Did you know that an average 10 year old vehicle emits 10 times the amount of pollution in comparison to a new one? Now imagine, about 2000 heavy duty trucks, which are about 20 years old, regularly churning out gases.
Californian ports at Los Angeles and Long Beach aim to be a model for ports around the world. They have launched a ‘clean up the port’ plan, which in effect will be replacing all the old heavy duty trucks for new ones. This will decrease emissions and smog in these areas to about 50% in a single day.
Vehicular pollution is caused by direct sources of emissions like trucks, cars etc. Vehicular pollution contributes maximally to air pollution throughout the world. Besides that, vehicular pollution is the reason for various breathing disorders, allergies, fatigue, not sparing even children.
Areas with ports under constructions experience increased traffic of heavy vehicles and thus, increased amount of pollution. Moreover, these areas have shores to be dredged up and machinery used for such digging also causes pollution, not to mention degradation to the surrounding environment. Keeping that in view, efforts to decrease pollution, in one of America’s busiest cargo complexes, are commendable, and more importantly they will work, because the planning and the timing are strategic.
Source: ENN / Image