Clearing the Smoke and Mirrors Save

About the Lecture

Join us for a lecture that cuts through the winter blame game:

Delhi blames Punjab, Punjab blames Delhi, and everyone blames the weather. So what is actually in the air we breathe?

We've all been there: complaining about the AQI, feeling what the air does to our lungs, sleep, skin and routines. Every winter we're handed the same list of culprits: stubble burning, construction dust, industrial emissions, cars, trucks, garbage fires, landfills, brick kilns, diesel generators and, of course, the wind. The panels shout, the season passes, and by next November we're no clearer on which of these actually matters, or by how much.

Atmospheric scientist Dr Mohammad Rafiuddin begins with Delhi's meteorology and geography: a landlocked city on the Indo-Gangetic Plain, hemmed in by the Himalayas, with winter air that sits still. It's a bad hand, but not a unique one, and if cities around the world with the same conditions have got their air under control, so can Delhi. From there, we'll go sector by sector through what's actually in the air, and which solutions would genuinely cut emissions from each.

The session explores:

Why Delhi's geography and winter weather trap pollution, and why that isn't an excuse
What's actually in Delhi's air: transport, biomass and solid-fuel burning, waste, dust, construction, industry and stubble
Which sources matter most, and by how much
The solutions that would genuinely cut emissions, sector by sector

About the Speaker

Dr Mohammad Rafiuddin is an atmospheric scientist who once built a fog-forecasting system for Bengaluru airport, which means pilots have landed on his maths. He is now Programme Lead – Clean Air at CEEW, where he researches what Delhi's air is made of, how well the city can predict it, and why the answer never stops at Delhi's border.

He holds a PhD in atmospheric sciences from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, a Post Graduate Diploma in Urban Environmental Management and Law from National Law University, and a BTech in mechanical engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad.

About unLecture

unLecture brings experts out of classrooms and into cafés, bars and neighbourhood spaces across Delhi. Created by three friends from college who wanted learning to feel warm, social and alive — unLecture turns an otherwise ordinary evening into a conversation you may think about long after it ends.