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Happy Diwali! It’s Time For Us To Heat Up The Planet Again

This is your friendly annual reminder that fireworks are blowing our way closer to mass extinction.

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It doesn’t matter if we’re 10-years-old or if we’re 50. Humans love watching things blow up. And this is true the world over, from America’s 4th of July to France’s Bastille Day. And now Diwali is here.

I know, I know. Everyone hears about this every year – it’s the same old story. Pollution levels spike around this time.

If you can’t see more than a few meters ahead of you, then that’s a bad sign. You can be sure, that’s all going into your lungs. Diwali is specifically linked to a 30 to 40 percent increase in respiratory problems in the country.

After all the fun is over, pollutants make their way up into the hills where they settle gently over the glaciers. The layer of firework dust, also known as black carbon, absorbs sunlight, and makes the ice melt faster. Considering there are hundreds of millions of us relying on glacier water to sustain ourselves, that’s really not good.

So can we all please just think twice before speeding our way into extinction?

Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam

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