Old people will gleefully tell you, “the air long time ago was cleaner!” Studies show that they are correct. The combination of an oil and gas-based economy enabling the dramatic rise in motorcar ownership, air-conditioning and highways, added to the concomitant degradation of the countryside and hills by unregulated building, plus climate change in the form of Sahara Dust, has transformed our once pretty little isle into an unhealthy sinkhole.
Drive through any town or village in Trinidad, if not Tobago, and if the bile does not rise up in your throat, it’s because, like the fabled frog in gently heating water, you have gradually become accustomed to living in a labasse and see nothing wrong with grimy sidewalks, overgrown with grass and empty fried chicken boxes, dirt-filled, pot-holed roads, choked riverbeds littered with household appliances and dust, dust, dust all over the place. Dust that comes from the Sahara and from our squalid habits.
If you still insist that the place “clean, clean”, at least listen to your nose. And your lungs. And your heart.
Sinus problems are rampant. Everyone has some sort of nasal congestion, runny, itchy eyes, throat clearing or coughing that goes on and on. Use of asthma inhalers is up. Bronchitis is a norm. Despite the increased interest in exercising, exercise intolerance is increasing. And if you think heart attacks are due only to cholesterol, check your cardiologist again.
For a small wind-swept Caribbean island our air is polluted. The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Report for the first quarter of 2025, (the latest report that appears on their site!) routinely checked the levels of the pollutants, Particulate Matter (PM), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and Ozone (O3) as well as other things like the island temperature and humidity, the latter two becoming more important as El Niño sparks up.
Despite huge problems in obtaining reliable data due to breakdowns in the monitoring machines at Point Lisas, San Fernando, Arima, Port-of-Spain, Mayaro, Toco and Tobago, all of which bring the figures into disrepute, our EMA says there were 51 days, nominated as Saharan Dust Events, in that three-month period, well over half, when the combination of Sahara dust and local pollutants resulted in Ambient Air Quality (AAQ) values ranging, apparently on the same day, in the technological jargon of the EMA, from “Good” to “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups,” all of which makes no sense to me. Which is it? Good or unhealthy?
The distinction is important. If the AAQ is good, it’s good. If it’s unhealthy, tell us. It affects our health. And if its unhealthy, you can do something about it. At least you can try.
This is exactly what the mayor of London did.
In a landmark five-year study of primary school children in London published last week, researchers found that children whose lung growth had been stunted by air pollution, specifically exposure to nitrogen dioxide from car emissions, showed impressive improvements after the introduction of an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in 2019.
Air pollution limits the growth of young children’s lungs, leaving them at an increased risk of asthma, heart disease, diabetes and even premature death. Children are more vulnerable to air pollution because their lungs and immune systems are still developing and when outside, they tend to be closer to the ground and nearer sources of car exhaust fumes.
In the study, researchers followed more than 3,400 six to nine-year-olds attending primary schools in London’s ULEZ for five years, comparing them to similar children (in terms of socio-economic background, physical activity and ethnicity) in Luton, where the ULEZ system had not been introduced.
Initial results showed children’s lungs in London were smaller in capacity than those in Luton, which is less polluted than London but has a similar mix of pollutants. At the end of the study, the children’s lung capacity reached near-identical levels in both groups.
If you get rid of the air pollution, children’s lungs show capacity to regenerate back to normal. In practical terms, the improvements meant children in the London group could run as fast as the Luton group without getting out of breath.
Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said for old people. But the same old people will tell you, “What you can’t see, doh hurt!” Eh heh? Wait another five years and we’ll talk on the way to your funeral.
