Vehicles have undoubtedly improved mobility in our lives, but it has a dark side that is not good for human health: Air Pollution. A school branch called Dilli Private School had ten schools in the city. A total of 10 buses from each school picked up and dropped students from various areas of the city.

As these students’ transportation depended on these buses, there was not a single day that these buses didn’t run. Each day a total of 4000 students traveled through these buses to the school.

One fine day, a child’s mother came to drop him off at the bus stop. She waved him bye as the bus moved ahead. As soon as the bus went forward, the lady noticed that the bus emitted harmful gases from the exhaust that looked like smoke.

As she inhaled the air that contained the smoke, she instantly started coughing. Next, she ignored the fact and went back to her house.

In the following days, the lady met other parents at the same bus stop, and they all realized something with the buses. It’s not normal for these buses to emit smoke affecting the air quality around them.

All the parents decided to talk to the driver that day. 

“Hey, what’s wrong with the bus? It has been emitting harmful gases for the last month.” one of the parents said.

“Yes, don’t you guys get these buses repaired regularly?” another parent added.

“Ma’am, it’s nothing. It’s some engine problem. You can ignore it.” the driver casually replied. 

The driver’s response was way too casual, and all the parents didn’t like it. They decided to talk to other parents whose children traveled in other busses from another branch. 

On enquiring, they got to know that most of these buses were in a bad state and all the parents were worried about their children’s health and the air quality. Soon, all of them decided to talk to the school's management.

They made an appointment, and most of the parents attended the meeting. One parent out of all the parents was Abhishek, an environmental scientist concerned the most: as a parent and a scientist.

He led the meeting and informed the school’s manager and Principal about the issue. They showed them pictures and videos of the school buses. Surprisingly, the school staff knew about this issue and it was okay that buses that ran every day were older than they should be. It is why the buses were in bad condition and emitted smog.

On seeing the casual behavior of the school staff, Abhishek thought to tell them some facts so that they take this issue seriously. 

Abhishek told them that harmful vehicle emissions are responsible for 20-30% of air pollution caused by PM, one of the harmful pollutants in the air. Vehicles emit toxic gases based on factors like vehicle type, fuel usage, age, maintenance, etc. Such poorly managed vehicles emit major pollutants like CO, NOx, etc. that cause various health issues.

The school staff understood that their ignorance was increasing the city's air pollution risk. They took the respective measures and changed most of their buses to new buses.

However, Abhishek wanted a little more change. He decided to educate all the students and their parents about how they could reduce air pollution with the right choices. He asked the Principal to organize an online meeting so everybody could join. 

In the meeting, he shared some tips everybody can follow to reduce air pollution caused due to vehicle emissions: 

1. Every citizen should follow government vehicles, transportation, and traffic rules.
2. We should promote using alternative clean and green fuels like CNG, LPG, Bio-Diesel, Blends, Hydrogen, and Solar Operated vehicles.
3. If possible, choose public transport over taking out your vehicle on most days to reduce traffic and pollution.
4. Get rid of old vehicles and pay attention to your vehicle's regular maintenance. 
5. At last, be the change and spread awareness actually to make a change around you. 

This way, in the meeting of 10,000 people, Abhishek surely took one step towards a better change. If you have read this story till the end, promise yourself not to let your vehicle be the cause of air pollution in the city. 

Let’s make green choices.