Travelers to Mexico Can Breathe Easy
Good news, Captain. If you’re traveling to the “D.F.” or as many Mexicans call it, ”Mexico,” (meaning Mexico City; and yes, it’s confusing when you’re in Monterrey, Mexico and someone asks if you’ve been to “Mexico” - like, duh, yeah?), you will not be as overwhelmed by the poor air quality as you would have been 10 or 15 years ago. Due to some regulations the government has put in place, air quality in Mexico has drastically improved. Here are some of the ways they’ve done it:
- Expanded low-emissions bus systems, eliminating 80,000 tons of carbon monoxide each year since 2005
- Replaced old cars that emitted more pollutants
- Removed lead from gasoline
- Expanded public transportation leading to fewer cars on the road
- Relocated refineries and other pollutant-emitting factories
The Washington Post story reports: “The presence of lead in the air has dropped by 90 percent since 1990. Suspended particles — pieces of dust, soot or chemicals that lodge in lungs and cause asthma, emphysema or cancer — have been cut 70 percent.”
This is great news for both Mexicans and travelers to Mexico. They still have more to do but their efforts so far will serve as models for how to decrease pollutants in mega-cities around the world. Salud!
