The Global Crisis of Air Quality: From Delhi to New York and Beyond.

Delhi, the capital of India, experiences dangerous levels of air pollution every winter due to a combination of crop burning, firecrackers, and other pollutants. The pollution can reach levels nearly five times what the World Health Organization considers safe, causing health risks such as respiratory problems and heart attacks. Emergency measures such as school closures and banning diesel trucks are implemented, but experts say drastic measures are needed to clean up the air. The poor who reside in the city's slums and shanties, alongside millions of daily wage workers, roadside vendors and traffic policemen who work outdoors, are condemned to breathe the foul air.