India: Authorities considering New Delhi lockdown to cut dangerous air pollution levels

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/amp/india-authorities-considering-new-delhi-lockdown-to-cut-dangerous-air-pollution-levels-12470667

Some coal-based power plants have been closed, but India’s top court is considering implementing a lockdown – a first of its kind in the country – to stem pollution and not to control coronavirus infections.

Authorities in New Delhi are considering a first-of-its-kind lockdown to combat worsening air pollution.

Schools have already been closed indefinitely as severe smog choked people living in the Indian capital and neighbouring states on Wednesday.

The number of dangerous pollution particles in New Delhi’s air was measured at seven times the safe level on Wednesday, climbing above 300 micrograms per cubic metre in some parts of the city.

Schools close as smog-laden India capital considers lockdown

Source: https://www.riverbender.com/topnews/details.cfm?id=362396

NEW DELHI (AP) — Authorities closed schools indefinitely and shut down some coal-burning power plants Wednesday to reduce air pollution in India’s smog-shrouded capital and neighboring states, as the country weighs an unprecedented and more far-reaching step: a lockdown in New Delhi.

The dirty-air crisis in the city of more than 20 million people has underscored India’s heavy dependence on coal, which accounts for 70% of the country’s power.

The New Delhi state government said it is open to the idea of a weekend lockdown to reduce automobile traffic and potentially other air-polluting activity in the city, and it is awaiting the go-ahead from India’s Supreme Court. A decision could come as early as Nov. 24.

It’s not clear how extensive the lockdown would be. Authorities are discussing whether to allow industries to continue operating.

Some experts said a lockdown would achieve very little in controlling pollution and would instead cause disruptions in the economy and harm the livelihoods of millions of people.

“This is not the solution that we are looking for, because this is hugely disruptive. And we also have to keep in mind that the economy is already under pressure, poor people are at risk,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at the Center for Science and Environment, a research and advocacy organization in New Delhi.

Soaring pollution levels in the capital prompted a federal environment ministry panel to issue strict guidelines Tuesday night to stem the pollution and show residents that the government is taking action against a crisis that has plagued the city for years.

Are you ready for the climate lockdowns?

It’s only a matter of time

source: https://spectatorworld.com/topic/ready-climate-lockdowns-environment/

Last week President Biden signed an executive order to rejoin the Paris Climate Accords. This was a mostly symbolic gesture, as the same alarmism being pushed prior to the agreement in 2016 is still being pushed now while nation-states like China are still ignoring it. Now Biden administration climate envoy John Kerry, under fire for boarding a private jet to Iceland to accept a climate award, is telling the United States and the world that the conditions of the Paris agreement are ‘inadequate’.

As the global climate elite push eating bugs and staying home to save the Earth on the masses, it’s worth posing the question: what will be adequate? With the Global Economic Forum in Davos approaching in April, we’re going to start hearing terms such ‘Climate Equity’ and ‘Climate Reset’ (a play on the WEF’s Great Reset) more frequently. We’ll probably also start to hear calls for climate lockdowns. I know, right now that sounds completely preposterous, but don’t these kooky ideas always find a way to bleed into the mainstream? Fifteen Days to Slow the Sun!

The possibility of climate lockdowns is already being floated by some of our greatest thinkers. They see a confluence of global crises as an opportunity. The perfect storm caused by COVID-19 and the resulting global economic meltdown offers a chance to take what they see as bold and dramatic action to save the planet. The Biden administration will certainly use the consequences of COVID to push through some green legislation, but just as before, it will not be enough in the eyes of progressives. There must always be more.

Mariana Mazzucato, an author and a professor in innovative economics at the University of London, raised the prospect of climate lockdowns in MarketWatch last September:

‘Under a “climate lockdown”, governments would limit private-vehicle use, ban consumption of red meat, and impose extreme energy-saving measures, while fossil-fuel companies would have to stop drilling. To avoid such a scenario, we must overhaul our economic structures and do capitalism differently.’