translated from Spanish: Despite COVID-19 quarantine, pollution persists in CDMX

As the spread of the new coronavirus progresses in Mexico, the capital’s main avenues look less traffic, which would be a relief for a city that lives permanently with a dense cloud of pollution.
But reducing the use of The 5.8 million cars in Mexico City is insufficient to reduce high levels of environmental pollution if greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, do not fall, experts warn.
“The emissions generated at Mexico City Airport, cargo trucks and public transport trucks that burn the worst diesel in existence, open-pit garbage dumps are other very important polluting sources,” says Carlos Alvarez, president of the NGO Mexico, Communication and Environment.
The specialist also points to water heaters, petrochemical solvents used daily in open areas or emissions from a refinery in Hidalgo state, as sources of contamination.
In Mexico City, one of the world’s most polluted metropolises, pollution affects the quality of life of 22 million people living in the capital and its conurbation with the State of Mexico.
In May last year, the Valley of Mexico experienced several days of environmental warnings that forced authorities to suspend classes in schools and restrict outdoor activities.
“This season of the year is a period known as the ‘ozone season’, where the weather conditions of low wind and limited rains mean that pollutant concentrations are maintained in the Valley of Mexico,” says Carlos Samayoa, coordinator of Sustainable Mobility and Air Quality at Greenpeace Mexico.
Other pollution factors
Behind that grayish cloud that daily clouds the skyline of the city, are other factors such as industries, the continuous forest fires recorded at this time of year in neighboring communities, the heat and activity of the Popocatépetl volcano.
“Although it rained and hailed in some areas of the capital a few days ago, it was not enough to clean up the atmosphere, because the pollutants came from elsewhere and caused us to have poor air quality,” says Agustín García, researcher at the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Find out To mitigate hydrocarbon pollution Mexico would have to reforest the country twice: warns study
The slowdown in global economic activity by the pandemic has already had a significant impact on the environment, but Mexico still does not benefit from these positive indirect effects.
The first country to reduce its pollution rates was precisely China, the world’s largest polluter and place of origin in COVID-19, in December.
Poor air quality is also linked to the premature death throughout Mexico of at least 48, thousand people per year, between infants and older adults, according to the National Institute of Public Health.
“If a person has been exposed to pollution, their defenses could be minor, so it is pertinent to take the recommendation to stay at home,” warns Victor Páramo, coordinator of the government’s Megalopolis Environmental Commission.
The bicycle, an option
In full sanitary contigence, cycling is an alternative to circumvent public transport, thereby reducing the risk of diseases such as COVID-19.
In cities such as Bogota, New York and Wuhan – the Chinese city where coronavirus arose – the use of this human traction transport has multiplied and temporary cycleways have been implemented to avoid, where possible, contact between people.
The civil association Bicitekas has also proposed to implement this initiative in Mexico City, although still without a response from the government.
“We proposed creating 300 kilometers of temporary cycleways to allow people who have to take to the streets for economic reasons, to mobilize more safely in health terms,” says Areli Carreón, founder of Bicitekas.

The proposal of temporary cycleways @BikeMayorCDMX are 131 km of cycleways in 8 corridors. Criteria: Radial routes, which are close to mass transport. @xtrevi pic.twitter.com/foYP01eiFP
— Bicitekas (@Bicitekas) April 2, 2020

Faced with the pandemic, which in Mexico left until this Thursday 1,510 positive cases and 50 deaths, environmental activists pose the bicycle as an option to decongest public transport, reduce car use and improve air quality.
“I believe faithfully that the future is made for the bicycle, we need to change the way we move, with or without coronavirus,” Carreón concludes.
What we do in Animal Político requires professional journalists, teamwork, dialogue with readers and something very important: independence. You can help us keep going. Be part of the team.
Subscribe to Animal Político, receive benefits and support free journalism #YoSoyAnimal.

Original source in Spanish

Related Posts

Add Comment