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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/29/smog-in-london-not-just-a-local-difficulty-a-problem-for-the-whole-country
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| The Observer view on air pollution | The Observer view on air pollution |
| (about 11 hours later) | |
| It might be tempting to dismiss the air pollution crisis that affected London last week as a piece of local bad luck, an atmospheric misfortune that has little consequence for the rest of the nation. With a stable, blocking anticyclone coming to rest over southern England, a dense slab of freezing air was trapped above the capital. As a consequence, increasing amounts of nitrogen oxides and soot particles, generated by diesel engines and, to a lesser extent, wood-burning stoves, were held in the air over London until they reached their maximum measurable levels in the atmosphere at 24 sites across the city last Sunday. The result was a bad air day for London. | It might be tempting to dismiss the air pollution crisis that affected London last week as a piece of local bad luck, an atmospheric misfortune that has little consequence for the rest of the nation. With a stable, blocking anticyclone coming to rest over southern England, a dense slab of freezing air was trapped above the capital. As a consequence, increasing amounts of nitrogen oxides and soot particles, generated by diesel engines and, to a lesser extent, wood-burning stoves, were held in the air over London until they reached their maximum measurable levels in the atmosphere at 24 sites across the city last Sunday. The result was a bad air day for London. |
| People with heart and lung disease were cautioned to avoid strenuous exercise while asthma sufferers were warned to use their inhalers more frequently. By contrast, the level of pollution in the rest of the country was considerably lower. The whole business was simply London’s tough luck, you might conclude. | People with heart and lung disease were cautioned to avoid strenuous exercise while asthma sufferers were warned to use their inhalers more frequently. By contrast, the level of pollution in the rest of the country was considerably lower. The whole business was simply London’s tough luck, you might conclude. |
| Such parochialism would be misplaced, however. London has always been the country’s bellwether when it comes to air quality, as the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health has noted. After all, it was the city’s deadly pea-soup fogs of the 1950s that forced the government to the pass the Clean Air Act 1956, a piece of legislation that limited the burning of coal in cities and brought major benefits to the whole country. The air we breathe today across Britain is markedly fresher and healthier than it was 60 years ago, thanks to the lessons learned in London at the time. | Such parochialism would be misplaced, however. London has always been the country’s bellwether when it comes to air quality, as the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health has noted. After all, it was the city’s deadly pea-soup fogs of the 1950s that forced the government to the pass the Clean Air Act 1956, a piece of legislation that limited the burning of coal in cities and brought major benefits to the whole country. The air we breathe today across Britain is markedly fresher and healthier than it was 60 years ago, thanks to the lessons learned in London at the time. |
| These improvements should not be taken for granted, however. Our air is still under threat, though from a different source. Once it was coal burning. Today emissions from cars, particularly those with diesel engines, account for much of the pollution that affects our air and the hazard affects the whole nation. | These improvements should not be taken for granted, however. Our air is still under threat, though from a different source. Once it was coal burning. Today emissions from cars, particularly those with diesel engines, account for much of the pollution that affects our air and the hazard affects the whole nation. |
| However, it is concentrated – to a striking degree – in London because the capital has an economy that is heavily reliant on motorised transport. It also possesses a rapidly increasing population density and, for good measure, has an ageing infrastructure. It is a triple whammy that presents civic leaders with serious headaches when trying to improve London’s air. The government has fixed 2025 as the year when London should meet its legal air quality commitments that it agreed with Europe and so reduce its soot particle and nitrogen oxide emissions to acceptable levels. So difficult are the issues facing a city in which delivery vehicles are in constant movement and building sites have pumps and generators in continual use for days on end that most experts doubt if they will succeed until 2030 or even later. | However, it is concentrated – to a striking degree – in London because the capital has an economy that is heavily reliant on motorised transport. It also possesses a rapidly increasing population density and, for good measure, has an ageing infrastructure. It is a triple whammy that presents civic leaders with serious headaches when trying to improve London’s air. The government has fixed 2025 as the year when London should meet its legal air quality commitments that it agreed with Europe and so reduce its soot particle and nitrogen oxide emissions to acceptable levels. So difficult are the issues facing a city in which delivery vehicles are in constant movement and building sites have pumps and generators in continual use for days on end that most experts doubt if they will succeed until 2030 or even later. |
| Easing London’s air pollution is clearly going to be a tricky business but the task is certainly worth pursuing, not just for the sake of its own citizens but for the nation in general. The argument is straightforward. If air pollution can successfully be tackled in London, where conditions are worst, then it can be vanquished anywhere else in the country. In other words, if we can clean up London’s air, the rest of the nation will have nothing to worry about. | Easing London’s air pollution is clearly going to be a tricky business but the task is certainly worth pursuing, not just for the sake of its own citizens but for the nation in general. The argument is straightforward. If air pollution can successfully be tackled in London, where conditions are worst, then it can be vanquished anywhere else in the country. In other words, if we can clean up London’s air, the rest of the nation will have nothing to worry about. |
| That is why we should take the air pollution problems of our capital seriously and that is why the city’s major, Sadiq Khan, is to be congratulated for tackling the issue in a comprehensive manner, in particular by promising to protect London’s schools and the city’s children from the worst impacts of car exhaust emissions. A range of measures is now being considered to limit emissions in London. These include the introduction of higher parking charges for vehicles with diesel engines, introducing ultra-low-emission zones within the M25 and imposing fines for those who leave engines idling near schools. | That is why we should take the air pollution problems of our capital seriously and that is why the city’s major, Sadiq Khan, is to be congratulated for tackling the issue in a comprehensive manner, in particular by promising to protect London’s schools and the city’s children from the worst impacts of car exhaust emissions. A range of measures is now being considered to limit emissions in London. These include the introduction of higher parking charges for vehicles with diesel engines, introducing ultra-low-emission zones within the M25 and imposing fines for those who leave engines idling near schools. |
| As we have noted in our report on city smog, air pollution has no respect for borders. Polluted winds from France and Spain frequently blow into Britain, for example. In turn, our exhaust emissions are often swept towards Denmark, such is the nature of the weather patterns of western Europe. We cannot then be certain we will always be able to curtail air pollution to a fixed minimum. There will always be external forces at play. This is no excuse for inaction, however. These factors merely underscore the importance of Britain doing everything it can to ensure that air pollution is kept to an absolute minimum and in a state that ensures its inhabitants have the best possible opportunity to live healthy lives. | As we have noted in our report on city smog, air pollution has no respect for borders. Polluted winds from France and Spain frequently blow into Britain, for example. In turn, our exhaust emissions are often swept towards Denmark, such is the nature of the weather patterns of western Europe. We cannot then be certain we will always be able to curtail air pollution to a fixed minimum. There will always be external forces at play. This is no excuse for inaction, however. These factors merely underscore the importance of Britain doing everything it can to ensure that air pollution is kept to an absolute minimum and in a state that ensures its inhabitants have the best possible opportunity to live healthy lives. |
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