Usually, it’s China that gets all the attention from their polluted air, but now it seems Mexico wants in on the fun. A four-day air pollution emergency alert was just lifted in their capital city. Atmospheric conditions are improving but the city’s smog reached a rate 1.3 times above acceptable limits. If that didn’t satisfy your Central America pollution knowledge, here are five more grimy facts.
1.THIS IS MEXICO’S FIRST ALERT IN 11 YEARS
Usually, one would think the world is getting cleaner. With the addition of all these eco-friendly cars and buildings, we should be seeing less air pollution. Not in Mexico though. Whatever worked for them in the past 11 years has seemed to stop. They got their first major smog warning recently. Fortunately, it hasn’t affected the taste of tacos that much.
2.THE STATE REFUSES TO ACCEPT CITY GARBAGE
Perhaps this has something to do with air pollution. Mexico City mayor has placed blame on surrounding states that have been sending their garbage into the city. Almost 8,000 tons of garbage is sent to state dumps every day. As a result, the garbage is released this pulling gas into the atmosphere.
3. LAID BACK AIR POLLUTION INSPECTIONS
Mexico is known for their laid back approach to live. While a good siesta never hurt anyone, perhaps they should be a bit more strict with their air pollution examinations. State inspection centers in the country are notorious for being a bit too chill. This has surely resulted in cars passing emissions tests that perhaps shouldn’t have.
4. WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE TO BLAME
Air pollution is not solely due to environmental neglect. While that surely plays a large role, Mother Nature has her own tactics. A hot, dry and windless stretch of days has helped create a nasty smog buildup in the region. That just doesn’t seem fair, yet one can’t help to think those conditions wouldn’t be an issue if air pollution didn’t exist in the first place.
5. BROKEN RULES CREATE SMOG
A year ago, Mexico put in place some rules limiting the circulation of older, polluting vehicles. Owners were supposed to adhere to these restrictions but the court hasn’t exactly followed through with enforcing their rules. This resulted in putting an extra 1.4 million cars a day on the streets. These cars aren’t exactly a Tesla either.
Despite this recent trend in air pollution, apparently air quality in the city has improved significantly since the 1990’s.
