India's Air Quality Crisis: A Problem of Priorities and Perception
Why isn’t this problem treated as an emergency?
Bryan Johnson, the age-reversing CEO, recently shared a harrowing account of his experience in India. His words struck a chord:
“𝗠𝘆 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱, 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱, & 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀.”
He described how, despite using masks and air purifiers, the toxic air quality in India made his body struggle to cope. But what shocked him most was the normalization of this crisis. Babies, children, and adults alike inhaled the poisonous air daily, seemingly without protest. Meanwhile, the political discourse on air quality remained largely absent.
This dissonance raises a critical question: Why isn’t this problem treated as an emergency?
The Ignored Crisis
India ranks as the third most polluted country in the world, with 1.2 million deaths annually linked to air pollution. Yet, this catastrophic statistic doesn’t dominate headlines, political campaigns, or public outcry.
The reason lies in perception and priorities.
For most of India’s population—roughly 90%—the immediate concern is survival: securing food, shelter, and basic needs. Air quality, governance, and systemic failures feel abstract compared to the visceral urgency of daily survival.
As Acharya Prashant aptly noted:
"He is steeped in ignorance—an ignorance that blinds him to fundamental questions of health, governance, and systemic failure. Until man’s center is corrected, crucial issues like these will continue to be overlooked."
The Psychology of Misjudgment
To understand this collective indifference, we can turn to Charlie Munger's framework of cognitive biases from his Psychology of Human Misjudgments:
Incentive-Caused Bias:
Governments and political leaders prioritize issues that align with their immediate incentives—winning elections. With nearly a billion voters, air quality is not a vote-winning topic because it affects only a minority. For the majority, the promise of basic infrastructure and subsidies carries far greater weight.Denial and Avoidance:
For many citizens, addressing air pollution feels like an overwhelming and insurmountable challenge. This leads to a subconscious denial of the problem, a classic case of avoiding discomfort.Normalcy Bias:
Decades of living with poor air quality have normalized the crisis. People adapt to unhealthy conditions and stop perceiving them as urgent threats, even as the consequences (e.g., respiratory illnesses, reduced life expectancy) are devastating.Bias from Availability Heuristic:
Issues like air pollution aren’t immediately visible. Unlike a lack of food or water, the damage from polluted air is gradual and insidious, making it less likely to trigger outrage or action.
The Root Problem: Infrastructure and Education
The real issue lies in India’s broken foundation of basic public infrastructure—education, healthcare, and governance. Most government schools are in a dire state, failing to equip citizens with critical thinking and awareness. Without proper education, the majority cannot understand or demand solutions for systemic issues like air quality.
This lack of awareness creates a vicious cycle. Citizens don’t demand better air quality because they don’t recognize it as a problem. Politicians don’t prioritize it because it doesn’t win votes. And so, the problem perpetuates.
As Charlie Munger often emphasized, “To the man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” For India’s government, the “hammer” is short-term populism—subsidies, freebies, and rhetoric—while long-term investments in education, healthcare, and environmental reform are ignored.
A Vision for Change
The situation will only improve when this problem becomes the problem of all 1.4 billion people—not just the educated elite who represent a fraction of the population. The government must prioritize:
Education:
Invest in quality education to empower citizens to recognize and address systemic issues.Healthcare and Infrastructure:
Strengthen public infrastructure so that basic needs are met, allowing people to think beyond day-to-day survival.Public Awareness Campaigns:
Launch nationwide initiatives to educate citizens about the health risks of air pollution and the steps they can take to mitigate it.Long-Term Governance:
Shift political priorities from immediate incentives to sustainable solutions that address air quality and environmental degradation.
A Collective Responsibility
India is a nation where nearly a billion people vote in national elections. Yet, only a small fraction of these voters prioritize issues like air quality. Until this changes, progress will remain elusive.
The government’s role is clear: to provide quality education, healthcare, and infrastructure. But the responsibility doesn’t end there. As citizens, we must demand more. We must recognize that air pollution isn’t just an environmental issue—it’s a public health crisis that affects every aspect of our lives.
Let’s make this our collective problem—not just one for the few who can afford to care. Only then will we find the solutions we desperately need.
What steps can we take as individuals to combat air pollution in our communities? Share your ideas in the comments below.