Breathe in clean air

In contemporary times, the aspiration of inhaling unpolluted air has become a distant dream for the inhabitants of Tehran and other major cities in the country. Across the globe, special symbolic days have been designated to raise awareness on environmental preservation and the provision of a healthy life to achieve sustainable development goals. These include World Environment Day, Clean Earth Day, and Clean Air Day. Clean Air Day is celebrated worldwide under various titles such as car-free day, smoke-free day, etc., and special measures are taken on this day to educate the populace. In Iran, the air pollution crisis in Tehran and other large cities led to the declaration of the 29th of January as the National Clean Air Day from 1996. Air pollution refers to the presence of one or more pollutants or a mixture of different pollutants in the atmosphere, to the extent that it is harmful to humans or causes damage to animals, plants, and property. The phenomenon of air pollution in urban areas is one of the consequences of the industrial revolution. The reliance on fossil energy sources such as coal, oil, and gas, and the release of materials resulting from the combustion of these materials, bring harmful products that threaten the lives of living beings, especially humans. Air pollution sources are categorized into natural and artificial. Natural sources include the activity of volcanoes, forest fires, natural dust, smoke, and carbon monoxide from fires, while artificial sources include motor vehicles that produce nitrogen dioxide, coal, various industries, pollution caused by burning agricultural residues, etc. Plants are the unintended victims of air pollution, which poisons them. Furthermore, research indicates that motor vehicles in large cities produce more than 95% of carbon monoxide in the air, leading to heart and brain attacks in humans. Strategies to reduce air pollution include using public transportation, walking or cycling, regularly checking the car and its technical inspection, using fewer petroleum products, creating a garden at home, planting trees, using renewable energy, and quitting smoking. Recommendations for critical days of air pollution include avoiding central and high-traffic areas of the city, using public transportation instead of private cars for daily trips within the city, limiting the activity or play of children in open environments, and advising elderly people or heart and lung patients such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, and heart failure to avoid leaving the house. "Bahraman" is an advocate for clean air, blue and clear days, and a lover of sunny days and times for the kind people of Iran.