Environment

Say Yes to Green Vehicles

Tahmina Khan Tithi

Everyday I discover a friend coughing loud, sneezing countless times, using an inhaler or suffering from allergic reactions. The number of such people is increasing by every day in Dhaka City. It would not take one long to point out the reason behind this rising phenomena. It is the abominable polluted air of the city.

You will be amazed to know that every one of us in the city is addicted to smoking without knowing it due to the presence of extreme amount of smokes in the air; even your 1-minute-old child is also addicted to smoking for 9 months! Every one of us wants to ensure a good environment for our children and so we all need to start thinking of how to get rid of this situation seriously. I am quite sure that nothing can be a better solution than green vehicles like rickshaw, bicycle etc which can ensure a clean and safe environment for us.

Every day we consume large amounts of fuels to run our motor vehicles when the country is facing severe energy crisis. Because of 'cold start' problem motor vehicles emit green house gases like Carbon-dioxide for the first few miles. Now in Dhaka the average distance the vehicles travel every trip is around 5 Km! So logically they run with cold starts only. If you really understood this, I am sure you would actually stop riding a motor vehicle and start using rickshaw/bicycles, which are non-polluting means of transport.

To inspire people to use green vehicles some initial steps need to be taken. Some of the proposed solutions can be, some routes can be made for non-motor vehicles, doctors can prescribe bicycling just like prescribing stopping smoking, young people need to be inspired to ride bicycles and medias need to publicise more about the present environment condition of the city and the duties of the general people to prevent pollution.

The city is ours, so its problems are ours too. I believe that all our co-operative efforts will bring positive result to develop a pollution-free, safe city for us.