Once world's smoggiest, Mexico City cuts pollution

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Friday, 12.26.08
Once world's smoggiest, Mexico City cuts pollution

Associated Press
MEXICO CITY -- Gabriela Escalante stalks the rumbling streets alongside newspaper, peanut and candy vendors, wading deep into traffic at red lights across town.

Her eyes are fixed on tailpipes.

A member of Mexico City's ''ecoguarda,'' or environmental police, she and some 50 colleagues are on the lookout for white clouds of toxic exhaust, stopping hundreds of offending motorists each day, issuing $100 fines and confiscating license plates -- a small but urgent army fighting the capital's infamous air pollution.

''We detect, we detain and we fine,'' said Escalante, 27. ``This is the air we all breathe.''

Not long ago, air in this throbbing capital was so bad that cyclists wore surgical masks. Birds fell dead in mid-flight, and children used brown crayons to draw the sky. Ozone exceeded safe levels on 97 percent of days in the year.

But the metropolis ranked the world's most polluted by a 1992 U.N. report has since slashed some of its worst emissions by more than three-quarters and has become a model for improving urban air quality.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/827188.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Grew up down there

left in 85 to go to college, went visting in 92 and had a nasty ashtma attack, the first actually, as well a a sinus infection from hell

These days when I go visting I take my ashma meds, but at times the air feels cleaner than San Diego

You could not get those draconian meassures in the states though and Monterrey is where Mexico City was

[LeftyMom]

2. The last comment kind of surprised me.

A '98 Lincoln should pass a smog test just fine if it's in good condition (my Dad has a '98 TownCar, and even though it's the upgraded engine and dual exhaust model, it passes smog fine here in CA) so a person policing and criticizing others for their emissions really should have no problem keeping it running well and permitted to run.

Unless the tests are more strict than California's, which I doubt.

[Luminous Animal]

5. It was bad reporting...

vehicle restrictions (on certain days weekly based on one's license plate) apply to practically vehicle other than taxis and are not dependent on the quality of the emissions of the vehicle. The reasoning being that it takes several hundreds of thousands of vehicles off the streets on any given day.

[LeftyMom]

6. I'd be curious to see how much that reduces overall miles driven

versus just getting people to reschedule their trips to other days.

[Luminous Animal]

3. I love Mexico City...

and it is great to see a positive article about it. Also, the picture accompanying the article showing a clear blue sky is spectacular. I think it is time for another visit.

[rockymountaindem]

4. Just goes to show that if we actually *try* to make things better

it can really work.