Tue 13 Apr 2021
If seas rise 20 feet over the next 2,000 years, our children and their descendants may find ways to adapt. But if seas rise 20 feet or more over the next 100 to 200 years — which is our current trajectory – the outlook is grim. In that scenario, there could be two feet of sea level rise by 2040, three feet by 2050, and much more to come.
Met PC seriously injured in north London hit-and-run – BBC News
BBC News2 days ago
A Met Police officer has been taken to hospital after being hit by a car while on duty in north London.
The officer was standing by a stationary police vehicle on Dartmouth Park Hill, Camden, when he was struck just before 15:00 BST.
He suffered injuries to his lower body and was taken to hospital by the London Ambulance Service (LAS).
The Met said the driver fled the scene and officers are trying to trace the driver and the vehicle.
Corrections and clarifications | Daily Mail Online
By Daily Mail Reporter
9 April 2021 | Updated: 11:50, 9 April 2021
A sub-headline to an article on September 30 about road collision reporting guidelines said that campaigners had called for abuse of cyclists ‘to be made a hate crime’. While campaigners have called for publishers to avoid using language that is likely to cause others to commit acts of violence against cyclists, we are happy to clarify that they had not in fact called for the use of such language to be made a criminal offence.To report an inaccuracy, please write to the Readers’ Editor, Daily Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or e-mail corrections@dailymail.co.uk.
Tory politician defends residents in London’s wealthiest boroughs who drive SUVs and says the gas guzzling cars are ‘often essential’ because their owners have kids and a dog – My London
Owen Sheppard 14 APR 2021
36% of cars sold in one borough were ‘Chelsea tractors’ even though London’s streets can be notoriously narrow with tight parking spaces
A Conservative politician has defended the abundance of wealthy residents in Central and West London who drive SUVs.
Research by two charities found that in 2019, Kensington and Chelsea residents were more likely to buy an SUV (sport utility vehicle) than people from anywhere else in the country.
This is despite their traditional association with rural motorists who need to negotiate uneven terrain, rather than cities with narrow streets and tight parking spaces.
They also emit higher levels of carbon than smaller vehicles.
Tyres and microplastics: time to reinvent the wheel? | Friends of the Earth
Vehicle tyres are probably the biggest source of plastic pollution in our rivers and seas, according to a new report commissioned by Friends of the Earth.
When you think about car pollution, you probably think mainly about exhaust emissions.
We’ve been pointing out the global-warming and health-harming effects of petrol and diesel vehicles for years.
But recent research shows there’s another serious, maybe more surprising environmental threat from road traffic. It comes from tyres.
Although we loosely call them ‘rubber’, vehicle tyres are actually made from a complex blend of a lot of mostly synthetic materials and chemicals, including different types of plastic.
As cars and trucks pound along our roads, they gradually shed tiny bits of tyre material. Think about how tyre tread slowly but inevitably wears down until tyres need replacing.
When it rains, those tyre particles – essentially microplastics – are washed off the road surface into drains and waterways. These could ultimately pollute the oceans.
France to Offer E-Bikes for Clunkers – treehugger.com
Lloyd Alter – April 14, 2021
This is not quite true, Finland has been doing this for a while, having funded over 2,000 e-bikes. But the French scheme and Schneider’s comment are still very significant. We have noted before that electric cars are not a silver bullet because of the upfront carbon emissions, or embodied carbon, released during their manufacture, and we have also asked if governments are going to subsidize electric vehicles, why not e-bikes?
Feb 20) Pedestrian pavement deaths – roadpeace.org
February 17, 2020
548 pedestrians were killed by drivers in the supposed safe haven of pavements or verges in the last 13 years, with the oldest and youngest in society disproportionately at risk, a new analysis of collision data can reveal.
Between 2005 and 2018, 8.6% of the 5,835 pedestrian deaths in England, Scotland and Wales occurred on pavements, the University of Westminster’s Active Travel Academy, a new academic think tank, has found. The majority (542) involved motor vehicles, with six pedestrian-cycle footway collisions.
The research uncovered examples of some of the most dangerous driving on Britain’s roads over the past 15 years, as well as momentary lapses by drivers, both with tragic consequences.
Airborne plastic pollution ‘spiralling around the globe’, study finds | The Guardian
Damian Carrington 12/4/21
The analysis calls plastic pollution one of the most pressing environmental issues of the 21st century. It indicates that the billions of tonnes of plastic discarded into the oceans and land and being broken down into tiny pieces are being thrown back into the air by road traffic and winds over seas and farmland.
People are already known to breathe, drink and eat microplastics and the other research suggests levels of pollution will continue to rise rapidly. The scientists said this “raises questions on the impact of accumulating plastics in the atmosphere on human health. The inhalation of particles can be irritating to lung tissue and lead to serious diseases.
BBC News Issues Important Correction: “We Agree That LTNs Do Not Prevent Cars From Being Used” – Forbes
Carlton Reid 13/4/21
BBC News will be issuing a correction to an incorrect statement one of its primetime presenters made about “low traffic neighborhoods,” or LTNs. On BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, broadcast on March 31, presenter Nick Robinson said: “But more and more councils are doing these low traffic neighborhoods where you … cannot use your car.”
The installation of LTNs prevent the use of local roads as “rat-runs” but they do not prevent residents or visitors from access in motor vehicles.
The BBC correction follows a letter to the corporation from Lilian Greenwood, the MP for Nottingham South and an officer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group of Cycling and Walking.
Greenwood told the BBC that “it is not the case that in Low Traffic Neighborhoods you cannot use your car …all residential properties remain accessible, albeit via a slightly longer route.”
France’s ban on short flights should be a wake-up call for Britain – theguardian.com
Leo Murray 13/4/21
This week the French national assembly voted to ban domestic flights on routes that could be travelled via train in under two and a half hours. The new rule, which is the result of a French citizens’ climate convention established by Emmanuel Macron in response to the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement, will capture 12% of French domestic flights. Though it’s more moderate than the convention’s initial proposal, which sought to ban all domestic flights on routes with rail alternatives of less than four hours, this is the first time any major economy has prohibited domestic air travel for environmental reasons. It’s also far more drastic than anything the UK has done to curb flight emissions.