DATE: 8/8/2021

TO: Members of the Senate

FROM: Gagan Jagadish

SUBJECT: Addressing air pollution

I am writing to you all to address the issue of air pollution by vehicles, specifically cars. In this
memo, I will be discussing the problem behind this issue, a proposed solution, and steps that
we can take to reduce air pollution by introducing a bill. It is my hope that through the
information presented in this memo, I will successfully convince you the importance of this bill
and eventually convince you to pass this bill.

Summary

Air pollution is a big problem that earth is facing right now. To combat this issue, laws and
regulations are put in place to reduce the amount of air pollution generated by cars and other
vehicles. I believe this is not quite enough. We need to do more, act faster, and find a robust
solution.

A solution I am proposing draws information from the pandemic. For almost a year, people
around the world had quarantined inside their homes, with virtually little to no traffic or vehicles
on the road. While the reasoning behind this quarantine is dire, the reduced traffic and lack of
cars helped air quality in many countries, including the United States. Following this
observation, I propose that cities throughout the United States be partitioned among each state,
and some of the partitioned cities will be quarantined for a few months, while the others operate
normally. This quarantine will not come as a shock but will have plenty of time to prepare and
notify the people. The goal is to reduce the number of cars and vehicles on the road at any
given time, which in turn may reduce air pollution even if it’s small. I would like to propose this
idea first to the city of Charlotte.

The pandemic and air pollution

The pandemic caused by Covid-19 virus has caused a lasting impact and is still not over. The
virus has brought us many hardships and challenges that we had to face and learn from. One of
these challenges was social interaction, or the lack of it. Due to how easily the virus spread,
people around the world started to quarantine for a year (only now are some countries easing
social gatherings and other restrictions). Because so many people stayed in their homes, the
number of cars and vehicles on the road reduced dramatically, which also caused improvement
in air quality in many places and reduction in air pollution.
A solution born from a pandemic

After observing how the pandemic affected air pollution, I got an idea. After the pandemic is
over, and life comes to some sort of normalcy, people can once again quarantine in intervals
across different cities. States will partition their cities into different sectors; the number of
sectors depends on the population of the state. Even numbered sectors would quarantine for a
few months while the odd numbered sectors would operate as normal and vice versa. The exact
number of times to be quarantined will have to be determined through further research. The
quarantine will not be sudden; people will have plenty of time to prepare.

This approach to reducing air pollution is not only unique but has additional positive effects. By
staying home during the few months or so, people will get a chance to relax while they work, or
spend more time with their families. This time will also improve the quality and method of online
learning, as different ways to improve this will be researched.

Conclusion

The pandemic has taught us a lot of things, and one of them was how less vehicles on the road
helped reduce air pollution and improve air quality. Taking this lesson and incorporating it to our
understanding of air pollution can become an alternative to battle air pollution other than laws
and regulations.

I believe after the pandemic is over, dividing cities across the states into sectors, and making
these sectors quarantine white others operate as normal for a few months and then switch
might help reduce the number of cars and vehicles on the road, which in turn reduces air
pollution. I would like to make this solution possible through the introduction of this bill.

Recommendation

To make this bill possible, I am recommending a series of instructions. It is my hope that these
recommendations will provide you some more context into the issue and steps to further the bill.
Here are the recommended actions;

● Familiarize with the issue of climate change and air pollution by doing further research if
necessary.
● Arrange a council to discuss the positives and negatives of the bill.
● Debate on the bill and come to an agreed upon bill.
● The newly agreed upon bill should now be send to the House of Representatives.
● Depending on their response, further working on the bill may be required.