COMMENTARY: A breath of fresh air

c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The eyes of the world are on Beijing, where more than 10,000 athletes risk lung disease as they compete for one of the Olympic Games’ 302 gold medals. Three percent of the athletes could go home with gold, but with the air pollution in China, they probably have a […]

c. 2008 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) The eyes of the world are on Beijing, where more than 10,000 athletes risk lung disease as they compete for one of the Olympic Games’ 302 gold medals. Three percent of the athletes could go home with gold, but with the air pollution in China, they probably have a better chance of getting emphysema.

When will the world “get it” about clean air? China, which is home to several of the world’s most polluted cities, obtains 70 percent of its energy from coal. By next year, China will produce more carbon dioxide emissions than any other nation, making it the largest single contributor to global warming.


The stupidity of it all is amazing. Smoking may be the largest single cause of lung disease in China (or anywhere else), but air pollution contributes mightily to the mix. Olympic athletes don’t smoke, but the benzene, carbon monoxide, and heaven knows what else in Beijing’s air give new meaning to the term “second-hand smoke.”

It is not only about macro-pollution. Micro-pollution is equally efficient at ruining lives. The death march of grand-scale pollution is assisted by personal consumption of toxic substances. An estimated one-quarter of China’s 1.3 billion population smokes _ that’s nearly 2 trillion cigarettes a year _ and 1.28 million residents die each year from chronic lung diseases.

Are the rest of us any different? The economy of scale in China is mind-boggling, but is anybody taking notes on this continent? We are killing ourselves both passively and actively by the air we breathe.

Consider North America. Pittsburgh recently edged out Los Angeles as the U.S. city with the most junk in the air. While coal-fired steel plants beat out auto emissions, what about energy production? The International Energy Association says nearly half of U.S. electricity comes from coal-fired plants.

And take a look at North American smoking habits. You’d think that no one with half a brain would smoke, but at last count, U.S. residents smoked more than 360 billion cigarettes a year.

The micro-answer? Increasingly, nations and municipalities are banning smoking, at least in enclosed spaces, although garden-variety louts tend to ignore societal pressure. Asserting their “right” to smoke, they wander about outdoors with lit cigars hanging out of their mouths, and no one seems able to stop them.

When Pope Urban VII issued what might be the world’s first smoking ban in 1590, he threatened excommunication as penalty. That didn’t keep Pope Pius IX from building a cigar-rolling factory about 300 years later. Only lately has the Vatican reinstituted an indoor smoking ban, including the one ignored for years aboard the papal plane.


The macro-answer? The heads of U.S.-based men’s and women’s Catholic orders have called for clean energy legislation and close examination of candidate’s concern for the environment. The Vatican and various Catholic bishops’ conferences have been talking about the environment for at least 20 years. The Canadian Religious Conference, representing 22,000 priests, brothers and nuns, calls it respect for “the integrity of Creation.”

We need to pay attention. Those fireworks shows at the opening ceremonies inside Beijing’s National Stadium were emblematic of the world’s disregard for the environment. In many respects, they were just a bunch of huge carbon footprints.

(Phyllis Zagano is senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University and author of several books in Catholic Studies.)

KRE/RB END ZAGANO600 words

A photo of Phyllis Zagano is available via https://religionnews.com.

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