the difference, and I obstinately refuse to learn the difference.