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Writer's picturezoe crimmel

We don't own the air . . . But how much will it cost to breathe?

Updated: May 14

New York, spraying pesticides up and down the streets, airplanes flying over cities and towns spraying bug spray, and vehicles using gas and pumping exhaust. When will air become so toxic to breathe? When will we be required to buy air canisters for gas masks and domes to survive?

 

How much will it COST?

 

Basic human needs are food, shelter, water, and air. When we look at the world we have created today, 3 of these human "necessities" to survive are unable to obtain without money.


  1. Food is not free. In 2022, the average American annual household food expenditure was $9,343. (*2)

  2. Shelter is not free. In 2023, the average house cost in the USA was $416,000. (*3)

  3. Water is not free. You pay the bills to get it to your house, or you buy it at the supermarket. The average cost of a 20-ounce water bottle (not water bills) is $1.50. (*1)

In today's society, it is nearly impossible to survive without money in your pocket.


4. Air is the last thing, at this moment, that is free. But that will slowly and rapidly change.


Every day, millions of new chemicals get put into the atmosphere and into the air that enters our lungs. Every inhale brings so much more into our body than just oxygen. Nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, formaldehyde, and radon all take refuge in our atmosphere and come from all sides of human life.

 
 

As more and more of these pollutants get pumped into the atmosphere, the air that we and thousands of other species breathe, how long until we have to pay to breathe clean air? How long until walking outside without a mask to filter the air becomes impossible. How long until our houses become bubbles of freshly bought oxygen and our friends become outliers? How long until all our basic human needs become controlled, and what will happen when we lose THAT control? Or have we already?


We don't need a post-apocalyptic movie to show us the results. We need to look at some of the other cities around the world, countries, and people who have already lost that control. In certain places in Asia, such as India and China, wearing a mask is already a must, but not just outdoors. To breathe in their houses, they wear masks to filter out all the pollution. Not only does this show that breathing is no longer healthy. It takes away the safe space that a home is supposed to bring. It takes away the refuge. They are going to have to build new refuges in domes. They are going to have to build new refuges in domes. Domes are going to fill with oxygen purchased by them in exchange for a currency that is dominating our lives.The cost of breathing is so much more than just money. It is going to seperate people.


Right now, India has some of the worst air quality in the world, as shown here: https://www.iqair.com/us/world-air-quality.India's worst air index is seven (7) times higher than the US's worst city. Delhi in India has an index of 545 and rising vs. Minneapolis, USA is the city with the highest index in the US being only 76. Air indexes are calculated on the amount of pollution in the air. The higher the index the more toxic the air is (number 300 and higher is considered hazardous). Delhi isn't the only city in the world in the hazardous zone. Slowly more and more cities will follow unless we backtrack. The World Health Organization has reported that 6.7 million premature deaths are caused by air pollution and household air pollution. These are deaths that could have potentially been avoidable if only backtracking was something we pushed for earlier and harder.


To keep our lungs, our kid's lungs, and our great-grandkid's lungs safe and healthy something is going to need to change. To keep control of our lives, something is going to have to change. What side of the change are you going to stand on?

 

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