Introduction
What can I do to reduce air pollution?
At home
- Operate your wood burner efficiently
- use untreated dry wood
- use maximum airflow
- Insulate your home
- Don't burn rubbish or green waste - In most urban areas this is already banned. Start recycling and composting instead.
At work
- Walk to nearby business meetings
- Car pool to meetings if your colleagues are also attending
On the move
- Tune / service your vehicle every 6 to 12 months - up to 80% of air pollution in the region comes from vehicles. If we all regularly service our cars every 12 months we could cut air pollution from transport by 10%!
- Drive a fuel efficient car, like a hybrid or a small car
- Don't buy old diesel vehicles - the current emission standards are not equivalent between petrol and diesel. We recommend refraining from buying diesel vehicles for urban driving until the newer Euro 5 standard comes out in 2009
- Make sure your new car has a catalytic converter and don't remove it!
- Reduce your car use
- Travel smart - avoid driving in rush hour when congestion is high, and avoid short trips
- Set up a walking school bus
- Drive smoothly and stick to the speed limit
- Don't carry heavy things around unless you need them
- Remove your roof rack when it's not needed
- Turn off the air-conditioning
- Check your tyre pressure and keep them pumped up.
You can also lobby central government to continue to develop measures to reduce vehicle emissions.
