Clean Air Day backed in Ipswich
We're being encouraged to their carbon footprint
Last updated 17th Jun 2021
There are sixty-three deaths every year in Ipswich linked to air pollution.
That’s according to Ipswich Borough Council, marking national Clean Air Day by running workshops for the community and encouraging stationary drivers to turn their engines off.
They are backing a national campaign by the group Global Action Plan, who say poor air quality causes up to 36,000 deaths a year in the UK. It can also cause heart and lung diseases and may even contribute to mental health issues.
This year’s theme, ‘protect our children’s health from air pollution,’ was selected to highlight the urgency to safeguard our children’s health from the impacts of air pollution as we recover from the pandemic.
Matt White is a campaigner from the East of England:
“There’s a disproportionate effect on children. If a child is exposed to high air pollution, they could end up with a stunted lung growth.”
Exposure to air pollution can cause a range of health issues in children including effects on lung function development, worsening of asthma, and it also plays a part in causing asthma in some individuals. Air pollution also damages children’s ability to learn as in areas of high air pollution the development of working memory can be stunted. Tackling air pollution around schools is more important than ever as it can be the cause of underlying health conditions that can make people more susceptible to detrimental health outcomes from COVID-19.
Matt has been campaigning since around 2008, to make higher powers do more to tackle air pollution. He’s backing the idea of ‘School Streets’:
Primary and nursery school children can be exposed to 15% more pollution compared to adults when walking on busy roads due to them being closer to exhaust fumes because of their height, according to Global Action Plan. Nearly 2000 schools and nurseries around the UK are located next to highly polluted roads – the fumes from these roads enter the schools, bringing pollutants like PM2.5 into the classroom.
Matt added:
“PM2.5 is the most deadly pollutant. The World Health Organisation has said that there is no safe level of that. We need to get that as close to zero as possible.
"I think the main issue is that there’s so little awareness around it.”
In 2016, a cross-party group of MPs described the UKs air pollution as a ‘public health emergency’. However, Matt tells us there is no sign of it being treated like an emergency.
“It needs a major nation-wide publicity campaign, similar to the thing we’ve seen with COVID, so people can understand the harm that air pollution presents, and then they can make informed choices."
Clean Air Day brings together communities, businesses, schools and the health sector to improve public understanding, build awareness and take easy actions we can all do to tackle air pollution. We’re being encouraged to walk, cycle and scoot more, especially using the back streets away from polluting traffic. Avoid unnecessary burning- and use ready to burn materials whenever you burn, especially if you rely on wood for your heating. If you do have to drive, switch your engine off when you're stationary, and try to choose electric vehicles where you can.