The Foreign Service Journal, September 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2015 39 The AQM readings, updated hourly, were available to all mission personnel on our intranet system and to family members through a password-protected weblink. The data was disturbing, but I was glad to have it so that my family and I could know the levels of pollution we were experiencing. What’s more, the data was available in an easy-to- understand format keyed to the EPA’s Air Quality Index and accompanied by EPA-approved health guid- ance for various levels of pollution. I was, however, dis- mayed to learn that no one else had access to this U.S.-generated data, and I began to ask why. It did not make sense that a U.S. mission would not share helpful health information with other U.S. and Indian nationals. As I discussed this with colleagues over lunch or coffee and in any number of spontaneous “bad air” conversations that would come up, I found that many people had a similar view. But most shrugged their shoulders and said, in effect, “good luck.” Clarify the Benefits of Change From the start, I was told that senior leadership was opposed to publicizing our air quality data, and that that posi- tion was very unlikely to change. I wanted to understand why. The opposition was based on two assumptions: (1) official Indian government air pollution data was already available for anyone who was interested, and thus there was no need to publicize ours; and (2) it is best not to do anything that might generate a negative backlash, as calling attention to India’s air pollution might do. While the first point was technically true—Indian govern- ment AQM data was indeed available online—that data was not easy to find, nor easy to understand, nor always accessible (for example, the system frequently went offline for extended periods of time without explanation). The difficulty in locating and understanding the Indian official data alone was sufficient reason for the U.S. mission to change our position and publish our data. It just did not seem right that my family should have access to clear, understandable, reliable U.S.-generated air Samuel Kotis gives a speech, “The Health and Climate Change Co-Benefits of Action on Air Pollution,” at the International Symposium on Combating Climate Change in C40 Mega Cities on Earth Day, April 22, in Kolkata. The conference was organized by U.S. Consulate General Kolkata in collaboration with Kennesaw State University, the South Asian Forum for Environment and India’s National Council on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. COURTESYOFU.S.EMBASSYNEWDELHI I was told that publishing our data widely was not appropriate and could cause damage to our bilateral relationship.