Julien Jeffers the owner of bus registration number HB 369 is the winner of a Discover Dominica Authority carbon emission competition on Thursday.
The activity which formed of local activities marking World Earth Day 2012, sought to determine from a field of six random taxi buses operating on the Roseau bay front which vehicle released the least amount of exhaust fumes into the environment.
Here’s how this was done: a white sock was placed on the emission pipe of each of the selected vehicles for a few seconds while the engine ran for thirty seconds. The sock which came out the cleanest was judged the winner.
Jeffers says he is thrilled that he won. He attributes his winning to the fact that he services his vehicle regularly.
“I service my vehicle every six thousand kilometers. My mechanic also told me that if you service your bus on time you will protect the ozone layer, your vehicle will last you longer and the performance of your vehicle will also be uplifted”.
Jeffers will receive a free oil change compliments J Astaphan and Company Limited. He would like all drivers to become environmentally conscious.
“There are a lot of vehicles on the road which are like moving coal pits. They should really do something about all that smoke and so on”.
The bus which released the most exhaust during Thursday’s exercise was registration bus number HB159. The driver of that bus will be sent to get a tune up compliments AL Motors.
Kathleen Cuffy of The Discover Dominica Authority is hoping that this initiative will spur drivers to be more environmentally conscious and take responsibility in ensuring that their vehicles are serviced in a timely fashion.
“The message that we want to send out on world earth day is that we as responsible people take care of our environment, be responsible in what we do. Gas emission should be a major concern as it can impact on the environment negatively”.
Supporting the initiative is convent high school student- junior tourism minister Kitwani Carbon.
“I think it’s a very important initiative and it’s also a very creative way of making the public more aware of the importance of vehicle emissions and air pollution and how extremely important it is to simply preserve the environment. It also serves to make the general public especially students more aware of what they can do to play their part in this venture”.
World Earth day is celebrated annually on April 22nd. This year the day will be celebrated under the theme: “Mobilize the Earth”.