Air Pollution

Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment, into the atmosphere.

The atmosphere is a complex, dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the Earth's ecosystems.

Sources:

An air pollutant is known as a substance in the air that can cause harm to humans and the environment. Pollutants can be in the form of solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases. In addition, they may be natural or man-made.[1]

Pollutants can be classified as either primary or secondary. Usually, primary pollutants are substances directly emitted from a process, such as ash from a volcanic eruption, the carbon monoxide gas from a motor vehicle exhaust or sulfur dioxide released from factories.

Secondary pollutants are not emitted directly. Rather, they form in the air when primary pollutants react or interact. An important example of a secondary pollutant is ground level ozone — one of the many secondary pollutants that make up photochemical smog.

Note that some pollutants may be both primary and secondary: that is, they are both emitted directly and formed from other primary pollutants.

About 4 percent of deaths in the United States can be attributed to air pollution, according to the Environmental Science Engineering Program at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Major primary pollutants produced by human activity include:

* Sulfur oxides (SOx) - especially sulfur dioxide, a chemical compound with the formula SO2. SO2 is produced by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide. Further oxidation of SO2, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as NO2, forms H2SO4, and thus acid rain.[2] This is one of the causes for concern over the environmental impact of the use of these fuels as power sources.
* Nitrogen oxides (NOx) - especially nitrogen dioxide are emitted from high temperature combustion. Can be seen as the brown haze dome above or plume downwind of cities.Nitrogen dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula NO2. It is one of the several nitrogen oxides. This reddish-brown toxic gas has a characteristic sharp, biting odor. NO2 is one of the most prominent air pollutants.
* Carbon monoxide - is a colourless, odourless, non-irritating but very poisonous gas. It is a product by incomplete combustion of fuel such as natural gas, coal or wood. Vehicular exhaust is a major source of carbon monoxide.
* Carbon dioxide (CO2) - a greenhouse gas emitted from combustion but is also a gas vital to living organisms. It is a natural gas in the atmosphere.
* Volatile organic compounds - VOCs are an important outdoor air pollutant. In this field they are often divided into the separate categories of methane (CH4) and non-methane (NMVOCs). Methane is an extremely efficient greenhouse gas which contributes to enhanced global warming. Other hydrocarbon VOCs are also significant greenhouse gases via their role in creating ozone and in prolonging the life of methane in the atmosphere, although the effect varies depending on local air quality. Within the NMVOCs, the aromatic compounds benzene, toluene and xylene are suspected carcinogens and may lead to leukemia through prolonged exposure. 1,3-butadiene is another dangerous compound which is often associated with industrial uses.

* Particulate matter - Particulates, alternatively referred to as particulate matter (PM) or fine particles, are tiny particles of solid or liquid suspended in a gas. In contrast, aerosol refers to particles and the gas together. Sources of particulate matter can be man made or natural. Some particulates occur naturally, originating from volcanoes, dust storms, forest and grassland fires, living vegetation, and sea spray. Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, power plants and various industrial processes also generate significant amounts of aerosols. Averaged over the globe, anthropogenic aerosols—those made by human activities—currently account for about 10 percent of the total amount of aerosols in our atmosphere. Increased levels of fine particles in the air are linked to health hazards such as heart disease, altered lung function and lung cancer.

* Persistent free radicals connected to airborne fine particles could cause cardiopulmonary disease.[2][3]

* Toxic metals, such as lead, cadmium and copper.
* Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) - harmful to the ozone layer emitted from products currently banned from use.
* Ammonia (NH3) - emitted from agricultural processes. Ammonia is a compound with the formula NH3. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odor. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to foodstuffs and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or indirectly, is also a building block for the synthesis of many pharmaceuticals. Although in wide use, ammonia is both caustic and hazardous.
* Odors — such as from garbage, sewage, and industrial processes
* Radioactive pollutants - produced by nuclear explosions, war explosives, and natural processes such as the radioactive decay of radon.

Secondary pollutants include:

* Particulate matter formed from gaseous primary pollutants and compounds in photochemical smog .Smog is a kind of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Classic smog results from large amounts of coal burning in an area caused by a mixture of smoke and sulfur dioxide. Modern smog does not usually come from coal but from vehicular and industrial emissions that are acted on in the atmosphere by sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine with the primary emissions to form photochemical smog.
* Ground level ozone (O3) formed from NOx and VOCs. Ozone (O3) is a key constituent of the troposphere (it is also an important constituent of certain regions of the stratosphere commonly known as the Ozone layer). Photochemical and chemical reactions involving it drive many of the chemical processes that occur in the atmosphere by day and by night. At abnormally high concentrations brought about by human activities (largely the combustion of fossil fuel), it is a pollutant, and a constituent of smog.
* Peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) - similarly formed from NOx and VOCs.

Minor air pollutants include:

* A large number of minor hazardous air pollutants. Some of these are regulated in USA under the Clean Air Act and in Europe under the Air Framework Directive.
* A variety of persistent organic pollutants, which can attach to particulate matter.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation through chemical, biological, and photolytic processes. Because of this, they have been observed to persist in the environment, to be capable of long-range transport, bioaccumulate in human and animal tissue, biomagnify in food chains, and to have potential significant impacts on human health and the environment.

Sources of air pollution refer to the various locations, activities or factors which are responsible for the releasing of pollutants in the atmosphere. These sources can be classified into two major categories which are:

Anthropogenic sources (human activity) mostly related to burning different kinds of fuel

* "Stationary Sources" include smoke stacks of power plants, manufacturing facilities (factories) and waste incinerators, as well as furnaces and other types of fuel-burning heating devices

* "Mobile Sources" include motor vehicles, marine vessels, aircraft and the effect of sound etc.

* Chemicals, dust and controlled burn practices in agriculture and forestry management. Controlled or prescribed burning is a technique sometimes used in forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. Fire is a natural part of both forest and grassland ecology and controlled fire can be a tool for foresters. Controlled burning stimulates the germination of some desirable forest trees, thus renewing the forest.

* Fumes from paint, hair spray, varnish, aerosol sprays and other solvents

* Waste deposition in landfills, which generate methane.Methane is not toxic; however, it is highly flammable and may form explosive mixtures with air. Methane is also an asphyxiant and may displace oxygen in an enclosed space. Asphyxia or suffocation may result if the oxygen concentration is reduced to below 19.5% by displacement

* Military, such as nuclear weapons, toxic gases, germ warfare and rocketry

Natural sources

* Dust from natural sources, usually large areas of land with little or no vegetation.
* Methane, emitted by the digestion of food by animals, for example cattle.
* Radon gas from radioactive decay within the Earth's crust. Radon is a colorless, odorless, naturally occurring, radioactive noble gas that is formed from the decay of radium. It is considered to be a health hazard. Radon gas from natural sources can accumulate in buildings, especially in confined areas such as the basement and it is the second most frequent cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking.

* Smoke and carbon monoxide from wildfires.
* Volcanic activity, which produce sulfur, chlorine, and ash particulates.

Emission factors
Air pollutant emission factors are representative values that attempt to relate the quantity of a pollutant released to the ambient air with an activity associated with the release of that pollutant. These factors are usually expressed as the weight of pollutant divided by a unit weight, volume, distance, or duration of the activity emitting the pollutant (e.g., kilograms of particulate emitted per megagram of coal burned). Such factors facilitate estimation of emissions from various sources of air pollution. In most cases, these factors are simply averages of all available data of acceptable quality, and are generally assumed to be representative of long-term averages.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has published a compilation of air pollutant emission factors for a multitude of industrial sources.[4] The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and many other countries have published similar compilations, as well as the European Environment Agency

Indoor Air Quality

A lack of ventilation indoors concentrates air pollution where people often spend the majority of their time. Radon (Rn) gas, a carcinogen, is exuded from the Earth in certain locations and trapped inside houses. Building materials including carpeting and plywood emit formaldehyde (H2CO) gas. Paint and solvents give off volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as they dry. Lead paint can degenerate into dust and be inhaled. Intentional air pollution is introduced with the use of air fresheners, incense, and other scented items. Controlled wood fires in stoves and fireplaces can add significant amounts of smoke particulates into the air, inside and out. Indoor pollution fatalities may be caused by using pesticides and other chemical sprays indoors without proper ventilation.

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and fatalities are often caused by faulty vents and chimneys, or by the burning of charcoal indoors. Chronic carbon monoxide poisoning can result even from poorly adjusted pilot lights. Traps are built into all domestic plumbing to keep sewer gas, hydrogen sulfide, out of interiors. Clothing emits tetrachloroethylene, or other dry cleaning fluids, for days after dry cleaning.

Though its use has now been banned in many countries, the extensive use of asbestos in industrial and domestic environments in the past has left a potentially very dangerous material in many localities. Asbestosis is a chronic inflammatory medical condition affecting the tissue of the lungs. It occurs after long-term, heavy exposure to asbestos from asbestos-containing materials in structures. Sufferers have severe dyspnea (shortness of breath) and are at an increased risk regarding several different types of lung cancer. As clear explanations are not always stressed in non-technical literature, care should be taken to distinguish between several forms of relevant diseases. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), these may defined as; asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma (generally a very rare form of cancer, when more widespread it is almost always associated with prolonged exposure to asbestos).

Biological sources of air pollution are also found indoors, as gases and airborne particulates. Pets produce dander, people produce dust from minute skin flakes and decomposed hair, dust mites in bedding, carpeting and furniture produce enzymes and micrometre-sized fecal droppings, inhabitants emit methane, mold forms in walls and generates mycotoxins and spores, air conditioning systems can incubate Legionnaires' disease and mold, and houseplants, soil and surrounding gardens can produce pollen, dust, and mold. Indoors, the lack of air circulation allows these airborne pollutants to accumulate more than they would otherwise occur in nature.

Health Effects of Air Pollution
The World Health Organization states that 2.4 million people die each year from causes directly attributable to air pollution, with 1.5 million of these deaths attributable to indoor air pollution. "Epidemiological studies suggest that more than 500,000 Americans die each year from cardiopulmonary disease linked to breathing fine particle air pollution. . ." A study by the University of Birmingham has shown a strong correlation between pneumonia related deaths and air pollution from motor vehicles.[13] Worldwide more deaths per year are linked to air pollution than to automobile accidents.[citation needed] Published in 2005 suggests that 310,000 Europeans die from air pollution annually.[citation needed] Direct causes of air pollution related deaths include aggravated asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, lung and heart diseases, and respiratory allergies.[citation needed] The US EPA estimates that a proposed set of changes in diesel engine technology (Tier 2) could result in 12,000 fewer premature mortalities, 15,000 fewer heart attacks, 6,000 fewer emergency room visits by children with asthma, and 8,900 fewer respiratory-related hospital admissions each year in the United States.

The worst short term civilian pollution crisis in India was the 1984 Bhopal Disaster. Leaked industrial vapors from the Union Carbide factory, belonging to Union Carbide, Inc., U.S.A., killed more than 2,000 people outright and injured anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others, some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries.[citation needed] The United Kingdom suffered its worst air pollution event when the December 4 Great Smog of 1952 formed over London. In six days more than 4,000 died, and 8,000 more died within the following months.[citation needed] An accidental leak of anthrax spores from a biological warfare laboratory in the former USSR in 1979 near Sverdlovsk is believed to have been the cause of hundreds of civilian deaths.[citation needed] The worst single incident of air pollution to occur in the United States of America occurred in Donora, Pennsylvania in late October, 1948, when 20 people died and over 7,000 were injured.

The health effects caused by air pollutants may range from subtle biochemical and physiological changes to difficulty in breathing, wheezing, coughing and aggravation of existing respiratory and cardiac conditions. These effects can result in increased medication use, increased doctor or emergency room visits, more hospital admissions and premature death. The human health effects of poor air quality are far reaching, but principally affect the body's respiratory system and the cardiovascular system. Individual reactions to air pollutants depend on the type of pollutant a person is exposed to, the degree of exposure, the individual's health status and genetics.[citation needed]

A new economic study of the health impacts and associated costs of air pollution in the Los Angeles Basin and San Joaquin Valley of Southern California shows that more than 3800 people die prematurely (approximately 14 years earlier than normal) each year because air pollution levels violate federal standards. The number of annual premature deaths is considerably higher than the fatalities related to auto collisions in the same area, which average fewer than 2,000 per year.

Diesel exhaust (DE) is a major contributor to combustion derived particulate matter air pollution. In several human experimental studies, using a well validated exposure chamber setup, DE has been linked to acute vascular dysfunction and increased thrombus formation

Effects on children

Cities around the world with high exposure to air pollutants have the possibility of children living within them to develop asthma, pneumonia and other lower respiratory infections as well as a low initial birth rate. Protective measures to ensure the youths' health are being taken in cities such as New Delhi, India where buses now use compressed natural gas to help eliminate the “pea-soup” smog.Research by the World Health Organization shows there is the greatest concentration of particulate matter particles in countries with low economic world power and high poverty and population rates. Examples of these countries include Egypt, Sudan, Mongolia, and Indonesia. The Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, however in 2002 at least 146 million Americans were living in areas that did not meet at least one of the “criteria pollutants” laid out in the 1997 National Ambient Air Quality Standards.Those pollutants included: ozone, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and lead. Because children are outdoors more and have higher minute ventilation they are more susceptible to the dangers of air pollution.

Most Polluted World Cities by PM[50]
Particulate
matter,
μg/m³ (2004) City
169 Cairo, Egypt
150 Delhi, India
128 Kolkata, India (Calcutta)
125 Tianjin, China
123 Chongqing, China
109 Kanpur, India
109 Lucknow, India
104 Jakarta, Indonesia
101 Shenyang, China

Total CO2 emissions

Main article: List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions
Countries with the highest CO2 emissions
Country Carbon dioxide emissions per
year (106 Tons) (2006) Percentage of global total
China 6,103 21.5%
United States 5,752 20.2%
Russia 1,564 5.5%
India 1,510 5.3%
Japan 1293 4.6%
Germany 805 2.8%
United Kingdom 568 2.0%
Canada 544 1.9%
South Korea 475 1.7%
Italy 474 1.7%


Countries with the highest per capita CO2 emissions
Country Carbon dioxide emissions per year
(Tons per person) (2006)
Qatar 56.2
United Arab Emirates 32.8
Kuwait 31.2
Bahrain 28.8
Trinidad and Tobago 25.3
Luxembourg 24.5
Netherlands Antilles 22.8
Aruba 22.3
United States 19
Australia 18.1

Environmental journalism

Environmental journalism is the collection, verification, production, distribution and exhibition of information regarding current events, trends, issues and people that are associated with the non-human world with which humans necessarily interact. To be an environmental journalist, one must have an understanding of scientific language and practice, knowledge of historical environmental events, the ability to keep abreast of environmental policy decisions and the work of environmental organizations, a general understanding of current environmental concerns, and the ability to communicate all of that information to the public in such a way that it can be easily understood, despite its complexity.

Environmental journalism falls within the scope of environmental communication, and its roots can be traced to nature writing. One key controversy in environmental journalism is a continuing disagreement over how to distinguish it from its allied genres and disciplines.
History
While the practice of nature writing has a rich history that dates back at least as far as the exploration narratives of Christopher Columbus, and follows tradition up through prominent nature writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau in the late 19th century, John Burroughs and John Muir in the early 20th century, and Aldo Leopold in the 1940s, the field of environmental journalism did not begin to take shape until the 1960s and 1970s.

The growth of environmental journalism as a profession roughly parallels that of the environmental movement, which became a mainstream cultural movement with the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 and was further legitimized by the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964. Grassroots environmental organizations made a booming appearance on the political scene in the 1960s and 1970s, raising public awareness of what many considered to be the “environmental crisis,” and working to influence environmental policy decisions. The mass media has followed and generated public interest on environmental issues ever since.

The field of environmental journalism was further legitimized by the creation of the Society of Environmental Journalists in 1990, whose mission “is to advance public understanding of environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy, and visibility of environmental reporting.” Today, academic programs are offered at a number of institutions to train budding journalists in the rigors, complexity and sheer breadth of environmental journalism.
Advocacy debate
There exists a minor rift in the community of environmental journalists. Some, including those in the Society of Environmental Journalists, believe in objectively reporting environmental news, while others, like Michael Frome, a prominent figure in the field, believe that journalists should only enter the environmental side of the field if saving the planet is a personal passion, and that environmental journalists should not shy away from environmental advocacy, though not at the expense of clearly relating facts and opinions on all sides of an issue. This debate is not likely to be settled soon, but with changes in the field of journalism filtering up from new media being used by the general public to produce news, it seems likely that the field of environmental journalism will lend itself more and more toward reporting points of view akin to environmental advocacy.
Genres
Environmental communication is all of the forms of communication that are engaged with the social debate about environmental issues and problems.[1]

Also within the scope of environmental communication are the genres of nature writing, science writing, environmental literature, environmental interpretation and environmental advocacy. While there is a great deal of overlap among the various genres within environmental communication, they are each deserving of their own definition.

Nature writing
Nature writing is the genre with the longest history in environmental communication. In his book, This Incomparable Land: A Guide to American Nature Writing, Thomas J. Lyon attempts to use a “taxonomy of nature writing” in order to define the genre. He suggests that his classifications, too, suffer a great deal of overlap and intergrading. “The literature of nature has three main dimensions to it: natural history information, personal responses to nature, and philosophical interpretation of nature” (Lyon 20). In the natural history essay, “the main burden of the writing is to convey pointed instruction in the facts of nature,” such as with the ramble-type nature writing of John Burroughs (Lyon 21). “In essays of experience, the author’s firsthand contact with nature is the frame for the writing,” as with Edward Abbey’s contemplation of a desert sunset (Lyon 23). In the philosophical interpretation of nature, the content is similar to that of the natural history and personal experience essays, “but the mode of presentation tends to be more abstract and scholarly” (Lyon 25). The Norton Book of Nature Writing adds a few new dimensions to the genre of nature writing, including animal narratives, garden essays, farming essays, ecofeminist works, writing on environmental justice, and works advocating environmental preservation, sustainability and biological diversity. Environmental journalism pulls from the tradition and scope of nature writing.

Science writing
Science writing is writing that focuses specifically on topics of scientific study, generally translating jargon that is difficult for those outside a particular scientific field to understand into language that is easily digestible. This genre can be narrative or informative. Not all science writing falls within the bounds of environmental communication, only science writing that takes on topics relevant to the environment. Environmental journalism also pulls from the tradition and scope of science writing.

Asim Rafiqui visits MGCPS

About Asim Rafiqui

International photographer Asim Rafiqui visited Modern Girls College of Professional Studies and interacted with students giving them an hour-long talk on Photography as a career, new avenues and starter tips.Currently working on the Idea of India Project, Asim provided an enlightened afternoon and detailed his latest work....

THE IDEA OF INDIA PROJECT

Summary

In the last few decades we have become accustomed to news of sectarian violence on the Indian sub-continent. In particular, there is a widening and violent rift between India’s Hindu and Muslim communities. But religious and cultural pluralism is a prominent feature of Indian life and has been her heritage for centuries. I am documenting this culture of pluralism and tolerance, and how it today has become an act of resistance to the sectarians and a means of building peace between the communities.

__________

“To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it ‘the way it really was’(Ranke). It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger.”

Walter Benjamin, Illuminations 1969

India’s sectarian view of its history begins not in modern day India but in pre-partition India. Influenced by European nationalist movements and dismissing nearly 1000 years of their own heterogeneous heritage, a group of Indian intellectuals became convinced of the irreconcilability of India’s Muslim and Hindu ‘nations’. The state of Pakistan, carved out of India in 1947, was one consequence of this largely political and ahistorical belief. It cemented a questionable theory into a geo-political reality.

A recent manifestation of the idea has been the Hindutva project, a right wing Hindu movement that aims at cleansing India of her non-Hindu influences, rewriting her history as a purely Hindu one and intimidating her minorities – particularly her Muslims – into acquiescing to its political and cultural demands. The Hindutva movement has used academics to rewrite history, political leaders to impose its idea of a ‘Hindu’ society at the national level and violence to intimidate those who resist it.

In 1992 the Bharata Janata Party (BJP), the Hindutva’s political arm, orchestrated the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, rallying people by claiming that the mosque had been built over a temple to the god Ram. The campaign touched a popular note and helped the party win the 1998 parliamentary elections. More violence against the Muslims followed, the worst occurred in 2002 when over 2000 Muslims were killed in Ahmedabad, Gujarat as the local police and politicians looked on. In the aftermath of such communal violence many previously mixed neighborhoods were divided into sectarian enclaves. Despite losing power in 2004, the BJP remains a powerful opposition party and the Hindutva’s network of schools, welfare associations and militant groups continue to influence popular conceptions about India’s history and culture.

Today an ‘Islamic’ militancy is emerging and is targeting Hindu communities in acts of revenge. Bombs have torn through busy markets and neighborhoods in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi. And to further complicate matters the state of Orissa has been engulfed in violence as rampaging Hindu mobs accuse the local Christians of trying to convert local Hindus to Christianity. Over 6 weeks of violence has seen thousands displaced and dozens of churches burnt.

Victims of distorted histories, the people of India (and Pakistan) are trapped in a dialog of violence and confrontation.

The Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore once said that the “idea of India” itself militated against a culturally separatist view—”against the intense consciousness of the separateness of one’s own people from others.” He would be quite dismayed to see the state of affairs in India today. So am I, a Kashmiri Muslim whose own pluralist heritage (Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist) has become a victim of a sectarian militancy. But Tagore would be right in his conviction that India’s own history speaks against the chauvinism of sectarianism. Contemporary India offers a vivid example of how a people resist sectarian extremism, and the imposed division of their communities.

My project is a visual and narrative documentation of this ‘idea of India’ as I explore

1. Pluralist landscapes where traditions of social and religious sharing still exist, and those where it may already have been lost. I will also include sites that were once centers of such tolerance and whose histories offer us important lessons and understandings today
2. Shared sacred sites like major Sufi dargahs where Hindus and Muslims cross paths and which today and in the past have acted as important sources of healing and reconciliation. I will also focus on sites where Hindu and Christian beliefs have fused and syncretic rituals have emerged.
3. Shared cultural traditions including religious festivals that have evolved past their sectarian sources and broadened to welcome participants of all beliefs.
4. Efforts at reconciliation within divided communities for example those in Gujarat and in Kashmir, where victims of sectarian violence and cleansing are working with former neighbors, activists and concerned citizens to find a way back to their homes.

This project then is a journey though an alternative India; of lived experiences, of lives and imaginations not bound by sectarianism. In some instances I document real, lived acts of resistance and cultural sharing. In other instances I explore social spaces that point to worlds more complex, beautiful and vital than those offered by the threadbare hate mongering of the sectarians. In other words, I am using photography not only as a means of evidence, but also as a vessel for the imagination.

Religious fundamentalism is a threat faced by democracies around the globe. India offers an example of the struggle between people who are prepared to live with and respect others who are different, and those who seek the comfort of homogeneity and the domination of a single ‘pure’ religious and ethnic tradition. In the aftermath of the hatreds and violence that led to the partition of India, an act that was expected to solve the Hindu-Muslim question by separating the two, we find that that the quest for peace and reconciliation is a delicate process that may continue to unfold for decades. In India it remains a determined and continuing struggle, worthy of more attention than it has hitherto received.

This project is supported by The Aftermath Project founded by photographer Sara Terry.

The project is supported by The Blue Earth Alliance.


More about Asim Farouqui

Photo By Kurihara, Tokyo 2007

Photo By Kurihara, Tokyo 2007

Grants/Stipends

Blue Earth Alliance Sponsorship 2009
Aftermath Grant (2009) for ‘The Idea of India’
Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting Grant (2008)
Finalist Aftermath Grant (2007)

Awards/Nominations

Nominated Visa d’Or News, Visa pour L’image (2005)
Nominated “Fujifilm Young Photographer Award”, Visa pour L’image (2005)

Exhibitions (Independent & Joint):

Paris Photo, Gaza Undone, 2009
The Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai, 2009 ‘Blow Out’
Gage Gallery, Roosevelt University, 2008 ‘Aftermath of War’
Noorderlicht, Groningen, 2007: ‘Acts of Faith’
Visa pour L’image, Perpignan, France, 2005: ‘Haiti’s Struggle for Democracy’
Visa pour L’image, Perpignan, France, 2004: ‘The Unconsoled: Rafah, Gaza’
Galleri Kontrast, Stockholm Sweden 2002: ‘Afghanistan: Restart’

Education (Photographic & Other)

Columbia University, New York City, 1988 (B.Sc) and 1995 (M.B.A.)
Missouri Photo Workshop, Fulton, MO, Helge Scholarship