{
  "id": 16824941,
  "title": "Our cities are polluted, with or without haze",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/28/our-cities-are-polluted-with-or-without-haze-16824941",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-28T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2026/10/28/our-cities-are-polluted-with-or-without-haze"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Our cities are plagued by pollutants, visible and invisible alike. A recent photo shared on social media highlighted this paradox: beneath a clear, blue sky lay a ten-lane highway choked with traffic, a stark reminder of the air we breathe. While seasonal forest fires raise alarm, our most pervasive source of air pollution is closer to home - the cars, trucks, and motorcycles that idle outside school gates, clog suburban roads, and traverse highways daily.\n\nVehicle emissions are responsible for up to 70% of urban air pollution, yet their dangers are often overlooked. Unlike seasonal haze, this pollution is ubiquitous and invisible, yet it infiltrates deep into our lungs and bloodstream, causing a host of health issues from asthma to dementia. It's this hidden, year-round menace that we normalize, treating it as an unavoidable part of modern life.\n\nChildren, particularly, are at the forefront of this health crisis. Daily, they navigate through traffic, idling vehicles, and exhaust fumes, unaware of the long-term damage it may cause. Even inside our vehicles, we often fall into a false sense of security, believing our enclosed spaces protect us from pollution. However, in heavy traffic, ventilation systems can draw in exhaust fumes, making us unwitting contributors to the very problem we seek to avoid.\n\nMoreover, the burden of this pollution is not shared equally. Millions live near major roads and expressways, where pollutant levels can exceed those reported by city-wide monitoring stations. Even with windows closed, fine particles can seep into our homes, and for commuters waiting at busy bus stops, a \"good\" air quality reading may be misleading.\n\nTraffic also contributes to noise pollution, which has been linked to numerous health issues including hypertension, heart disease, stroke, and impaired cognitive development. Yet, heavily modified vehicles continue to contribute to this cacophony, often at the expense of public health and peace.\n\nWhile electric vehicles offer some benefits, they do not solve the problem entirely. They eliminate tailpipe emissions, but through tyre wear, brake dust, and road-surface abrasion, they generate other forms of pollution. Moreover, heavier electric vehicles can produce even more non-exhaust emissions. Thus, replacing all petrol vehicles with electric ones would reduce exhaust fumes, but it wouldn't eliminate the airborne rubber particles and roadway dust that already constitute a significant share of urban particulate pollution.\n\nThe solution lies in reducing our dependence on private motor vehicles. Cities must be designed to make walking, cycling, and public transport the default choices, not last resorts. This means building wide, shaded pedestrian corridors, reallocating road space to efficient bus networks, and creating dense, walkable neighbourhoods where daily necessities are within walking distance. Only by acknowledging the hidden costs of our car-dependent lifestyles can we begin to address them, and only then can we truly improve our air quality and overall health.",
  "summary": "Air pollution is not just seasonal haze but a year-round consequence of car dependence, exposing millions to invisible health risks.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}