Our Clean Air Day blogs are still coming, three weeks on!
Louise was happy (but also exhausted…) from being part of the Clean Air for the Ends bike ride on the Sunday after Clean Air Day. Starting in Brixton, it took in Peckham, Elephant, Westminster and Battersea - a cool 25km. Given Louise was one of only a handful not on an e-bike, save a thought for her legs!
The ride was organised by Brixton-based Poetic Unity (remember them?) with support from Live+Breathe, whose founder Love Ssega was also on the ride. The Deputy Mayor, Mete Coban, was also doing a fine job being part of the 100 strong crowd. When we stopped the traffic on Westminster Bridge for a group photo, he may have had a momentary worry!
Blow your troubles away
Luckily the air pollution was much better than it had been on actual Clean Air Day, with the wind having blown away some of the pollution. However, a short respite doesn’t make up for the worse pollution levels faced by marginalised communities. The aim of the ride was to raise awareness of this air inequality.
So is anyone listening? On 1 July, Sian Berry MP reintroduced the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill - also known as Ella’s Law - into Parliament. We look forward to tracking progress - second reading is due in November. We also spotted that air pollution features in the NHS 10 year plan, released last week, so we hope the dots are being joined.
Breathing better
These policy processes have been informed by the update to the key Royal College of Physicians’ report Every Breath We Take. Key stats from the report:
around 30,000 deaths per year in the UK are estimated to be attributed to air pollution;
this has an economic cost of £27 billion in the UK due to healthcare costs, productivity losses and reduced quality of life;
when wider impacts such as dementia are accounted for, the economic cost may be as high as £50 billion; and
people living in the 20% most deprived areas have 8% higher fine particulate matter concentrations than those in the 20% least deprived.
It has a range of recommendations including:
recognising air pollution as a key public health issue;
identify robust pathways towards the delivery of the World Health Organisation’s guidelines;
greater action to tackle all sources of air pollution, including overlooked areas such as agriculture, indoor and domestic emissions;
policies must consider the disproportionate impacts of air pollution on certain groups;
a coordinated, UK-wide public health clean air campaign;
health professionals and practitioners should speak to and educate their patients about the health effects of air pollution and to advocate for cleaner air.
With this evidence and advocacy behind it, we wish Ella’s Law a safe passage through Parliament!