The problem of air pollution across the world is becoming increasingly serious. The air is less fresh and clear, and more people choose to wear dust masks when going outside because of heavy smog.

Air pollution is caused mainly by companies, daily activities, and transportation. In terms of companies, many factories emit large amounts of destructive and poisonous by-products. For example, some factories produce sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxide, and various organic compounds that influence the air pollution index. People can get hurt if they keep breathing polluted air because small particles may go into and stick to the respiratory tract and lungs and their long-term storage can lead to rhinitis and bronchitis as well as gastric carcinoma. Sulfur dioxide may dissolve in air and form acid rain, which can corrode buildings as well as people’s skin. The top 10 most polluted cities of the world include Taiyuan, Milan, Beijing, Urumqi, Mexico, Lanzhou, Chongqing, Jinan, Shijiazhuang, and Tehran, which indicates that no one is immune from air pollution.

Air pollution is produced in daily life, and one major cause of it is the increasing population. More people means more carbon dioxide, which is bad for the air they breathe. More trees have to be cut to meet people’s demand (e.g., chopsticks and furniture). Therefore, there are fewer trees to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. In addition, to stay warm, people burn coal, which contains sulfur. This causes sulfur oxide to to be released into the air as pollution. That is, burning products huge amounts of pollution in the forms of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Studies have examined smoking and breathing under bad air and found that a carton of cigarettes a day means breathing dirty air for 720 minutes a day. That is, one cigarette is 36 minutes of bad air.

Finally, transportation is a major cause of air pollution. An increase in the number of people increases the number of vehicles on the road. More people are using personal vehicles or taking taxi instead of buses or other forms of mass transportation. This may be a more comfortable alternative, it dramatically increases air pollution.

These sources of polluted air have forced to spend more time at home instead of going out. Should we not do something about air pollution so that people do not feel trapped in their own homes? 

Jiayi Wu

Happiness and Personal Gain: A Personal Perspective

Charles Yan

I think a sense of happiness and fulfillment and some personal gain in the form of wealth or fame are not mutually exclusive. That is, one does not have to choose between the two.

What I mean is that one should first choose to do something that gives one a sense of happiness and fulfillment. For some, this means the personal satisfaction of doing something they are happy doing regardless of the outcome in terms of wealth or fame, whereas for others, it means the personal satisfaction of doing something that has the potential to give them wealth and/or fame. That is, a sense of happiness and fulfillment for some is wealth or fame, whereas for others, it is just the action of doing something enjoyable.

I think Warren Buffet, one of the most famous investors in the world, finds happiness and fulfillment in making money. Because he enjoys making money, his work is no longer “work” but something pleasurable. I am certain that this is the reason why he makes so much money. On the other hand, Buddha found happiness and fulfillment in trying hard to do absolutely nothing.

So a sense of happiness and fulfillment is a core part of both Buffet and Buddha. The only difference is that they found it in different things.

I believe that everyone should pursue their own sense of happiness and fulfillment by doing sething that makes them happy. Some people are happy when they have a lot of money or are famous. Others are happy doing absolutely nothing. Who are we to say what is happiness or not for others? What we can say is that everyone deserves to be happy and fulfilled and that each individual has his or her own unique way of defining and achieving a personal sense of happiness and fulfillment. 

Kumar Ray

Poor nutrition is a leading cause of death of children in many developing countries. Nearly 49% of the 10 million children under the age of five who die every year is because of poor nutrition and hunger, worldwide.  In the year 2013, 6.3 million children of five years and less died due to hunger, which comes to about 17,000 children dying every day. In Africa, especially the sub-Saharan region, one-third of all child deaths are attributed to hunger and malnutrition. The added burden of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis among African children makes them even more vulnerable targets.  23 million children in Africa attend schools and classes in a hungry state.

The major reasons for hunger in Africa is poverty, lack of food security due to erratic environmental conditions and war. Nearly 1.4 billion people live in absolute poverty, which is defined by living on less than 1 USD per day per person. Poverty drives the lack of resources to obtain food and when this situation is combined with political conflicts and socioeconomic problems, the result is chronic hunger. The World Bank describes this as a vicious cycle because poverty drives hunger, which in turn results in unhealthy individuals who lose up to 10% of potential earnings had they been healthy. This in turn can impact an entire country since it loses its potential economic labor force. Child hunger is under more focus than adult hunger because children are the future of any society. And if they are malnourished and hungry, the subsequent generation will simply comprise of stunted individuals with low intelligent quotients, poor health and limited mental abilities.   

Implications of child hunger in Africa

The implication of hunger in children is stunting, muscle wasting and poor immunity. Females who remain malnourished all through their childhood and into child-bearing years would give birth to children who are malnourished as their mothers. Child hunger is widely associated with micronutrient deficiency of vitamin A, zinc, iron, vitamin B12 and iodine that cause a cohort of otherwise completely avoidable diseases such as blindness, cognitive impairment, spina bifida and pernicious anemia. It would be difficult to contain the spread of infectious diseases if there are a plethora of hosts with poor immunity to aid the spread.

Ways to tackle child hunger in Africa

Studies by Remans and coworkers has suggested that by implementing an integrated, multisector intervention program, it would be possible to reduce stunting by as much as 43%. With help from world organizations such as the WHO, UNICEF and the UN, it would be possible to reduce and even eradicate child hunger in the world.

References

Bain, L. E., Awah, P. K., Geraldine, N., Kindong, N. P., Siga, Y., Bernard, N., & Tanjeko, A. T. (2014). Malnutrition in Sub–Saharan Africa: burden, causes and prospects. Pan African Medical Journal, 15(1).

Mayne, R. (2006). Causing hunger: An overview of the food crisis in Africa. Oxfam Policy and Practice: Agriculture, Food and Land, 6(2), 97-135.

Muthayya, S., Rah, J. H., Sugimoto, J. D., Roos, F. F., Kraemer, K., & Black, R. E. (2013). The global hidden hunger indices and maps: an advocacy tool for action. PLoS One, 8(6), e67860.

Remans, R., Pronyk, P. M., Fanzo, J. C., Chen, J., Palm, C. A., Nemser, B., … & Mensah-Homiah, J. (2011). Multisector intervention to accelerate reductions in child stunting: an observational study from 9 sub-Saharan African countries. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 94(6), 1632-1642.

Sanchez, P. A., & Swaminathan, M. S. (2005). Hunger in Africa: the link between unhealthy people and unhealthy soils. The Lancet, 365(9457), 442-444.

Schönfeldt, H. C., & Hall, N. G. (2012). Dietary protein quality and malnutrition in Africa. British Journal of Nutrition, 108(S2), S69-S76.

UNICEF. (n.d.). Goal: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/mdg/poverty.html

Weinreb, L., Wehler, C., Perloff, J., Scott, R., Hosmer, D., Sagor, L., & Gundersen, C. (2002). Hunger: its impact on children’s health and mental health. Pediatrics, 110(4), e41-e41.