The UN Secretary General, Boris Johnson and a lot of others have said “The Coronavirus pandemic crisis is the most challenging since the Second World War”. I disagree, Climate Change, biodiversity loss and air pollution are all bigger and more challenging. The are not hidden away, it’s just that chronic problems have a history of being overlooked. The deaths from Coronavirus have been tragic, and for some people very personal. Nothing can take away the horror of those deaths; however, in the same period three times as many people are likely to have died from the effects of air pollution.
A recent study put the number of annual deaths at 8.7 million worldwide, with just under two thirds of those being in China and India. The UK government recognises that air pollution causes early death and estimates the figure to be 30,000 a year in the UK, others suggest that the figure is closer to 50,000. Despite this it has repeatedly failed to meet its legal requirements to comply with clean air standards, missing targets by significant amounts. So much so that it has been taken to court by the EU for not meeting EU standards
What is the government going to do about it? Simple it is going to set new standards via the Environment Bill now that we are no longer in the EU. Will they meet them? No, they won’t.
What can you do? You could do nothing. Not making a choice, is a choice; it’s choosing to be complicit in the government’s failure to prevent the appalling number of early deaths. Or you could tell your MP you want action (it is easy to email via the government website). You could sign up to a green energy electricity tariff, drive your car less, and when you do drive do so as environmentally as possible.
Don’t drive with excess weight in the car, clear the junk out. Keep the tyres at the correct pressure and ensure your car is regularly serviced. When driving, accelerate gently and when you are going to be stationary for a while switch the engine off. One thing that really winds me up is people who have parked up to make a mobile phone call and sit there with the engine running. Great that they are not going to kill people in a car accident, but very frustrating that they are going to contribute to killing people by needlessly adding to air pollution.
I’m taking a short train journey this afternoon, the first for many, many months. I’ll write about it next week.
A little ask
Writing and report reading is thirsty work and using public transport expensive. If you would like to buy me a beer or a coffee you can via this link – buy me a coffee.
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Electric driving 