Air Pollution - Will They Act Now?

[Oldjohnw]

I was just saying that a RAV was hardly a Chelsea Tractor.

Have you seen the latest model? It's hardly a cutesy japanese small offroader anymore unfortunately.

Length: 4.6m
Width: 1.86m
Height 1.66m
~1.7t

Essentially the same size and weight as a first gen range rover (long wheelbase version) and now with one of those silly macho/aggressive (and tacky) looking front ends that seem to be so common now.

Personally I'm not going to read too much in starmer's position on transport from his car choice, ultimate transport policy will heavily depend on party as well, we can see this currently. Johnson is relatively keen on active travel but is in a party that mostly isn't and he has very little political capital left hence the noticeable backpedalling in the EAFT push in the autumn as he yielded to pressure from conservative councillors and MPs. RAV4 is rather more the choice of someone who isn't really interested than an avid petrol head.

The present shadow transport position occupants are relatively promising. Not that that matters, short of a revolution or full blown conservative implosion it's a good few years till the next GE.

Not that I said it was a cutesy small whatever....

[grufty]

Public health and climate change warnings to be put on fuel pumps in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Article in the Guardian today.

[Jdsk]

Clean Air Zone starts in Birmingham today:
https://www.wmnetwork.co.uk/campaigns/b ... zone-2021/

Jonathan

[Ben@Forest]

Clean Air Zone starts in Birmingham today:
https://www.wmnetwork.co.uk/campaigns/b ... zone-2021/

Jonathan

No it doesn't, since at least around 7.30am this morning they've postponed it for at least two weeks.

[Jdsk]

Manchester:

Clean Air Zone:
https://cleanairgm.com/clean-air-plans/

and bike hire scheme:
https://www.transportxtra.com/publicati ... ire-scheme

Guardian coverage:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... n-may-2022

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

"The first ever Zero Emission Zone pilot is set to launch in Oxford next year.
"This will mean polluting vehicles will be charged if driven in key city centre streets between the hours of 7am-7pm, every day."
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19567 ... next-year/

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

Londoners told to reduce physical activity on Friday due to pollution
Government advises older people and those with lung or heart issues to avoid strenuous activity altogether

Londoners should avoid strenuous physical activity on Friday due to “very high” levels of pollution, experts have warned.

The poor air quality is the result of an intense area of high pressure covering western Europe. The associated lack of air movement means emissions from vehicles and other pollutants are not blown away as they usually would be.

So if you were thinking of cycling to work (clean, non-polluting) you are advised not to but drive ...

Ian

[Blondie]

Londoners told to reduce physical activity on Friday due to pollution
Government advises older people and those with lung or heart issues to avoid strenuous activity altogether

Londoners should avoid strenuous physical activity on Friday due to “very high” levels of pollution, experts have warned.

The poor air quality is the result of an intense area of high pressure covering western Europe. The associated lack of air movement means emissions from vehicles and other pollutants are not blown away as they usually would be.

So if you were thinking of cycling to work (clean, non-polluting) you are advised not to but drive ...

Ian

I wouldn’t describe cycling to work as strenuous exercise. Not in my case anyway.

[Mike Sales]

I wouldn’t describe cycling to work as strenuous exercise. Not in my case anyway.

It is not a threshold effect: there is no level of strenuosity of exercise below which the pollution is safe.
The effect on those with certain health problems is in fact worse, and unavoidable.

[661-Pete]

We're 40 miles south of London, but this morning, clear and very frosty, we happened to be cycling downhill, facing north with a good view for many miles ahead. We could see a distinct yellowish-brown layer of air just above the horizon.

Photochemical smog, I reckon. Not good...

[Blondie]

I wouldn’t describe cycling to work as strenuous exercise. Not in my case anyway.

It is not a threshold effect: there is no level of strenuosity of exercise below which the pollution is safe.
The effect on those with certain health problems is in fact worse, and unavoidable.

My point was the advice you linked to was to avoid strenuous exercise, not to avoid exercise.

[Psamathe]

Study (based on modelling by Imperial College) allows you to check the air pollution levels and how many WHO Limits are likely broken (and which ones). You enter your postcode.

https://www.addresspollution.org

For me the results are not surprising given the levels on rural woodburning. Village where I live breaks the limits for particulates primarily generated by woodburning stoves.

Ian

[pwa]

Study (based on modelling by Imperial College) allows you to check the air pollution levels and how many WHO Limits are likely broken (and which ones). You enter your postcode.

https://www.addresspollution.org

For me the results are not surprising given the levels on rural woodburning. Village where I live breaks the limits for particulates primarily generated by woodburning stoves.

Ian

PM2.5? At my address the limit is exceeded, but only just. We have been living here for more than twenty years and the air seems at least as good as it did when we first arrived. It isn't obvious walking round the village but I expect wood burning may have gone up, but coal burning has gone down. I don't detect the smell of burning coal much these days. At my age, 60+, I look back to my early childhood and remember when air quality really was bad. In those days every home, every school, and most factories were burning coal. The air was terrible. I remember the smog in my street, and I didn't even live in a city. We need a sense of perspective with this. Things aren't perfect now, but our air is much better than it once was. To live in a location that has mostly good air quality but exceeds the WHO limit by a small amount on PM2.5 seems to me to be okay. Of all the concerns on my list, this one is pretty low, for my location. For other locations the story will be different.

For a bit of contrast (extreme, I admit) have a look at the situation in Delhi
https://www.aqi.in/dashboard/india/delhi

Or for something closer to home (15 miles from me) try putting in the postcode for a street in a steel making town that makes a product we all use, for bike frames, nails, construction, baked bean cans....SA132HL. Just for perspective. This location is also close to a motorway.

[al_yrpal]

Thanks for the air pollution link, very interesting. Living here on the outskirts of Taunton is apparently less polluted than where I lived on the edge of the Chilterns in Oxfordshire one of the most densely wooded places in England?
I went to Delhi once the air was horrendous, similar to Peking and Shanghai. My friend who lives in Singapore says there is no particular time of year nowadays when the climate and air quality is bearable to visit.

Al

[Paulatic]

For me the results are not surprising given the levels on rural woodburning. Village where I live breaks the limits for particulates primarily generated by woodburning stoves.

Ian

Can’t be that simple though can it? I’m surrounded by wood and coal burners and yet