Damian Carrington
The WHO has cut its recommended limits for air pollution and urged nations to tackle dirty air and save millions of lives.
In the first update for 16 years, the guideline limit for the most damaging pollution – tiny particles from burning fossil fuels – has been halved. The new limit for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), mainly produced by diesel engines, is now 75% lower.
The stringent new limits reflect the large body of evidence produced in recent years of the deadly harm caused to people by much lower levels of pollution than previously thought. Air pollution kills at least 7 million people a year, the WHO said, while a recent study estimated 8.7 million early deaths a year from coal, oil and gas burning – 20% of all deaths.
Pollution cuts an average of two years from the lives of the global population, and up to six years in highly polluted nations such as India, making it a bigger killer than smoking, car crashes or HIV/Aids.
July 21) Londoners injured in road crashes halved in LTNs | Evening Standard
:excerptstartRoss Lydall23 July 2021 The number of Londoners injured in road crashes halved in areas with low traffic neighbourhoods, it was revealed on Friday.The first city-wide study found a dramatic improvement in road safety following the introduction of more than 70 LTN schemes last year to encourage walking and cycling during the pandemic.It found that, inside the LTNs, the average… [Read More]
Climate scientist: This is a dystopian moment (Opinion) – CNN
Opinion by Adam H. Sobel September 2, 2021
Adam H. Sobel, a professor at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, is an atmospheric scientist who studies extreme events and the risks they pose to human society.
(CNN) I’m a climate scientist and on Wednesday night, I watched the rain outside my New York City window break the local record for the most accumulation in an hour. It was an event that caused catastrophic flooding and infrastructure failures across both the New York Metro area and a wide swathe of the Northeast US, delivered by the remnant of a powerful hurricane that had visited even greater destruction on Louisiana a couple of days ago.
This is the point in the news cycle when I would normally be called upon to explain why, in a warmer climate, hurricanes and heavy rain events get more extreme.
July ’21) Hastily abandoned low-traffic schemes could cost councils funding | The Guardian
Peter Walker
Councils which rip out cycle lanes or low-traffic neighbourhoods before giving them a chance to work or without evidence they are failing could lose future central government funding, ministers have warned.
In a sign of the growing frustration within government at some councils, both Conservative and Labour, which have removed active travel schemes in the face of sometimes noisy objections, transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris is formally writing to the leaders of all English local authorities with transport responsibilities.
In separate comments, Boris Johnson warned councils that he was serious about boosting active travel, saying that “trying to squeeze more cars and delivery vans on the same roads and hoping for the best is not going to work”.
Taxi driver jailed after hitting cyclist on the A228 near East Peckham and trying to hide phone evidence – kent online
Paul Hooper
A devious taxi driver shattered the dreams of a dedicated cyclist after ploughing into his bike at 60pmh, then tried to delete evidence he had been on his phone at the time.
Victim Ian Isted had planned to celebrate his 50th birthday by taking part in the Ironman triathlon contest but was left severely injured when he was flung off his bike.
On January 6, 2019, cabbie Kashrap Patel, from Tunbridge Wells, was using two mobile phones shortly before ploughing into the back of Mr Isted’s bike, Maidstone Crown Court heard.
Defence barrister Ian Dear said Patel’s “mindless stupidity” had caused the life-changing injuries which had ruined the victim’s plans to compete in the Ironman challenge.
2019) One Thing We Can Do: Drive Less – The New York Times
Aug. 28, 2019
Welcome to the Climate Fwd: newsletter. The New York Times climate team emails readers once a week with stories and insights about climate change. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.
What would happen if everybody in the United States cut back on driving?
We’re not talking about getting rid of your car, just using it a little bit less. It turns out that even driving just 10 percent less — if everyone did it — would have a big impact on greenhouse gas emissions.
‘I haven’t looked back’: the women who discovered cycling in lockdown I The Guardian
Jessica Murray
Fiona Forster had never felt comfortable cycling on the busy roads near her home in St Albans, but when the cars disappeared during lockdown last year it opened up a whole new world.
“I would never have gone out in the traffic levels like they are now. I was too worried that I’d get knocked off by a car or someone would drive past me too quickly, I just never had the confidence,” said the 40-year-old who is self-employed. “But I never saw a car probably for most of April.”
She started cycling longer distances, taken part in a 100km sportive, and over a year later she continues to cycle twice a week, despite traffic levels going back up. “I don’t feel vulnerable now on the road where as I would have before,” she said. “And without the lockdown, I don’t think I would ever have done it.”
March ’20) Chancellor announces £27bn for roadbuilding in budget | Budget 2020 | The Guardian
Gwynn Topham
The road investment strategy will see all vehicle excise duty hypothecated for roads. The policy was first announced by George Osborne in 2015 and the sum pledged on Wednesday was about £2.1bn higher than the funds earmarked by the Treasury last autumn.
Sunak said the £27.4bn from 2020-25 would “pay for work on over 20 connections to ports and airports, over 100 junctions, 4,000 miles of road”.
Among the schemes he promised to deliver was the controversial work to expand the A303 at Stonehenge, described as catastrophic by environmentalists and archaeologists. Sunak said it was “one of those totemic projects symbolising delay and obstruction”.
Judge issues protest warning as Paralympian jailed for plane stunt | Environmental activism | The Guardian
Disruptive protesters will face serious consequences, says judge in sentencing Extinction Rebellion activist
Damien Gayle
A British Paralympic gold medallist has been jailed for a year for glueing himself to the roof of a passenger jet in an Extinction Rebellion protest – the first custodial sentence for any action linked to the group.
XR said it was “shocked and devastated” by the sentence handed to James Brown, 56, at Southwark crown court in London on Friday afternoon, by a judge who warned that protesters who disrupt people’s lives “will face serious consequences”.
Global climate strike: thousands join coordinated action across world | Environmental activism | The Guardian
Rally to demand government action on climate crisis is first worldwide since start of pandemic
Matthew Taylor
The strike on Friday, the first worldwide climate action since the coronavirus pandemic hit, is taking place weeks before the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, UK.
In Germany, two days before the country’s general election, Greta Thunberg told a crowd of more than 100,000 people that “no political party” was doing enough.
The Swedish activist, whose solo strike in 2018 inspired the global Fridays for Future movement, told cheering supporters they needed to keep up the pressure on Germany’s political leaders past election day.
“Yes, we must vote, you must vote, but remember that voting only will not be enough. We must keep going into the streets,” she said.
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