After suspicious fires our forests became hotels. Thousands of years old lakes have been dried, natural wonders have been attracted to the supporters. When there is nothing to be devastated about the nature that we are trying to protect by charging the grocery bag, it is time for the air.
According to the law passed by the AKP-MHP alliance in Parliament, 15 thermal plants in various cities were allowed to pollute the air for another 2.5 years.
According to the law passed by the parliament last evening with the votes of the AKP and MHP, 15 thermal power plants in Çanakkale, Sirnak, Kahramanmaras, Karabuk, Kutahya, Manisa, Sivas, Zonguldak, Ankara, Mugla and Bursa were allowed to work without using a chimney filter.
According to World Health Organization estimates, air pollution caused 4,2 million premature deaths in 2016 worldwide.
Air pollution invites diseases
Environmental Engineer Sedat Durel, who made statements to the Milli Gazete daily, said that air pollution causes diseases and said, "We are exposed to particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less which causes these diseases, cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. It is estimated that 58% of these early deaths are due to bone heart disease and stroke; 18% are caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and acute lower endum pathway disease, and 6% are caused by lung cancer."
CHIMNEY FILTER IS A NECESSARY SYSTEM
Pregnant women exposed to polluted air have a high rate of premature births. In addition, air pollution affects the nervous and mental development of children and triggers cancer and asthma. Children exposed to air pollution are at risk of living with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases for the rest of their lives. These are things we can only count first-hand. The fact that the flue filter is not used in the thermal power plant is an indispensable system to prevent the spread of pollutants that cause all these diseases to the atmosphere. If we need tongs or gloves to hold the warm grove by hand, we also need a filter so that the thermal power plant doesn't have fatal consequences in the first place.
ALLOWING FILTER-FREE ACTIVITY IS FREE OF DISEASE
Stating that thermal power plants vomit, Durel said, "While thermal power plants get energy, they puke a lot of poison from cancer to premature death, liver disease and heart disease. Filters hold a significant portion of these poisons. Allowing the operation of the thermal power plant without filter means to give freedom to the diseases I have just mentioned and many more".
Durel also touched on the issue of paid bags to protect nature. It is obvious that disposable plastics cause great harm to our planet. Today microplastic available in all of table salt in Turkey. However, I think that the struggle against this situation should be advanced not with taxation, but with a rigorous planning that will lead to the prohibition of disposable plastics if necessary. Because it is difficult to believe that the intention is a nature-friendly solution if we see that the bag tax is not left to the Ministry's ecology-friendly activities but to the Treasury.
FREEDOM OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION RENEWED UP TO 2022
Environmental Engineer Cevahir Efe Akçelik said that companies are given the freedom to pollute the environment and said, "In the legal arrangements made due to the privatizations, the production in public or privatized power plants until 31.12.2019 without taking environmental protection measures or even running the existing environmental protection facilities (ESF, BGKA etc.) to be done. In other words, the companies taking over the plants were given the freedom to pollute the environment for a long time. Last evening, the Assembly passed by the majority of the regulation of Canakkale, Sirnak, Kahramanmaras, Karabuk, Kutahya, Manisa, Sivas, Zonguldak, Ankara, Mugla and Bursa in the same thermal power plants until June 2022 passed an arrangement permitting the same activity. With this regulation, reducing dust emission in flue gas, taking measures to eliminate negative effects such as sulfuroxide, nitrogen oxide removal are prevented.