Nepal has nearly 18,000km of roads, but every year new roads are being built. The percentage of Nepal's 26 million people living in urban areas has crossed the 25 percent mark. We have to import all of our fuel, and international fuel prices have doubled in five years.

So we have two options: find alternatives or go under. Nepal Oil Corporation is one of the most mismanaged and corruption-ridden parastatal parasites in this country. It has to buy expensive oil and subsidise it to sell cheap. So what do we do?

Here is my own 10-point agenda that will reduce oil consumption:
1. The prime minister downwards in government set a proper example by riding smaller cars and reducing the size of their security convoys.
2. Same for donors. They should switch to smaller, fuel-efficient or electric cars for city travel.
3. All government offices auction off their Prados, Pajeros, Landcruisers and start using smaller cars.
4. All civil servants start using public transport wherever possible to commute to work.
5. Citizens start commuting by bicycle whenever possible (that\'s me in the picture).
6. Since the army will be confined to barracks soon, its fuel consumption will automatically go down. But can we put a cap on all non-essential travel by security personnel?
7. College students, instead of burning tyres can start employing novel means of protest, boycotting all diesel and petrol cars, riding only on safa tempos or bicycling to class.
8. Mini-vans and microbuses on long-distance routes consume more fuel per passenger km. Let's change them to bigger buses which are more efficient.
9. And let's have a national policy to encourage electric vehicles, trolley buses, trams, safa buses, electric trains, and ropeways. It is the height of stupidity to import expensive and dirty fossil fuels when we sit on a goldmine of renewable energy in this country.
10. And last but not least, let's register our protest by not going anywhere unless we have to. Let's use the time to clean our surroundings, plant trees on sidewalks or set up neighbourhood parks. Let's stop talking, and start doing something. The world will change only if we change.

Bharat Basnet is an environmental activist and a tourism enterpreneur.