Leicester pupils rowing to school to lower levels of air pollution
Castle Mead Academy are marking 'Clean Air Day'
Pupils in Leicester are rowing to school this morning (19th June) in an attempt to lower air pollution levels.
It is Castle Mead Academy's way of marking 'Clean Air Day', a nationwide initiative to tackle air pollution.
Why is air pollution bad for us?
Air pollution negatively affects almost every organ in the body and around 30,000 UK deaths will be linked to toxic air in 2025, according to a new report from leading doctors.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) said that there is "no safe level" of air pollutants as it warned that around 99% of the UK population are breathing in "toxic air".
Exposure to air pollution can shorten people's lives by 1.8 years, which is "just behind some of the leading causes of death and disease worldwide", including cancer and smoking, the authors wrote.
"We are doing it to make the air cleaner around the school"
Pupils at Castle Mead Academy will row the Leicester stretch of the Grand Union Canal to get to school.
Sam Lee is a PE teacher at the Academy: "We are doing it to make the air cleaner around the school which will also make it safer for young children, as there will not be as many cars.
"We hope educating them at a young age, they will make the right choices and influence others to make the same good choices," he said.
What is being done about air pollution?
It comes as Asthma and Lung UK called for tougher clean air laws.
Air pollution has triggered potentially life-threatening asthma attacks and severe flare-ups of illness one in five people with lung conditions, according to a new poll by the charity.
More than half of 8,000 UK patients with lung conditions said air pollution had left them feeling breathless, according to the survey.