Blog #6-Germany

For my blog post this week, I decided to chose a topic that is important worldwide...Air Pollution. Specifically, I will focus on how Germany is doing their part to have clean air quality throughout their country. Part of target 3.9 is to improve air quality and reduce mortality rates due to air pollution. No one should die or get sick because they don't have clean air to breathe.

Emissions are things like Nitrogen Gas (N2) and Nitrogen Oxide (NO). When these two gases are combined (NOx) they contribute to air smog and pollution which not only affects the air, but the humans that are breathing the air to live (Pollutants Produced by a Car Engine, 2019).

One strategy Germany is putting into place is the Berlin Low Emission Zone. The Berlin Low Emission Zone is the center of Berlin. They have a sticker system that determines a vehicle's emission status. Red being the worse, yellow needing improvement and green being emission friendly. Only vehicles that are approved with a green sticker are allowed to drive and park throughout the city.If a vehicle produces too much diesel soot they will not be allowed to park or drive throughout the city (The Low-Emission Zone/State of Berlin, 2019). The main goal is for everyone to get their vehicles up to date so that the city has less air pollution from old or run-down vehicles that produce a lot of soot.

Some progress has been made to get more people to be considerate of their vehicles emissions when they purchase them. More people are starting to realize the importance of having a low emission vehicle because of the need to drive through the low emission zones. When they buy their vehicles, they tend to look for "Smart Cars" and Eco-friendly makes and models. However some progress still needs to be done to get away from the BMW's and Volkswagen's that are very popular throughout Germany. There are still people who want the luxury models that aren't necessarily Eco-friendly. It will be up to the people of Germany to decide if they will make smarter decisions concerning their air quality.

Photo accessed from: https://www.berlin.de/senuvk/umwelt/luftqualitaet/umweltzone/index_en.shtml

Citations:

Christian Schwägerl, et al. “In Drive to Cut Emissions, Germany Confronts Its Car Culture.” Yale E360, e360.yale.edu/features/in-drive-to-cut-emissions-germany-confronts-its-car-culture.

"Environmental Protection." The Low-emission Zone / State of Berlin. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2019.