PARIS, the pride of the immaculate and stylish French people, is growing dirty: it has joined the ranks of the world's polluted cities. For some time now, the pollution monitoring equipment around the city have been displaying nigh readings, but the message was driven home very sharply only on July 13, when the environment ministry instructed the residents "not to use their cars except in absolute emergencies" in the weekend.

Parisians till now have resisted using catalytic converters on cars, are yet to come up with a proper recycling policy and even use detergents with phosphates that harm lakes and streams. The environmentalist Greens party, however, is trying its best to remedy the situation. It has dragged the issue to the centrestage by regularly publishing the soaring pollution levels the city.