I read this article recently on this interesting day that the Jewish people celebrate in Israel. It is called Yom Kippur - A day of Atonement, where they fast for 25 hours. This is the holiest day of year in Judiasm. It is day of prayer, forgiveness and by the end of this day, the Jews consider themselves absolved by God.
But this is not why I found it interesting. It was the fact that the streets of Israel go vacant of cars, buses, and everything that pollutes. People are either on foot or on bicycles. According to recent studies, it has been observed that there is a remarkable decrease in the emission of greenhouse gases on this particular day and even the sky seems a lot clearer! The levels of carbon monoxide are reduced by 50% to 75%. This is incredible. The whole concept seems amazing to me. This is something that every nation should inculcate and declare a national holiday once a year. Call it by any name but a day should be reserved when there are no vehicles on the road, no chimmneys chugging smoke out and instead everybody is walking or cycling to their destination. A day where the human race asks for forgiveness from Mother Nature to bringing her to such a state of almost no-return. Then maybe, we can hope that God will absolve us from our sins!!
