This year’s Clean Air Day focuses on protecting children’s health from air pollution. This is an important focus, especially as headlines were made last year of nine-year old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah’s death being the first to be officially recognised as caused by air pollution. She lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham and suffered a fatal asthma attack caused by toxic gases and particles in air pollution. I think we can all agree that absolutely no child should be disadvantaged in their health or life prospects based on how close they live to a main road.
Sadly, the facts don’t get any brighter in the 8 years since Ella’s death. A recently published (2021) study of 2019 data collected NO2 and PM2.5 data for 29,000 education institutions for 0-18 year olds across England, Scotland and Wales. They found that over a quarter (27%) are above WHO air pollution limits. That’s around 3.4 million children learning in an unhealthy environment.
How does air quality impact health?
Both outdoor and indoor air pollution contribute to ill health. Particulate matter, known as PM2.5 and PM10, comes from fuel combustion in vehicles and plant and can penetrate deep into the lungs causing chronic respiratory problems. PM2.5, being smaller, can even penetrate the lung barrier and cross into the blood system. This increases the risk of heart, respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide can all cause asthma, bronchial symptoms and lung damage.
What easy actions can my organisation do to tackle air pollution?
What harder actions should we be looking at?
There are many ways to improve the quality of the air we breathe; the technologies are there, all we need to do is alter the way we live, work and, buy. If you’re reducing air quality impacts, the likelihood is that you’re also reducing your carbon emissions, saving on resources and reducing costs. Isn’t that a win-win-win-win?!
Where can I look for more information?
Imogen Player
Consultant
Imogen@actionsustainability.com
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