Here’s a crazy idea:

We all know pollution is bad.

When we spot an oil spill, a plastic-choked river, or someone’s trash on the street, we’re horrified.

But not all pollution is visible.

Take the fumes from ICE vehicles. Modern vehicles are made to limit their emissions, but they still pollute our streets as they crawl through towns or speed along motorways.

You can’t see these fumes. Sometimes you can smell them, especially if it’s an older or poorly maintained car passing by.

But what if you could see and smell the pollution?

What if there was a rule that said all petrol and diesel had to contain a harmless, bright green, pungent ingredient? All vehicles on our roads would pump out emissions that were visually repulsive and smelled disgusting.

Just like how we odorise natural gas to warn us of a leak.

How long do you think people would tolerate the colour and smell?

How long before it became socially unacceptable to drive such a vehicle?

And how much quicker do you think people would switch to electric cars or other less polluting vehicles if emissions were more, quite literally, in our faces?

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