Leave cars at home on Earth Day: Official

Leave cars at home on Earth Day: Official

JAKARTA (JP): In search of some fresh air, owners of private
cars and motorcycles across the country are requested to leave
their vehicles at home for 12 hours on April 23.

The gesture to refrain from driving private vehicles from 6
a.m. to 6 p.m. is in conjunction with Earth Day, which falls on
April 22.

State Minister of Environment Sonny Keraf said at a press
conference on Thursday that the date for the private vehicle-free
day was set for Monday because Earth Day is Sunday.

"We realize that one or two days of (this kind of) effort
won't be enough to solve our very polluted earth, but at least we
can show our personal responsibility (toward it)," Sonny said.

He said earlier there was no sanction for those who did not
want to participate in the collective action.

Head of Jakarta's Environmental Impact Management Agency Aboe
Joewono told reporters that private cars and motorbikes were
chosen because they contributed more to air pollution compared to
public transportation due to their larger numbers.

He said vehicles, mostly privately owned, contributed 60
percent of the air pollution in the country.

Data from the Directorate of Land Transportation at the
Ministry of Communications stated that 86 percent of motorized
vehicles in Jakarta are privately owned while there were 488,500
public transportation vehicles.

Sonny said there would be an air quality check before and
after the date to see if the program had made a difference to
current conditions.

An assistant at his office, Aca Sugandhy, said that the
activity was not new in Indonesia. He was referring to the
Balinese' Hindu Day of Silence where people refrain from daily
activities.

Other plans for Earth Day in the country include a campaign to
substitute the ozone depleting CFCs (chlorofluorocarbon) with
safer substances such as hydrocarbons (HC) and a campaign to end
the use of leaded gasoline.

Earth Day was first held in 1970 in the United States under
the initiative of U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson. (08)