I had a shock the other day: we were driving past Delta (Brussels), and they had an air quality indicator. The writing on the board was red – air quality poor. Suddenly, my lungs felt tighter.
I happen to have a fantastic view of West-Brussels from my living room. Lately, when we have a string of sunny days, i can see a yellow layer of smog on top of the building, clearly defined against the blue sky.
Also, more and more children have respiratory problems in our country.
You’ve probably heard about Bruxell’Air (Leefmilieu Brussel). In short, if you hand in your registration plate, you get a year of free public transport, and some other goodies.
Nice. But it doesn’t take into account one simple fact: 40% of the cars in this country are company cars. Which means that 40% of the people having a car don’t have any incentive to stop driving. And sometimes they can’t afford to, they have to reach work, after all.
So i’ll give my vote to the politician or party who:
- throws big wads of government money at improving the public transports
- gives incentives to companies to have car sharing initiatives
- gives incentives to companies properly organizing teleworking
- takes away the fiscal advantage companies have giving employees cars (i know that takes b*lls, politically)
- generally funds think tanks, forums, contests to come up with constructive ideas at decreasing traffic
I’m hardly an ecowarrior, but i do like to breathe.
So maybe it’s time to have a good long think, while our brains are still properly oxygenated.