By Jeremy Siegel
Thick smog is blanketing parts of Northern India and Eastern Pakistan. The air quality has been so bad that authorities in Pakistan close schools and urge people to stay home. Meantime, in the Indian capital of Delhi, officials are impounding vehicles that don’t meet pollution restrictions. Some say it’s time for the two rival nations to work together on smog diplomacy, as we hear from the world’s Jeremy Siegel.
Siegel speaks on “smog diplomacy” with experts including Tanushree Ganguly, director of the Air Quality of Life Index in Delhi.
She says the numbers can be shocking in Delhi and in the megacity of Lahore. Across the border in Pakistan, pollution levels are 15 to 20 times what the WHO recommends.
“Every time I step out, either my eyes, you know, turn red, or my head hurts,” Ganguly said.
“An average resident in Delhi is likely to lose more than seven years of their life if they’re exposed to this pollution level. In case of Lahore, an average individual is likely to lose more than five years of their life if they’re exposed to such pollution levels in a sustained manner.”