Just when the season of festivals is arriving, every human heart yearns for greater celebrations, o consecutive difficult years.
Be it Gurupurab, Diwali, Christmas or new year, who doesn’t love the night sky filled with bright lights, colors and even shapes, though reactions to noise may vary.
But is it the only thing we see? No, there is a thick envelope of smog that develops too, killing visibility, denigrating the air we breathe.
Why does this happen?
Though the crackers and other fireworks may appear attractive on being lit, but they contain and release toxic metals and chemicals.
Based upon the colors they emit upon burning, a range of pollutants get released in air like Sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM) etc., available for us to breathe in.
Point is that this alone does not pollute our environment and increase our chances of inability to breathe but also if inhaled, may lead to a variety of health hazards like respiratory failure, nausea and even damage to kidney, liver and central nervous system.
“Fireworks can be harmful for your brain, liver, heart, kidney, skin and pretty much every organ of your body”, explains a top Dr. practicing in Delhi.
For instance, Lead involved in a certain class of crackers, can affect our brain and nervous system.
Zinc, found to be generally not toxic in nature, can be dangerous in fumes as it is known to cause metal fume fever on exposure.
“The amount inhaled over a period of time affects the brain, causing headache, depression and affects concentration. It can also cause severe eye damage and affect the liver in the longer run,” in case of Phosphorus.
Sodium from the crackers, is a well-known highly reactive element that combines with moisture to cause burns.
Every year in winters, even before human festivities began, Delhi-NCR experience air pollution that is known to lessen the lifespan of every soul exposed to it, which undoubtedly gets worsen with burning firecrackers.
This happens due to variety of factors primarily, the still air brought in by the western disturbances on Indian subcontinent and stubble burning in Punjab, west UP etc. Fireworks have been found to unnecessarily increase the concentration of dust along with powerful oxides.
How fireworks cause danger to the immediate environment?
There are various pathways in which crackers may harm the surroundings:
Unruly rockets can set fire to huts, dry grasslands, harvested crops and even houses.
Most of these damage ears of humans and functioning of several animals as the noise most of the crackers end up producing is more than the allowed decibel limit.
CPCB has banned crackers with decibel level of more than 125 measured at a distance of 4mts from the bursting point.
Since years, the concerned governments activate the Graded Response Action plan (GRAP) and look to eliminate the bigger evil of all. Festivals, have now attracted restrictions and limitations based on strict guidelines for intended celebrations (time period for bursting crackers).
On similar lines, Punjab government has now released orders regarding the manufacture, distribution and sale of crackers.
As per the order, only green crackers can be burnt from 8 to 10 pm on Diwali while on Christmas and New Year the time window lies between 11:55 pm to 12: 30 am.
On Gurupurab, it shall be from 4-5 am in the morning and 9-10 pm at night.
What are Green Crackers? How can they help us balance our passion to save Festivals and Environment?
A human heart is full of desires, if one wants to relive one’s childhood through bursting crackers without hurting Mother Nature, here’s a way out: The Green crackers
Why and how are they less polluting?
Green crackers are manufactured using less polluting raw materials (especially no barium nitrate) since the very beginning. The chemical formulation they possess reduce the particle emission into atmosphere simply, by releasing water as a by-product and by suppressing the dust produced.
These are totally eco-friendly and had been developed by the National Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) which is a specialized lab under CSIR.
In India, every green cracker manufacturer makes a deal with CSIR to ensure safety and precautions including the quantity and variety of chemicals used.
CSIR has done this by reducing the particulate matter (PM) by 40% and even eliminated ash.
Example of Green crackers in India: Safe Water Releaser (SWAS) with PM reduced by 30-35%, Safe Thermite Cracker (STAR) and Safe Minimal Aluminium (SAFAL), both with PM reduction by 35-40%.
For instance, certain green crackers too use harmful chemicals like aluminium, potassium nitrate, barium, and carbon but their quantity remains regulated which anyhow lowers the emission by approximately 30 per cent while a few others may not have chemicals at all.
That is all about air pollution, does it help lower Noise pollution too?
Yes, the conventional crackers usually produce about 160 decibels of sound while the green crackers take this down to a bearable 110-125 decibels.
The best of all things is that these lab-made nature-loving crackers cost nearly less or equal to the market value.
Ensuring no potential risk, the legitimate Green crackers come with a unique logo on the box, and a QR code that holds all the production and emission details.
Therefore, when it comes to celebration, it shall not lessen our spirit and that of Nature that sustains us. we have recently learnt a hard lesson, i.e., any damage to Nature can in turn damage our livelihoods.
First step is here, make sure we shower our love to the new Star!