MUMS FOR LUNGS
Campaigning for clean air for everyone
OUR VISION
Air pollution is a public health crisis and our elected representatives are not doing enough to tackle it. We are campaigning for clean air for everyone β particularly children and babies β as soon as possible.
Campaigns
Many people have positive associations with wood burning β as a cosy, attractive way to heat a room, or as an allegedly carbon-neutral fuel, yet even the most βeco-friendlyβ wood burning stoves emit high levels of particulate matter (PM).
Diesel is the single biggest contributor of nitrogen oxides and nitrogen dioxide on our roads, and there are an estimated 2.5 million diesel cars on the road in the UK emitting suspiciously high levels of air pollution.
School Streets is a pioneering initiative to transform the roads outside schools so that only pedestrians and cyclists can use them at school drop off and pick up times.
The general election is finally here. This is our chance to stand up for our children and vote for clean air, climate action and a better, healthier future for us all. We want to ensure that strong action to tackle air pollution is at the top of the agenda.
Residents in Greater Manchester head to the polls to elect their next Mayor on 2nd May 2024. As part of a coalition of groups that includes Clean Cities Campaign, Walk Ride GM, Manchester Friends of the Earth, Sustrans, Living Streets and Asthma and Lung UK, we are highlighting the dirty secret of GMβs very high air pollution levels.
The London Mayoral election will be held on 2nd May 2024. Despite the amount of progress made on cleaning up Londonβs air over the last few years, we need Londonβs next Mayor to go much further if we want children to be truly protected from the lifelong health impacts of air pollution.
Residents in Manchester City Council head to the polls on 2nd May 2024 and we are campaigning to ensure that strong action to tackle air pollution is high on the council agenda.
Londonβs Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is the worldβs largest pollution charging zone. It was first introduced in 2019 and has been expanded twice, becoming London-wide in 2023.
Idling is a frustrating and unnecessary source of air pollution. Many parents in our network have repeatedly witnessed it happening outside schools, in town centres, playgrounds and at hospitals.
Mums for Lungs believes that government and local authorities are not doing enough to address the public health crisis of air pollution.
Get involved
Weβre always looking for people to help out - please get in touch!
Latest News
Mums for Lungs is proud to announce our new accreditation system for primary and secondary schools. Weβre inviting schools in Southwark and Lambeth to sign up and acknowledge their important role in reducing air pollution.
Our School Streets Facebook group brings together people from all over the UK to talk about School Streets. We collectively share information, answer questions, give advice and can set up one-to-one chats
Some councils get it, and some donβt. We applaud Lambeth Councilβs strong messaging on the need to reduce wood burning and Oxford City Councilβs Do You Fuel Good campaign,
How can something as toxic as the burning of wood be promoted by so many magazines and house renovation TV shows?
Whichever way you look at it, the school run will take up a significant amount of your life over the next seven years. But it doesnβt have to be a horror story.
Both Mayor Andy Burnham and the leader of Manchester City Council Bev Craig have committed to implementing many more School Streets across GM in the next few years. We want to help start the ball rolling, so weβve created a campaigning guide for School Streets across Greater Manchester.
Last month we collaborated with Kate Pryse-Lloyd, CEO of STEM Workshops, to create a day-long STEM workshop for Year 9 students across four schools in Lambeth and Southwark in London.
Our analysis of data from hospital trusts across London has revealed that more than 15,000 children under 5 were admitted to hospitals across London in 2023 with serious breathing difficulties.
Weβve teamed up with The Ella Roberta Foundation, Mothers Rise Up and Parents for Future UK to create these eye-catching A4 posters for the general electionβ¦
It is an uncomfortable truth that wood burning creates a huge amount of air pollution in the UK. Please join us in raising awareness of this difficult-to-talk-about issue by downloading our flyerβ¦
With a General Election approaching, the issue of air pollution and its impact on our children's health must be placed high on the agenda.
With the Labour Partyβs apparent backing away from their Β£28bn a year commitment to green investment, we need to make our voices heard and urge Sir Keir Starmer to stay strong on the environment.
It can be hard to connect childrenβs health with Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs); how can being able to park affect how healthy our children are? Find out why, if we want healthier, calmer and safer streets, we should support CPZs.
Our new research reveals the inadequacy of the Governmentβs legislation in tackling air pollution from wood burning. Only three fines have been handed out in Smoke Control Areas since Jan 2022, despite 10,000 complaints.
We are excited to announce that in 2024 we will be expanding our reach across London and beyond, and are therefore looking for an experienced Volunteer Coordinator.
This year we have created our first ever Christmas cards. Join us in sending seasonβs greetings while also sharing simple ideas on reducing air pollution in our everyday lives.
We are deeply concerned that our political leaders are underestimating the twin crises of air pollution and climate change and therefore totally disregarding our childrenβs futures. Please join our new email campaign.
Itβs wood burning season and we want to help spread the word about the air pollution impact of burning wood in open fires, stoves and firepits.
Sarah, a six-year-old in Manchester, has written this letter out of concern for her friends and family who have asthma.
We have written two primary school air pollution assemblies, one for Key Stage 1 (age 5 to 7) and one for Key Stage 2 (age 7 to 11), to help inform the next generation about the impacts of air pollution.
Are you thinking of installing a wood burning stove or re-opening your fireplace, or do you know someone who is planning to? Please take a look at our new graphic.
On Thursday June 8th, we held a Clean Air Carnival, as the culmination to our Spring Science Fest!
Mums for Lungs are proud to present β¦ our first ever ScienceFest! In this celebration of clean air we've collaborated with some of the most prestigious scientific organisations in the UK to create an army of junior citizen scientists, who are learning about, measuring and assessing the air around us.
In light of the recent high air pollution alerts in London, we're setting up a network to ensure information gets passed more easily to schools and parents & carers ahead of future air pollution episodes.
Our new research shows that using Automatic Number Plate Reinforcement (ANPR) cameras to enforce School Streets means they are also self-funding within their first year, with Londonβs existing 500+ school streets in London currently creating a Β£31m revenue stream.
We originally launched our wood burning flyer in June 2021 on Clean Air Day. Since then, new data has been published on the amount of air pollution that wood burning produces, and so we felt it was time for an update.
We are excited to announce that Mums for Lungs is expanding our ever-growing network of activists and supporters to Greater Manchester.
Something that we became aware of recently at Mums for Lungs is the link between air pollution and obesity. It hasnβt made frontpage news yet but itβs been highlighted by several studies published across the world over the last few years.
To help you campaign for a School Street at your school, we have now created a form so that you can order our School Streets flyers directly.
To celebrate Car Free Day this year, we are encouraging parents to contact their childrenβs schools to highlight the issue of air pollution and why itβs important for everyone - but especially schools - to take action to reduce it.
Matt Oliver from Hark Films approached us earlier this year to ask us if he could make a short film about air pollution for us. We said yes please! Huge thanks to him and the brilliant Sophie Cartman for their time on this.