I am an 18-year-old FSc Pre-Medical student from Islamabad. Every winter, I see the same thing. The sky becomes grey, eyes start burning, and everyone starts coughing.

We call it smog. But for a long time I thought it was just fog, just weather. Now as a pre-med student, I am understanding it is much more than that. Smog is not just weather. It is pollution that we are breathing every day.

From Pollution to Smog

It starts with environmental pollution. Cars, factories, and burning of crops release smoke and small particles in the air. In Lahore and Islamabad, the number of cars is increasing every year. These particles mix with fog and become smog.

Smog is not just smoke. It contains PM2.5 and hazardous particulates. These are very small particles that we cannot see, but we breathe them every day.

PM2.5 is so small that it can go deep inside our lungs. According to the World Health Organization, clean air should have very low PM2.5. But in Lahore, during winter, the Air Quality Index often goes above 300, which is in the hazardous category. In Islamabad, it also goes above 150 on many winter days. This means the air we are breathing is not safe.

How it Affects Our Lungs?

According to Dr. Tayyaba Khan, a pulmonologist in Lahore, she is seeing more young patients with cough, asthma, and breathing problems during smog season than ever before.

When we breathe in smog, these particles go directly to our lungs. At first it is just cough or throat irritation. But long-term exposure is dangerous.

Doctors are now seeing more cases of asthma, bronchitis, and breathing problems, even in young students like us. I have seen many friends in college who use inhalers during smog season. A few years ago, this was not so common.

Reduced lung function is happening at a young age, which is scary. When our lungs are still growing, and we breathe dirty air every day, they cannot grow properly.

Long-term exposure can weaken our respiratory health, and we need to take it seriously. It does not just cause cough. It can cause long-term asthma, lung infections, and make it hard to breathe during exercise or even while walking.

I am not a doctor, I am just a student who is learning and observing. I started writing on Medium to understand these things in simple words, without difficult medical terms. But what I see around me is enough to understand that this is a health emergency, not just a winter problem.

What Can We Do?

We cannot stop smog in one day, but we can protect ourselves and we can reduce it.

• Protect Yourself: Wear a mask when AQI is high. A simple cloth mask is not enough. Use an N95 mask when the air is very bad. Check the air quality on your phone before going out. If AQI is above 200, try to stay indoors. Keep your windows closed in the morning when smog is thickest.
• At Home and School: Use an air purifier if you can. If not, keep plants at home. Drink more water. If you have asthma, keep your inhaler with you always. Tell your teacher if you feel breathless. Schools should avoid outdoor sports on high-smog days.
• For Our City: We need fewer cars on the road. We need more trees. Factories should follow rules. We should not burn trash or crops. The government needs to take strict action on factories and vehicles that make too much smoke.

Smog will not go away by itself. We have to speak about it. We have to write about it. We have to make people understand that this is not just fog.

Smog is not just in the sky, it is in our lungs. It is making our friends sick, our families sick, and our future weak.

I am 18 years old. I want to become a doctor. But before that, I want to breathe clean air. I want my friends to breathe clean air.

PREVENTION STARTS WITH AWARENESS.
STAY INFORMED, STAY HEALTHY!

Pakistan’s Smog Crisis: The Hidden Health Cost of Air Pollution was originally published in The Environment on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If animals were experiencing a global outbreak of a deadly disease, we would know, right?

Well, we do. We’re just not talking about it.

Avian influenza-better known as bird flu-killed over 300 million birds worldwide by December 2024, and the disease keeps spreading. Since the current outbreak began in central Europe in 2020, the disease has reached some of the most remote and vulnerable bird populations around the world, from the red-footed booby in the Galapagos Islands to the giant petrel-an aggressive seabird with a penchant for projectile-vomiting its enemies-in Antarctica.

Now, the disease has reached Australia, where it is spreading among crested terns and other native species. Many of these animals belong to small or vulnerable populations found nowhere else in the world.

We know there’s a problem. The challenge is, wildlife outbreaks are uniquely difficult to see. If we want to protect animals-and ourselves-we first have to make the invisible visible.

We Can’t Protect What We Can’t Count

We know over 300 million birds have died, but that (outdated) estimate captures only part of the virus’s true toll on wildlife. It doesn’t include the many non-bird species that have experienced massive die-offs, such as sea lions and seals in South America (and another seal die-off is anticipated in Australia).

Before anything else, we need to understand the problem. And that requires data.

But the thing is, we don’t have much data on bird flu in wildlife. Although the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center has detected over 10,000 cases of bird flu in animals across the nation, it is hard to catch every case.

Can We Vaccinate Wildlife Against Bird Flu?

There’s a vaccine for seasonal influenza. So what if we could vaccinate wild birds?

In some cases, scientists can. Scientists have successfully developed a vaccine to protect the endangered California condor and deployed it to over 200 individuals. But developing and testing a vaccine for every species would be a difficult undertaking, and vaccinating billions of wild birds around the globe would be a logistical nightmare.

Instead, scientists are focusing vaccination efforts on strategically chosen species. For example, the Australian government is vaccinating 5,000 little penguins, which are relatively simple to capture and vaccinate during their nightly waddle. It still isn’t easy though-each penguin requires two separate doses, so they need to be caught twice.

Vaccination won’t eliminate bird flu from the wild, but it could help protect vulnerable populations from its worst effects.

Improving Resiliency

One effective approach could be conserving more wild spaces. In the face of human encroachment, many birds are being cramped into smaller areas that they share with other species. Not only does this put stress on the birds’ immune system, but it also creates ripe grounds for the spread of disease. Protecting habitat won’t stop bird flu on its own, but it can reduce some of the pressures that make wildlife more vulnerable to disease.

Make Wildlife Disease Visible

But what can an average person do to protect wildlife from bird flu? You probably can’t vaccinate a penguin or collect blood samples from a duck. But you can help keep wildlife disease on the public agenda.

The first step is to stay informed. (You can start by reading my full Spring 2026 article on the topic, “ Bird Flu in the Wild.”)

The next step is to share this knowledge with others. Greater public awareness can also build support for surveillance, vaccination, and conservation efforts.

And of course, take these concerns to your local representatives.

It all comes down to visibility. Because we’d know if animals really were experiencing a global outbreak of a deadly disease, right?

We would. But only if we’re looking.

Related: Bird Flu: What You Should Know

Originally published at https://deannaaltomara.com on November 3, 2026.

Bird Flu Goes Global Among Wildlife…Is Anyone Watching? was originally published in The Environment on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.