Letter #2

Letter #2

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am a student of Ipeka Christian Bilingual School. Each time I go out of my house, I always feel very sad because I realize that the air quality of Jakarta is very bad because it's heavily polluted.

Air pollution is made up of many kinds of gases, droplets and particles that reduce the quality of the air. The main sources of air pollution are cars, buses and airplanes, as well as industries and construction. The more we have cars, buses and airplanes, [the more] we need to plant more plants too.

We need to keep the amount of pollution and the amount of fresh air stable, but Jakarta has very few plants while the amount of cars, buses and airplanes is colossal.

Industries and construction produce nitrogen oxides (produced by combustion of fuels) that contributes to acid rain, which can cause great destruction of our environment, and it is also harmful to living things.

Water keeps humans alive and clean air helps keep the water drinkable. Pollution affects water in the atmosphere. When rain falls, raindrops carry the pollution back to the land. If less pollution is produced, water sources might become better and people might drink water safely. As we see in Jakarta, water from taps is not drinkable because it contains too much pollution that might be harmful.

Besides all the things that I have mentioned above, there is one thing left. It is the effect of air pollution on our health. Air pollution can irritate the eyes, throat and lungs, and it also causes cancer.

Air pollution is a very big problem. We have to try to reduce air pollution. It is impossible to reduce the amount of cars or other transportation in Jakarta.

As a result, the government has to plant more plants in parks and roads. The citizens must [use] at least a little part of their house [as] a garden. The government must also [build] parks among two or three buildings all over Jakarta to give the city fresh air. The government also has to make rules that forbid industries from releasing poisonous gases.

We also have to form an agency that can check and report on air quality, like the United States, which has the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and because of the EPA, [that] nation's air quality has greatly improved over the last 20 years. Perhaps after our government makes the same agency, Jakarta's air quality will improve.

I know that the government is in a great money crisis, but air pollution is a very big problem and [in order] to expand parks, perhaps the government can seek volunteers to plant the plants that are required. I also understand that it's so hard to start, but I believe that all citizens want to be healthy people, and to be healthy, we need to take care of our environment, especially the air that we breathe every moment.

I wish that all the citizens in Jakarta and the government would realize how big the problem caused by air pollution really is, because after we understand, we can improve the quality of the air that we breathe. Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely, Michelle