My domestic help’s youngest child is merely 4 years old and it has been few months now that I am seeing the child constantly coughing. “Aunty, why don’t you get him checked with a doctor?” I interrogated my domestic help one day. “I did beta, the doctor took a hefty fee and gave him some medicines. He got fine for barely 4-5 days after which the coughing relapsed. There is some recurring problem which is not helping him be at ease,” she said. “What is that recurring problem?” I thought to myself. “Why is the child always struggling to breathe? Why do I choke so much when I am walking on the road? Why do they say that breathing in a city like Delhi is equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day?” The answer to all these questions was the same- Air Pollution.
Air Pollution affects our lives in ways more than we can think of. Cars, factories, harmful industrial and household emissions and so on contribute to air pollution. What do we need in such a scenario? The answer is simple- we need more and more trees.
What can policy makers do to tackle this issue?
Everything is not in our hands. For some work, for a lot of work rather, we need to rely on policy makers. For tackling the issue of a gas chamber like life, we need changes in policies, some of which could be as follows:
- For lesser pollution, we need lesser cars. Why can’t we link our car registrations to our Aadhaar Cards, like we have linked everything else? And no, there should not be one-to-one linking in this case. Imagine, a family of 6 having 6 cars! Let’s open joint accounts here- for registering one car, you need not one but two Aadhar Cards.
- Target the car makers. Policies can be put in place wherein every car showroom can only sell a set number of cars in a year. If they sell more, they will be fined.
- Let’s promote cycling! Cycling is fun, good for the health and the environment. I have never seen anyone doing a campaign around cycling. Let brands make cycles and promote them massively and let policy makers publicize the idea of cycling. Why not celebrities do it for us? There can be no better influencer than them. Remember how Swachh Bharat gained so much popularity?
What can we do to make our lives better?
- Grow plants. Gift plants. Promote planting on a personal level as much as possible.
- Car pool for going to office, market, metro station, weddings and everywhere possible- going with friends in the same car is not demeaning, it’s fun! The best part of our childhood vacations used to be sitting with 4 other cousins in the same car, wasn’t it?
- Recycle and re-use glass bottles, plastic bottles, straws, etc. Indulge in best-out-of-waste activity some day and you never know, an artist could be hiding in you!
- Walk short distances- it will help you stay fit too. Else, try using public transport or shared cabs.
- Do not pamper your child by dropping/picking him/her to and from school daily. Let your child go with the other children in school van/bus. This is how your child will get the habit of sharing and caring.
A little effort towards curbing this serious issue will soon develop into habit and no sooner, the habit will become our lifestyle! So let’s all take a pledge- Say yes to clean air.