Proposed ‘Carless Day’ to Address Metro Cebu Air Pollution, Traffic

Officials from the Environmental Management Bureau-7 (EMB-7) will propose a Carless Day for Metro Cebu on November 24 to the Metro Cebu Air Shade Governing Board.

Local environment officials believe that similar to how turning off lights during Earth Hour help save energy, allocating even just a day to let cars rest can help improve air quality and traffic management.

EMB-7 Engineer Cindylyn Pepito hopes to propose the Carless Day not just for local government units but also for government agencies.

Out of the three sources of air pollutants, namely, mobile, area, and stationary, 80 percent of the country’s air pollution comes from mobile resources or the vehicles.

Pepito also urged the public to stop open burning and control different activities that can emit possible air pollutants such as smoking.

“If dili kinahanglan mag sakyanan, ipabilin ang sakyanan. Kung duol ra, pwede ra malakaw, balik ta sa basics: maglakaw ta ug mag bike ta (If a car is not needed, leave the car. If it’s close and within walking distance, go back to basics: walk or ride a bike),” Pepito said.

Traffic enforcers will also attend a Seminar on Traffic Management from November 22 to 24 and November 27 to 28 that will cover road safety and air quality management among others.

November is Clean Air Month and November 19 to 25 is National Climate Change Awareness Week. (asv/PIA-7-Cebu)