Pollutionwatch: toxic air shortens lives by 20 months | Air pollution | The Guardian
Gary Fuller
Children will have their lives shortened by an average of a year and eight months from breathing polluted air, according to two new reports from the State of Global Air initiative. In some of the worst-affected countries, babies born today will, on average, lose more than three years of life unless air pollution improves.
Air pollution was the fourth leading cause of death around the globe in 2019, at about 7 million early deaths. This is more than those from more well-known risks including smoking, malaria and poor hygiene. The worst-affected countries face the double challenge of poor outdoor air pollution and breathing smoke from household cooking and heating.
The Fourth Power Rule – Cyclelicious – cyclelicio.us
Richard Masoner 25 February, 2014
Discussion about fees and taxes for bicycles so that we cyclists “pay our fair share” often turn to mentions of the “Fourth Power Rule.” What is this mysterious Fourth Power Rule?
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, highway engineers researched damage done to road beds and road surfaces for the purposes of allocating who should pay how much into the various road maintenance funds. The American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO; they added Transportation to their organization name during the 1973 OPEC oil embargo)
Zero Emission Zone suggested for Norwich – transportxtra.com
The Norwich Zero Emission Zone would initially cover a limited number of streets, but with a wider area being covered in the future
A Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ) could restrict all but the most eco-friendly vehicles entering Norwich.
Norfolk County Council hopes the ZEZ could reduce pollution in the city centre and encourage more people to switch to more sustainable forms of transport.
The scheme would initially cover only a limited number of streets, but with a wider area being covered in the future, according to a report in the Eastern Daily Press.
Redetermination: Transport Secretary would like to hear from you! – change.org
Petition update 9 Mar 2022 —
The Secretary of State for Transport wants to make a new decision on the Stonehenge road scheme. He first asked National Highways for responses to five matters he wishes to consider i.e. Alternatives, Policy, Carbon, Environmental Information and Any Other Matters.
National Highways has responded. (See “Documents” tab in this link) and the Secretary of State for Transport has now invited comments on those submissions and any other relevant information.
The submissions by National Highways are technical and lengthy. The Stonehenge Alliance and its expert advisers are preparing a full technical response which we will share in due course.
However, it is important that the Secretary of State for Transport hears from the wider public on these issues. We’re therefore asking as many people to respond as possible, to raise some or all of the points below.
Goods Way Zebra Crossing Safe and Healthy Streets Consultation
Dates: consultation 2nd March to 18th March 2022; Reply to: safetravel@camden.gov.uk; CCC member dealing with it Jean Dollimore; RESPONDED 15 Mar 2022
CCC Meeting minutes 21 February 2022
Climate safe streets; events; consultations
French Gov considers ‘cycling sector committee’ to maximise economic development – cyclingindustry.news
3/3/22 Simon Cox
Having estimated the cycling sector could potentially create upwards of 100,000 jobs by 2050, French government minister Guillaume Gouffier-Cha has been tasked with exploring possibilities to “rebuild an economic sector of cycling”.
This comes after a December 2019 conversation with French Prime Minister Jean Castex, which resulted in a request to assess the impact of cycling on the economy, the environment, and a wider French society.
For historical context Guillaume Gouffier-Cha states, “At the end of the 1970s our country was one of the world leaders in the bicycle industry. Everything collapsed in the space of a few years to the detriment of an almost total dependence on Asian countries.”
A27 Arundel Bypass – Consultation Step by Step – until 23:59 Tues 8th March 2022
The information National Highways wants to present to you, to persuade you to support this damaging development, with dates for local exhibitions, some of them staffed by National Highways’ staff and consultants, can be found on their Arundel webpage www.nationalhighways.co.uk/our-work/south-east/a27-arundel-bypass. Our recommended way to respond is to send your own comments in your own words either via email or post:
Climate activists deflate SUV tyres in wealthy London neighbourhoods | Environment | The Guardian
About 40 residents of Kensington and Chelsea, Dulwich, Primrose Hill and Marylebone wake to find their tyres flat
Helena Horton
The cars have been issued with fake ‘parking fines’ on their windscreens informing them that ‘if SUV drivers were a nation, in 2018 they would have been ranked as the seventh biggest emitter of CO2’. Photograph: The Last Gasp
Climate activists have deflated the tyres of SUVs in some of London’s wealthiest postcodes to protest against the emissions from such vehicles.
About 40 SUV-owning residents of Kensington and Chelsea, Dulwich, Primrose Hill and Marylebone woke to find their tyres flat, with fake “parking fines” on their windscreens informing them that “if SUV drivers were a nation, in 2018 they would have been ranked as the seventh biggest emitter of CO2”.
The cars are often nicknamed “Chelsea tractors”, since although the vehicles were originally intended to be used on difficult terrain, they have become ubiquitous in well-off urban areas.
A recent study found that three-quarters of the 360,000 SUVs sold in 2019 in the UK were bought by people living in towns and cities, and the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea is in the top three districts for the sale of large SUVs.
Petition Stop the Arundel Bypass – Save Arundel’s Countryside – ipetitions.com
Please sign our Petition to Save Arundel’s Countryside by rejecting National Highways’ Grey Route for the A27 Arundel Bypass and preferring the Arundel Alternative.
• RECOMMEND that another option, less damaging to countryside and villages, should be preferred by the Department for Transport: the Arundel Alternative, a short, wide-single carriageway bypass. The Arundel Alternative provides all we need to keep traffic sufficiently moving – and it doesn’t cost the earth. Reasons:
• The Grey route, Highways England’s fourth attempt at a long new Preferred Route for the A27 around Arundel, is disproportionately expensive and damaging.
• The 8km dual new Grey Route will cause local species extinctions, wreck local rural communities, and make the climate and environment emergency worse.
• The Arundel Alternative is affordable and supported by the environmental organizations
• I care about future generations, species loss and climate change