LOOK AT PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS

Re: “Lorries facing partial city ban”, (BP, Jan 17).

Here are some ideas for improving our air quality:

1) Instead of banning lorries from certain areas during certain times, which just shifts the pollution around, enforce laws requiring all vehicles to have low emissions, by showing guarantees and receipts from authorised repair stations. Check buses at their terminals. If a vehicle violates emission limits within the guarantee period, the owner can show his fine receipt to have repairs done at no cost.

The authorities should maintain a list of authorised repair stations, guarantee periods and feedback from verified customers on a central website to guide owners to the most reliable shops. Upgrade emission standards to those of California by 2023.

2) Instead of ordering farmers not to have open-air fires to clear fields, as if they were conscripts, the government should follow in the steps of late King Rama IX. Go out to the fields, get your shoes muddy, and learn from the farmers of their behaviour: why do they burn their fields? What alternatives do they have? For example, how about tax subsidies to buy tractors for cooperatives to plough stubble under, prepare fields, harvest?

Brainstorm ideas with Thai and foreign experts, finding the most feasible approaches. Show farmers that what we’ve selected — based on their input — works, and help them follow suit.

Having the third-dirtiest air in the world is no honour, kills locals and drives tourists away.

Burin Kantabutra