The evolution of earth has been a long and interesting one.

The transition shows us of how it used to be

and how it is currently. There have been many dominant species on our planet before us, but the most
dominant of all are US. Now the reason for our long and continual survival on this planet are many,
foremost being the favorable climate.

However, unfortunately, now we are in the midst of a climate shift, it will not be long that earth would
no longer be an apt place for our survival and like the extinct species; we would be lost in the pages of
history. Yet, the earth will continue to exist with or without us.

The crux of the whole discussion is to make people realize that the fate of their planet, thus the fate of
their own survival on this planet is in their hands.

Mexico is no stranger to the plight of pollution. In 1992, UN declared it as the world’s most polluted city.
Mexico being located in the high altitude is a victim of poor ventilation and strong sun isolation.
Furthermore, it is a highly developed industrial area including over 78,000 industries and 1,23,000
commercial and service establishments. Despite, having smaller population, the Mexico city itself has 5-
6 million vehicles which contributed to the ever growing pollution in the country. Thermal inversions
held a toxic blanket of dirty air over a grimy city that seemed to embody the apocalyptic "Makesicko
City" of the fiction of Mexican author Carlos Fuentes. The pollution level was so drastic back in 1992 that
it led to numerous deaths and hospitalizations. Together, this cost the economy about 1.3 billion
pesos or $850 million.

We have come a long way since 1992. One the most intriguing measure that the government took was
the campaign of “one day without car” which later evolved to something bigger. Originally, it was a
voluntary initiative to stop using the car one day one week. Eventually, this evolved into the program,
“Hoy No Circula” which shares similarities with the Delhi’s odd-even policy. The program consisted of
prohibiting the circulation of 20% of vehicles from Monday to Friday, restricting their use depending on
the last digit of their license plates. Similarly, there were other initiatives like the Program for
Environment Atmospheric Contingency, which made it mandatory for restriction of usage of cars,
suspension of outdoor activities and even shutdown of factories for a day. Under the ProAire
programme, launched in 2011 and running until 2020, contains 89 measures and 116 separate actions
across eight strategy areas, including energy consumption, greening of the municipal transport fleets,
education, green areas and reforestation, capacity building and scientific research.

Following these measures, we were able to combat pollution in an effective way, which reduced our
carbon emissions in a considerable amount and the air quality was finally, declared “GOOD”. As a result,
we were awarded the C40 City Award for air quality.