Today is a day where the skyscrapers and grimy factories exhaled gusts of a retching, murky substance and where the rumbling of Audis and Ferraris would spew the same harmful chemicals into the cluster of trees, now shaded away from the morning?s sunlight. The air here looks innocuous, and the skies often take a deep cerulean hue that masks the dangers that lurk in the air.  

Air pollution, a major issue in populated and industrialized cities in Metro Manila remains to hover above the millions of commuters who have become unaware of its impact . Each city in this megalopolis is overcrowded with the multitudes of cars and people, either going to work, the malls, or even visiting a close relative. When doing so myself, I get a glimpse of the factories accompanied by the decaying urban architecture while a single tree could come up a few times on the side of expressways. Trees could greatly cushion the impact of air pollution while not much is being done to plant them where it is needed most. In different areas, the skies could vary from a hazy blue speckled with quite a number of gray clouds while in another, those same clouds would fill up an entire atmosphere. Dust particles appear to shower more than necessary and even after the cleansing rain, the same consequences persist.

Many vehicles and manufacturing plants, being some of the main causes due to economic growths within the region continue to disregard the environmental impact and what our city may turn out to be in the near future. According to the World Health Organization, air pollution has been the culprit of 7 million deaths during 2012, therefore being the environment?s most dangerous health risk. Other health risks would include difficulty of breathing, respiratory illness, and damaged cells within a body system. As a matter of fact, the main focus is on vehicles, taking approximately 70 to 80% of such emissions while the latter belongs to commercial centers, factories, and other similar origins. Infamous traffic levels amounting to 28,000 hours lost in Metro Manila per commuter within a lifetime just proves how much carbon dioxide can be produced.

Current government placed policies to reduce the amount of traffic such as that of the coding system has gone without success. The coding system in Metro Manila is where the number your plate number ends in determines the day where the vehicle isn?t allowed on the road. However, loopholes such as bribery and buying more cars gets past the system.

One solution to this, however, is giving vehicle's a specific life span around the range of five years or less before being recycled or reused for other products. Because old cars produce a higher rate of carbon dioxide than other vehicles and it contributes to traffic rates, having them last for such a long time wouldn?t be beneficial. Another solution would be to enforce easier accessibility of public transportation such as buses and urban railway networks to reduce the amount of traffic as traffic congestion is severely threatening to the wellbeing of a city especially in terms of time consumption and of course adding to the pollution rate. If more people take these forms of public transport, a lesser number of cars and a lower rate of traffic will be apparent in our daily lives.