These targets are, again, too little, too late. The Government say they want to improve human health and reduce environmental pollution and that there is some urgency to their actions, but that is absolute nonsense because they have had the opportunity to show the public that they care about the quality of our water and air and they have shown no ambition. A target was published in 2005 to meet WHO’s old air quality guideline which we now won’t meet until 2040 Continue reading “Environmental Targets: Air Pollution”
Category: Air Pollution
Seasons Greetings
Here is the latest news about what Natalie Bennett and Jenny Jones have been doing recently and a few highlights of 2022 working full time as the Green Party’s representatives in the House of Lords |
Clean Air Bill passes Third Reading
My Bill is reasonable. It would: establish the right to breathe clean air; set clean air targets for air pollutants and greenhouse gases; set deadlines while allowing postponements; encourage renewable energy and energy efficiency; and ensure a proportional approach to enforcement.
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Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill passes Report Stage in the House of Lords
The bill will now have its Third Reading this Friday 2nd December before passing to the Commons where Caroline Lucas MP will pick it up. Although it will then go into the bottom of the pile of Commons Private Member’s Bills this is ready to go legislation that could be picked up by the government, it has been painstakingly tailored over a number of years and would put us at the forefront of tackling air pollution. Continue reading “Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill passes Report Stage in the House of Lords”
No Pollution Plan as heat creates Code Red alert for Eastern England
UK AIR (run by DEFRA) issued a Code Red for air pollution last night covering the East Midlands and Eastern region of England. This is for ozone, which is triggered by a chemical reaction in the air due to the heat,. Atmospheric conditions then trap the polluted air in a heat dome, stopping it from escaping upwards. DEFRA stopped issuing press releases for air pollution alerts in 2011, when the issue hit several front pages.
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Cross Party support as Clean Air Bill has 2nd reading
A Bill calling for Clean Air as a human right has attracted cross party support ahead of its Second Reading on Friday morning (10am, 8 July 2022) in the Lords. The legislation is being called Ella’s law in the hope that it will stop others suffering a similar fate to Ella Roberta Adoo Kissi-Debrah, who died of air pollution when 9 years old and was the first person to have air pollution put as an official cause of death.
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Recycling down – blame Covid
Why are the government hiding the fact that English local authorities now burn far more of your household waste than they recycle? A few weeks ago the government put out pages of statistics on the decline of recycling in 2020 and blamed Covid. Some journalists printed it, most ignored it, none looked at how it fitted a long term trend of recycling flat lining because incineration has increased.
London Mayor is “proud” to support Clean Air Bill
The London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has said that he is “proud to join with Baroness Jenny Jones and Rosamund Kissi-Debrah to support this Bill in Ella’s memory, as we know that Clean Air should be a Human Right.”
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Clean Air comes top
My Clean Air Act is top of the Lords’ ballot for private members bills which means that it stands a good chance of getting through all three stages in the Lords, before moving into the Commons. The bill aims to protect the public against air pollution which is one of the biggest public health hazards of our time and responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths in the UK. I’ve been working on this issue for over twenty years, but this is my best chance to get the government to take decisive action.
Incinerators are bad for climate change, health and recycling
There is no logical reason why you would want to replace the Edmonton Incinerator in North London, nor build any of the other 50 new waste incinerators that are in the planning pipeline at the moment.
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