There was once a little boy of 6 years old called Lewis. One day, as he was looking out of the car window on his way to school, he discovered that a large mass of grey smoke was forming just above his dad’s car.

Somewhat alarmed, Lewis looked at the other cars on the road to find out if they too had a cloud of grey smoke chasing them. To Lewis’ surprise, all the cars travelling on the motorway had the grey smoke hovering around them.

So Lewis asked his father: “Dad, what’s that grey smoke above our cars?” Lewis’ father was a little surprised by the question, but answered: “Well, Lewis, it’s called pollution.”

“Pollution? What’s pollution?” asked Lewis, waiting intrigued for his father’s answer.

“Well, for example, it’s that grey smoke you can see above our cars. Cars that run on petrol or diesel give off gasses into the atmosphere, which are very bad for all living beings and the planet too. Today you can see a lot of the grey smoke because it hasn’t rained for a long time,” answered his father.

Lewis spent a while pondering on this, and began to put two and two together. If the grey smoke was bad, and it was all because of cars, then why were there so many cars on the road?

“Dad,” said Lewis slowly, “If the grey smoke is pollution and is bad for us, why are we going to school in a car?”

“So I can get to work on time, son. The bus or metro would make us late,” answered his father. Continue reading…