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Delhi Wants Artificial Rain To Tackle Worsening Air Pollution (msn.com) 32

Posted by msmash from the troubling-situations dept.
India's capital territory of Delhi is keen to use artificial rain to fight air pollution this year, its Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Tuesday, as deteriorating air quality in the region led to an increase in respiratory illnesses. From a report: Large swathes of north India battle pollution each winter as cold air traps dust, vehicle emissions and smoke from farm fires in the breadbasket states of Punjab and Haryana, shrouding the national capital and its suburbs in a toxic haze. Cloud-seeding - the method of triggering rain by seeding clouds with salts - was considered to curb pollution in 2023 too but the plan did not materialise due to unfavourable weather conditions.

"I appeal to the federal environment minister...now in Delhi and north India, the pollution has reached the border of 400," Rai told reporters, referring to the air quality index (AQI) score on Tuesday. "The next 10 days are quite crucial...help us get permission for artificial rain, call a meeting," he said. About a third of Delhi's 39 monitoring stations showed a severe AQI score of more than 400 on Tuesday, a level which affects healthy people but is more serious for those fighting disease. An air quality score of zero to 50 is considered good.

Delhi Wants Artificial Rain To Tackle Worsening Air Pollution More | Reply

Delhi Wants Artificial Rain To Tackle Worsening Air Pollution

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  • well...... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Charlieboywoof ( 8362881 )
    stop burning coal and cooking with wood then
    • Do they still throw their dead in the river?
    • India just approved $9.5 BILLION to build new coal-fired power plants. Even this cloud seeding band-aid won't be enough. Idiots. Maybe the rest of the globe should impose climate related sanctions on the biggest polluters, like the US and China for instance.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 )

        India just approved $9.5 BILLION to build new coal-fired power plants. Even this cloud seeding band-aid won't be enough. Idiots. Maybe the rest of the globe should impose climate related sanctions on the biggest polluters, like the US and China for instance.

        Well now - air pollution, There are som interesting statistics - let's take the number of deaths caused by air pollution. The US - who you apparently believe is number on in pollution deaths is at 1.1 percent - so the rest of the worelds must be damn near air pollutin free.

        Let's take a look to see how the world stacks up. China - 20.1 percent of deaths are air pollution. India - 18.5 percent. Here's the source. You aren't going to like it. https://ourworldindata.org/air... [ourworldindata.org]

        I don't want to disabuse you

        • Nice try. I'm talking about global scale emissions (CO2, methane, etc.) Not "Death by Air Pollution". The rest of the world cares much less for the local story far from themselves, they care very much about the impact of climate change on their local situation. Your opinion, like your source, is myopic.

          I don't want to disabuse you of your hatred of the USA, so if you like, you can sanction us to assuage your booboo feelings. Another point you imagined. I don't hate the US; I'm 7th generation American. I al

  • I mean if you don't want to actually reduce pollution, ground level mist cannons work in pretty much any weather. Didn't Mexico City, at one point, install giant fans to blow the pollution out of the city? Although addressing the root causes also sounds appealing.

  • Put more shit in the air to get shit out of the air. It couldn't be more obvious.

  • My short irons go up beyond the clouds. I can't hit in an indoor range because I'm in the nets constantly. I will bring the rain don't you worry.

  • Seriously? (Score:3)

    by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Tuesday November 05, 2024 @11:16AM (#64921311)

    Artificial rain isn't going to cut it. That place needs a hosing down with a giant pressure washer. Plus 99% of structures need to be torn down, modern (1950s designs will suffice) sewage system put in, buildings/housing rebuilt with wide roads, and street vendors forced to USE FUCKING UTENSILS (not gloves, as the gloves quickly get as dirty as hands) and comply with decent hygiene standards. Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
    WARNING DO NOT CLICK ON THE REFERENCE LINKS IF YOU HAVE A WEAK HEART, ARE EATING, ATE RECENTLY, OR INTEND TO HAVE A MEAL SOMETIME IN THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

    I only put multiple links to show it isn't a one-off. India should fucking learn from places like Singapore which has a much higher population density yet the place is pristine in most places outside of pockets of "Little India".

  • Stop trying to mess with the weather, you aren't just affecting yourself.

    Well, I know they will do it anyway so I'm not holding my breath - but then I'm not in Delhi.

  • Even if artificial rain wasn't a dumb idea and cleaned out the air, they are doing nothing about the root causes of where all that crap came from in the first place. It won't take more than a couple of weeks, at best, for it to get that bad again.

    They need to fix the source of AQI 400, not slap a political bandaid on it.

    • Even if artificial rain wasn't a dumb idea and cleaned out the air, they are doing nothing about the root causes of where all that crap came from in the first place. It won't take more than a couple of weeks, at best, for it to get that bad again.

      They need to fix the source of AQI 400, not slap a political bandaid on it.

      They cannot fix the source of the problem without having the entire country Go DARK or GO HUNGRY ... due to banning coal that feeds their stoves & electricity power plants.

      • They don't have to do it all at once. But they need a serious plan to make it happen relatively quickly. They can't artificially induce rain all year long forever.

        The less coal and other crap they burn the cleaner the air will get. It may never be pristine Eden but 400 will literally kill you of some nasty diseases and make your life suck. You may not die tomorrow but your odds of various cancers and lung problems etc are very high.

  • If the air is getting so bad that you need rain to sweep out particulate, you're going to get some really dirty water coming from the sky. Can't see that being entirely beneficial.

  • Cause a problem, the solution is inconvenient... So do something to move the problem around a bit instead of fixing it. And hey, maybe even cause a new problem while doing so.

  • Its interesting to see abstract alternative "solutions" that will take years to implement suggested for an immediate crisis. Its the same way we are responding to the climate "crisis" with discussions of theoretical solutions that will slow emissions while the amount of carbon in the atmosphere continues to grow right along with the climate impacts.

  • Except in a few rare instances that require a permit, no one burns crop land in my agricultural area in Canada. And we'd be stupid to do it. Burning crop residue is literally burning nutrients. Sometimes flax residue is burned because it doesn't chop and takes a long time to break down in the soil. However now farmers are using different harvesting techniques with flax (stripping the seed boils off the plant rather than cutting the stems) and treating the residue with a mix of biologicals and UAN fertili

  • Not knowing anything about Dalhi's water systems, I'm not sure that would be a great idea... especially for those down river.

    Are their water cleaning facilities and plumbing systems up to snuff? That said it does look like they get a lot of rain in July, I'm just not sure how spread out that is.

  • Law enforcement problem (Score:3)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Tuesday November 05, 2024 @01:53PM (#64921723)
    Delhi's smog is a direct result of stubble burning, which is illegal in India & Pakistan. This is a law enforcement problem. See: https://www.theguardian.com/wo... [theguardian.com] With the reductions in labour due to illness & healthcare costs, they're shooting themselves in the foot. They need find constructive ways to deal with the roots of the problem.

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