Clean Air Is A Right! We Need Greener Cities
The air in urban areas is polluted to a critical point for health. It is time to claim new city models.
Leading a healthy and active life is no longer a guarantee to keep disease at bay. The air you breathe could be the cause of obesity, diabetes, and even cancer.
A recent study confirms that pollution not only damages the lungs, but inflames the liver, raises LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and insulin resistance, and alters the circulatory system.
By promoting chronic inflammation, it opens the door to a multitude of diseases that were not previously associated with dirty air.
Air pollution is killing our health
In Spain, 98% of the population and 95% of the territory were exposed to a level of pollution higher than that recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the latest report on air quality by Ecologists in Action of 2015.
And it causes about 27,000 premature deaths each year ; seven million worldwide.
The respiratory diseases are often related to pollution: asthma, COPD, lung cancer … But even if not suspect, the toxicity of the air we breathe also results in stroke, bladder cancer, leukemia and other hematologic tumors, chronic inflammation and obesity .
There is also clear evidence that it contributes to alterations of the immune system : respiratory, skin and eye allergies, contact eczema and autoimmune disorders.
The most worrying thing is the verification of its effect on children : a recent study, led by Dr. Jesús Pujol and coordinated by Dr. Jordi Sunyer, co-director of the CREAL Environmental Epidemiology Research Center, has concluded that traffic pollution alters the infant brain connectivity.
“Air pollutants slow down the functional maturation of the brain at school age – explains Pujol to Cuerpomente -. We cannot know what will happen to intelligence in the long run.”
Where does the contamination come from?
We must get used to the idea that the car is not that “friend” that the advertisements sell us.
To the vehicles must be added heating, certain industries, thermal and combined cycle power plants, refineries and incinerators, and maritime and air traffic. “In Barcelona, 20% of pollution originates from the port,” recalls Enric Aulí, former director of the Barcelona City Council’s Environmental Intervention Services.
In addition to nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), tropospheric ozone (O 3 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and benzo (a) pyrene, among the most dangerous pollutants are suspended particles (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ), which is emitted mainly by the diesel engine. Paris has already announced that it will ban it from its streets.
How to contribute to cleaner air
Reducing the circulation of vehicles and betting on public transport is the cornerstone to restore healthy air. But there is no single solution. Each city must find the most suitable for its orography, climate and circumstances.
Limiting car access to congested areas is one of the basic ones, and this has been done, for example, by London or Copenhagen by creating low-emission zones where access to the most polluting vehicles is prevented.
Other proposals are to lower the maximum speed to 30 km / h, encourage public transport while renewing the bus fleet with hybrid or hydrogen models, and promote the use of the shared vehicle or electric car, which if powered by Green energy is cleaner than any combustion engine. All of them require strong citizen support.
But there is always the possibility of going further without waiting for political decisions, for example buying renewable electricity.
The bike is the great ally of the necessary change of mentality. In fact, new generations no longer need or want to “own” a car. In Copenhagen 50% of students travel by bike.
The authorities have also given it a strong boost by creating wide lanes well marked in blue and without traffic lights that connect the center with the peripheral neighborhoods. In Germany the first motorway for bikes has been inaugurated .
And in France, the Indemnité Kilométrique Vélo initiative pays 25 cents per kilometer to employees of up to 20 companies who cycle to work.
Another great initiative in Seville is the Ciclogreen platform , which converts the kilometers traveled by bike or on foot into discounts in stores, restaurants and cinemas.
Learn about air quality through technology
Websites and applications such as those developed by Aqicn.org and the World Air Quality Index Project allow to know the air quality in real time in more than 60 countries of the world.
The future goes towards devices such as Smart Citizen, from the Fab Lab in Barcelona, which allows anyone to measure pollution and noise in their environment and share it on the network.
It is not only about being able to change neighborhoods if yours is unbreathable, but that you know in real time the air that enters your lungs, you become aware of the problem and want to be part of the solution.
