Man-made gases

Lately The Jakarta Post has featured many excellent articles about air pollution. Clearly, both Earth's atmosphere and its inhabitants are choking on man-made gases. Here are some basic solutions to consider:

* teach environmentalism.

* end the destruction of Indonesia's beautiful rain forests: refuse tree-clearing and export of wood products. Become a leader in the global market for alternative paper sources, such as tapioca.

* ban all burning of garbage; increase garbage collection; and help make recycling a competitive industry.

* enforce pollution controls for factories.

* work towards the elimination of fossil fuel burning engines, by using more electric vehicles, subways, and trains; and require emission controls for vehicles already in use.

* discontinue the sale of leaded petrol, and reduce the use of petroleum-based fertilizers.

* Plant trees.

The Jakarta Post is to be commended for lending its Tuesday feature pages to the environment. Though it is unfortunate that the environment does not get our attention every day.

DYLAN CLARK

Bandung, West Java