We have continued to be busy with our Clean Air Campaign over recent months. Saturday 14th October was Friends of the Earth’s International Day of Action Against Climate Change. We used this date to launch our petition.
We’re asking Birmingham City Council to:
1. Implement an enforceable Birmingham wide Clean Air Zone by 2020
2. Ensure Nitrogen Dioxide levels remain below EU limits everywhere in Birmingham, all the time once the Clean Air Zone is in place
3. Make certain that monitoring of all areas in Birmingham is regularly carried out and reported and that this information is publicly available.
We also want them to improve Birmingham’s public transport infrastructure and the safety of cyclists and pedestrians so that more journeys can be made by public transport, by cycle or by foot. This will help to reduce car journeys, improving air quality and also people’s health.
Our reasoning is clear: Every year an estimated 40,000 people in the UK die prematurely due to air pollution. For Birmingham, the annual figure is around 891. Air pollution in Birmingham is having a long term impact on our health.
Over the next few months we hope to:
– Meet with councillors to discuss plans for the Clean Air Zone.
– Put up extra air testing kits around Birmingham to measure air pollution. This will increase the body of evidence about the state of our air.
– Continue building up signatures for our petition.
– We’re also planning a stall in January before we present our petition to the council.
To sign our petition or learn more, please visit https://birminghamfoe.org.uk/what-we-do/issues-we-work-on/air-quality/tell-birmingham-city-council-that-you-want-clean-air-everywhere/
We are always happy to welcome new members. If you would like to learn more about our campaigns, please feel free to contact us or pop along to weekly Monday meetings.
By Poppy Buckingham
