A horizon of events
Routes, Race and Raspberries*
With Clean Air Day approaching, it feels like our diary is full to the brim of exciting events. The biggest deal is Clean Air Day itself, on 19 June. This is a major national event, led by Global Action Plan. The focus this year is on amplifying voices from the health sector. People in the health sector are invited to add their voices to an open letter, and everyone is encouraged to write to their MP.
We are lucky enough to have worked with a number of committed health professionals who are raising the alarm about the impact of air pollution. We were due to join an event in South London on 19 June, walking near to the home of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah with groups investigating low pollution routes. However, another walk and wheel - from Great Ormond Street Hospital to Parliament - is taking place at the same time, so all the focus is on that event.
A race for clean air
Parliament and government should be sitting up and taking notice. The brilliant Enact Equality campaign has been raising the bar recently with a letter delivered to no 10 - bringing awareness to what we’ve termed air inequality, that is, the disproportionate impact of pollution on minority groups. On 12 June, Louise will join the Annual Black Child Clean Air Conference in Parliament organised by friend of this blog Agnes Agyepong, aiming to raise awareness of the impact of air pollution on black maternal and child health. We hope the upcoming Clean Air Strategy review reflects these calls to action, following the latest leadership from the World Health Organisation.
Louise joined a great event organised by Friends of the Earth for Earth Day a few weeks ago. This was a great opportunity to reflect on a journey from school streets via Breathe London and onwards to Air Aware Labs. The difficulty of the ‘fun’ quiz they had set was not anticipated though - as the facial expression may demonstrate…
Latest from the Labs
Louise’s co-founder Will pitched at the Worshipful Company of Entrepreneurs this week for the Entrepreneurs’ Award for Social Innovation (while Louise was reminding herself how rain, wind and clean air often come together in Scotland). We also got the news that we are finalists for an award from the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association, with the ceremony taking place in the House of Lords on 19 June - busy day!
If you’d like to hear more from Air Aware Labs, come and find us at London Tech Week (stand 465 in the Grand Hall) on 10 June, or in Oxfordshire Greentech Conference on the same day.
*One of the things we recall from listening to programmes about astrophysics is that the point at which light falls into a black hole (the event horizon) is likely to smell of raspberries. This is due to a particular chemical that’s been observed there - the same chemical which gives raspberries their smell - which goes to show how gases permeate everywhere, even in outer space!