On a clear day, you can see forever? Well, not exactly. In India, deadly smog has reduced visibility, but more than that, it's cost lives. In the capital city of Delhi, schools have been closed and bans on construction and other activities have made it nearly impossible for some to breathe. The thick smog is actually millions of tiny particles of pollution, currently measured at 900 micrograms per cubic meter. While that might not sound like a lot, it's actually more than 90 times the amount considered safe by the World Health Organization.
While in some parts of the world, transportation and the burning of fossil fuels is what brings the smog, in India there is another cause. Annual crop burning in states neighboring the capital seem to be the reason for the air being so toxic. Each year,before sowing fields of rice, farmers burn straw in the fields. This produces thick clouds of choking smoke that travel on wind currents across the country. Health advisories have warned citizens not to go outside without a mask and protests have arisen in some parts of Delhi to force the government to take more action on the pollution issue
