Air pollution from fine dust is getting worse every day. Seoul has recently had the second worst air quality in the world based on the Air Quality Index ( AQI ) from Airvisual. Usually Daegu has less fine dust than other cities, but it’s too early to feel relived because of factories and industrial complexes in the city. People are already experiencing skin and respiratory problems and high-tech army equipment is in danger of corrosion. So what is fine dust?

Fine dust is invisible particles of soil and pollen wixed with dangerous substances floating in the air that are smaller than 10 micrometers. It contains toxic substances like sulfur dioxide, toxic heavy metals and lead. The Korean government has announced that a large part of the pollution in fine dust is from coal burning and industrial activities in China. The new government has promised that they will raise this issue in diplomatic negotiation and make a strong demand for regulation of industrial facilities in Southeast China. To prevent the in-country occurrence of fine dust, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy issued special countermeasures in 2016 like promoting the use of green cars increasing the number of road dust cleaning trucks and replacing or shutting down old coal power plants. Some companies in Korea also made some plans. For example, POSCO said they will measure the air pollution from their plants frequently and make the data available to the public. HYUNDAI-Steel said they are making a budget to improve waste gas disposal facilities.

Then how can we manage fine dust in our daily lives? Many people wear masks these days to prevent breathing fine dust,which is somewhat effective. However, it is important not to use the disposable masks again after using once because the disposal masks become remarkably less effective after 10 hours of use, and the collect a lot of germs. We should also help our bodies to filter fine dust by maintaining indoor humidity at 50% and drinking water often. Lately, plants that can remove harmful substances and smells from the air are being recommended a lot, too.

We are suffering from fine dust right now which will not disappear for a while. However, if we follow the suggestions above and the policies from the government and corporations are realized, we'll be able to see the clean sky again very soon.