By Izzah.
Polluted cities bear the brunt of COVID-19 deaths. Are those of us who work and study near main roads and congested places at risk? Polluted cities around the world, namely Wuhan, Lombardy, London and New York have suffered the worst of the Coronavirus outbreak. Is the future bleak for student cities like Bradford, Manchester and Bristol?
For years we have quietly put up with air pollution, but as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds, we can't keep silent regarding the state of our environment. If you're wondering, what is the point of studying if you are going to fill your lungs with filthy particles and toxic fumes, there are lots of practical things you can do to keep that lovely oxygen pumping in your body. We shouldn't ditch our city living just yet,
At the outset, we need to be clear it's not just the dreaded COVID-19 you should be worried about. We have known for years that air pollution kills - five years ago, a Kings College study found that 9,500 died in London alone due to air pollution. And it was about this time that UK found itself sued by ClientEarth at the European Court of Justice as cities like Leeds were way behind accepted EU pollution levels. It's a shame prosecutions seem to be the only recourse against a largely apathetic government. The family of Ella Kissi-Debrah, who tragically died in 2013, believe air pollution should be put down as a cause of their nine-year-old daughter's death. Yet it was only in 2019 that the High Court finally granted a new inquest to look into whether the asthma attack that sadly ended the schoolgirl's life was linked to illegal levels of air pollution near her home.
"Measuring air pollution by using online tools such as those offered by the Met Office can be useful, but misleading if you don't look into things more deeply," Peter Finch.
We wanted to find out how polluted where we live is so I typed in our postcode using the following BBC Tool:
Did you type in your postcode? What did you get? According to the website our air pollution levels are GOOD. This is surprising as where we are living, even under lockdown, there are cars hurtling past every ten seconds or so! We asked Peter Finch a student campaigner against air pollution if there was any other way of checking air pollution levels. "Measuring air pollution by using online tools such as those offered by the Met Office can be useful, but misleading if you don't look into things more deeply," cautioned Peter. He added: "You might be an asthmatic or elderly or have a lung condition which means what is an acceptable level of air quality for others may not be good for you."
Here in Bradford, people like James Craig, clean air campaigner at Baildon Friends of the Earth have been working tirelessly to show which areas of the city are more polluted than others and the results don't at all good. Many schools, colleges, universities and even parks are close to dangerous levels of air pollutants. Here is Peter Finch again, "Three years ago a report showed that most people in the UK - 59 percent infact - were actually living in areas which have illegal levels of air pollution."
Hang on. Peter, did you say illegal?
"Yes, and I'm here only talking about Nitrogen dioxide, which is a pollutant from diesel vehicles." Peter goes onto explain further: "A study in 2017 said that around 40 million people live in areas which are deemed to have illegal levels, potentially very harmful levels of the gas."
Doesn't it seem criminal of the authorities to not give citizens the right to fresh air? If the government is not going to treat this seriously, there are things you should be doing right now:
· Buy plants that give off luscious life-giving oxygen. You can purchase houseplants that NASA have shown to be good for us. If they are good for spacemen they are good for the home!
· Exercise in the heart of a park rather than near that part of the park close to main roads.
· Make trees your friend, plant them, sit under them and treasure them.
· Arm yourself with facts. Find out where the local hotspots are, work with students who have access to equipment that measures pollution.
· Campaign. Campaign. Campaign. Join a local group, lobby your MP and get out there.
· SHARE this article to keep the awareness going!