Banning Use of Fireworks in Celebrationsby Bam Azores | 14-01-2017 18:13 |
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  Every year, we go up to the mountains of Tagaytay to celebrate New Year's Eve. Aside from the cold air, one of the reasons we choose to go on vacation there is because fireworks are not used as much during the celebration as in other cities and towns. Growing up in our city, we would always wake up in the morning of January 1 with soot in our noses because of the fireworks the night before. In the Philippines, "Clean Air Act of 1999" was passed in 1999 to ensure that the people of the country are given a future filled with clean air particularly since Manila is one of the most polluted cities in Asia. Our leaders wanted to find a way to help particularly the urban centers that were polluted. This law was enacted since it aims to rid our air of poisonous particles and pollutants that come from burning of trash, vehicle emissions, fireworks and the like. As 2016 came to a close and we celebrated the New Year and the beginning of 2017 and this meant that again tons of fireworks were used leading to a drastic increase in air pollution in Metro Manila and other cities and towns even higher than the amount of pollution recorded during the New Year's eve celebration last year. The data gathered from monitoring stations around Manila showed that the level of suspended particles in the air was almost double in some parts of the metro. Recently, there have been talks between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Health about a total fireworks ban in the country. I think, this is a great idea! Hopefully this will be implemented in the near future so that the country and its people will be spared the huge amount of air pollution created by fireworks use. The dangerous toxic effects of these air pollutants choose no one so that neither the rich nor the poor are spared from this. The Philippines has the laws against air pollution, however the country lacks implementation of these laws which affects all citizens. I don't want the day to come when selling clean air will be as normal as selling bottled water. |
