The Dust in Our Midst

Dust has always been a part of our society. It is a component of  many idioms. In its physical form, it is talked about in the news every day in the weather report, as ‘particulate matter in the air’. On many days of the year, our Bengaluru scores the dubious distinction of having the highest amount of particulate matter in the air of any of the Indian Metros. It is something we hardly take note of.  

Many of us think that this information broadcasted everyday is just relevant to asthamatics or those with respiratory sensivities. Of course it has more relevance to them, but we also need to be informed of both sides of the strory. Often, we tend to just look at the negative side of things, and seem to feel that we need to be up against nature all the time, which is very wrong. We know that dust contributes to global dimming: the phenomenon by which slightly lesser amount of light reaches land and sea surface. We know that pollen and spores in the air can trigger allergies (remember Parthenium?). We know, dust settling on our books and tables is a nuisance and has to be dusted down. And every time a bus or a car travels fast on the road, it raises dust in its wake. Floors have to be swept and mopped. In short, we despise dust: dust in any form.

But look at the brighter side of things. Do we really require dust, yes we do! Just think what all “dust” does in the environment around us. Fine dust measuring just microns in diameter is required for water vapour to consense on. Fine carbon in the air, spores and pollen adsorb (not absorb) chemicals on their surface, including pollutants that we put into the air every day. All these get removed when the dust settles down. Plants get pollinated by pollen which travels around as dust. Mushrooms and fungi disperse through spores in the form of dust. And so do bacteria. But for these we would never have had old material decomposing. Recycling would have been badly hit, because nothing would have worked without inoculation. It would have been like making curds everytime. 

But how could we combat this dust which we do not want in around us?  Artificially, there are many ways of removing or reducing industrially produced dust. We need to reduce smoke, whether vehicular or otherwise. And we need to have more greenery around. Green leaves generate a charge on their surface which settles dust. This gets washed down in the next rain, and is a natural dust reducing mechanism. Action could be very indirect. For example, it is natural for grass to grow on soil adjoining roads. But our corporation staff have a bad policy of digging it all up and expose more soil. If we just allowed the grass to be,  it would have been the best choice we could have made. So the mantra is simple. Have more greenery around: as the city with the highest particulate matter in the air, what greenery we have is just not enough.

 

[2008. Published in Deccan Chronicle]