To spread the message of driving one less day every week to control vehicular pollution, citizens gathered together to pledge for #CleanAirEveryday. A rally was organized in Delhi in Connaught Place where citizens spread this message to encourage individual actions to help control air pollution.
The campaign #NoCarSundays encourages citizens to ditch their cars once a week and go for other eco friendly modes of transport such as walking, cycling and taking public transport (with proper precautions).
Citizens from 10 cities in 6 states including Hyderabad, Rajasthan and Mumbai also joined in.
Vehicular emissions, one of the main sources of air pollution
While many sources are attributed to the air pollution problem in India, vehicular emissions surely take one of the top spots. According to reports, transportation sources account for approximately a third of PM pollution in India.
Not to forget its ill effects on human health. The hazardous chemicals released by vehicles such as Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) etc cause a major health risk, particularly to children.
In fact, fumes from traffic cause four million new cases of childhood asthma every year, of which 350,000 occur in India, according to a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health in 2019.
Pledge to drive one day less a week
#NoCarSundays encourages cycling and walking with a message to not use their vehicles for a day in a week as it directly helps in reducing air pollution and tackle climate change.
While holding posters with slogans like “clean air everyday” and no car Sundays, citizens cycled, and some used Yulu bikes to encourage people tp lessen the use of their private cars.
Aditya Dubey, a youth environmentalist said, “Vehicular emissions are one of the biggest contributors to air pollution. Our aggravated use of ICE based vehicles is responsible for these emissions so it’s our responsibility to try to reduce our car usage. We cannot expect the government, private Enterprises, farmers, etc to work against air pollution and on the other hand, continue with our polluting ways. #NoCarSundays is a small effort on our part to encourage, motivate, and inspire citizens to switch from Fossil fuel cars to public transport and more eco-friendly modes of transports.”
He added, “Today, #NoCarSundays reached 10 cities in 6 states which is a good start but now we have to work harder with greater commitment to ensure that the campaign reaches every city of India and then every country of the world, so that it may have an actual impact on the emission levels. We intend to invite more environmental organizations and activists into the campaign fold so that we can all work together to achieve the goal of #NoCarSundays.”
