2021 Advent Calendar

In both 2017 and 2019, we created an advent calendar to bring you information and advice on air pollution (and to have a bit of fun). Perhaps it’s something we’ll do every two years?!

We’ll be adding useful links here every day, connected to our social media posts. After all, there’s only so much you can say in 280 characters 👍🎅.

Day 1: Idling
Our idling flyers can be downloaded and ordered from our Resources page. More information on idling from Idling Action here.

Day 2: Pollution maps
London Air website.
EDF pollution sources map.
Address Pollution website.
Breathe London network.

Day 3: Air pollution inside a car
According to a study by Airlabs, air pollution levels in traffic jams are 140% worse inside a vehicle than they are for pedestrians. The amount of air pollution depends on the level of traffic you're in, and the type of emissions from nearby vehicles (eg if you're bumper to bumper with a diesel car, your intake of pollution will be higher). Find out more in this 2014 assessment of personal exposure to air pollution.

Day 4: Join us
Please get involved, we always need volunteers! Read more here.

Day 5: School Streets
School Streets have grown hugely across London over the last three years. From under 30 schemes to over 400 now, it’s great to see. What's next? Earlier this year we published a report with Possible, the Active Travel Academy and Transport for Quality of Life that assessed the current status and future potential for School Streets in four cities: London, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol. It found that,

"a comprehensive roll-out of School Streets in the four cities would reduce exposure to air pollution and road danger for 1.25 million primary and secondary students."

So what's holding the scheme back in other cities? Partly, it's that cities outside London can't currently enforce School Streets with automatic number plate recognition cameras (ANPR), which is the method used by a lot of the schemes in London. The Government is in the process of implementing a piece of legislation which will allow this - but it's been a long journey! In theory, this will come into force in February 2022 (🤞).

Meanwhile - if you would like any advice or support with starting a School Street at your school - please get in touch. We have lots of resources to help you too.

Day 6: Clean Cities
Being part of the Clean Cities campaign means we get to see what other organisations are doing across Europe to help tackle air pollution - and it’s really inspiring to see what so many are doing to try to help the next generation to grow up breathing healthier air.

Cities are where a lot of the work can be done on air pollution. Measures like London's Ultra Low Emission Zone are an example of this; investing in public transport, walking and cycling infrastructure is key too, in order to reduce traffic levels more generally.

One of the main calls of the Clean Cities campaign is for the phase out across Europe of vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2030 at the latest. Here in the UK, after a public consultation last year, the Government has committed to ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, with all new cars and vans being fully zero-emission from 2035 (in other words, some plug-in hybrids and full hybrids will still be allowed until 2035). We believe this doesn't go far enough, and at the time campaigned for a full phase out date for all ICE vehicles from 2030. Despite this, we recognise that this is a positive shift from the original phase out date of 2040.

Sustainable transport and phasing out the internal combustion engine are vital if we are to tackle both the air pollution and climate crisis. Please sign the Clean Cities petition if you want to help.

Day 7: Clean Air Zones
The Green Alliance report "The case for clean air zones" details the effects of clean air zones and shows just how successful they are - they are now found in over 250 cities across Europe, and there is comprehensive research that they work.
New research details how clean air zones will not only save lives but boost economies too.
Useful timeline for clean air zone implementation.
London's Ultra Low Emission Zone, the first clean air zone in England, helped reduce NO2 emissions by 44% 😍.

Day 8: Sign up to our newsletter
Here’s the link!

Day 9: The Environment Act
Alongside many other groups and organisations, we campaigned for World Health Organisation particulate matter targets to be enshrined in the Environment Act, and for a stronger Office for Environmental Protection, the watchdog that will hold the government to account. However, the government failed to commit to meeting any specific targets on air pollution in the Act, despite the House of Lords passing amendments that would have required this. Targets will need to be set next year, with a public consultation in February (for which we’ll need all hands on deck!). More info in this blog from Ruth Chambers of the Green Alliance.

Day 10: Wood Burning
We get it, we really do. Staring into the flames of your wood burning stove or firepit is comforting, warm, cosy, primal. But…the latest research shows that even the newest, most efficient Ecodesign wood burning stoves emit high levels of particulate matter (PM2.5) into your home and neighbourhood. PM2.5 is one of the most harmful air pollutants, associated with a range of serious life-limiting conditions.
You can find our updated template letter to magazines/broadcasters here, if you’d like to use it to spread the word about the health impacts of burning wood.
And please join us at next week’s wood burning meeting - we'll be discussing ways to campaign on this, and messaging that works, on Tuesday (14th) at 8pm on Zoom.

Day 11: Active Travel
Active travel (non-motorised forms of transport like walking/cycling/scooting) has been described by the Climate Change Committee as an "essential element of the transition to a net zero carbon economy, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality". Transport secretary Grant Shapps said earlier this year that the government wants “half of all journeys in towns and cities to be walked or cycled by 2030”. This is important, because air pollution and active travel are linked. The latest Department for Transport figures (from 2019) show that transport contributes to 34% of NOX emissions and 13% of PM2.5 emissions in the UK - it’s clear that reducing emissions from transport is a key part of tackling air pollution.

How can we do this? We know we need to reduce traffic - especially for short trips that can be walked or cycled if you are able to. Investing in public transport, walking and cycling as alternatives to the private vehicle are key to this. We need more safe cycling infrastructure, pleasant walking environments, and really good (and cheaper!) reliable trains, buses and trams. This will enable more people to choose an active alternative to driving if they can, and so reduce emissions 👏.

Day 12: Thanks to all our volunteers
We couldn’t do this without you 😘.

Day 13: Clean Air Hub
Global Action Plan have collected all you need to know about air pollution in one place - the Clean Air Hub.

Day 14: Idling template letter for businesses
How many times have you seen a company van with its engine idling & wanted to take it up with the company? You can now use our pre-drafted letter to write to businesses about this 🙌.

Day 15: Phase out diesel
According to a recent study, the number of diesel cars in London fell by 15% between 2017 and 2020, which has made a huge difference to London’s air quality. Yet even when London’s roads felt empty for months last year, many areas of the capital were still illegally polluted. Initial data from 2021 indicates many of those illegally polluted sites will continue to exceed legal limits. Earlier this year we ran a campaign to highlight the fifteen air quality monitors across London that registered illegal air, and are calling for a diesel-free city as a next step towards cleaning up the air for the "diesel generation".

Day 16: Reception presentations
We've written a presentation for Reception children on air pollution - there were quite a few lesson plans out there for older kids but we struggled to find one for 4 and 5 year olds. It's a short, fun session to help little ones to understand about pollution, and how we can protect ourselves from it. We'd like to trial presenting this in a few London boroughs to start with - would you like us to come to your school? If so, please email us at mumsforlungs@gmail.com.

Day 17: Road User Charging
We love the ULEZ obvs, but...it doesn't cover all of London. It's a blanket charge. It still allows polluting vehicles to drive into London. What's next? According to the Centre for London, a scheme which would charge drivers on a per-mile basis based on:

👉 Distanced travelled
👉 Vehicle emissions
👉 Local levels of congestion and pollution, and
👉 Availability of public transport alternatives...

...would be much fairer for London. What do you think?

Day 18: Will you send the Government a Christmas email?
We’ve set up a little Christmas email campaign - please get involved! It takes two seconds and one click to send the Government an email, asking them to make 2022 count for clean air. The more emails they get, the more they know people care.

Day 19: Local elections
We are currently developing our election asks, and will be hosting an online meeting about this on 18th January - if you want to join in, please email us at mumsforlungs@gmail.com.

Day 20: Flyers
You can find all our flyers here on our Resources page, if you’d like to download or order printed versions. Do check out our other resources too - template letters, campaigning guides and posters.

Day 21: Art meets air pollution
Read more about our schools collaborations with artists Hannah Littlejones and Linett Kamala here and here.
Research by the Mayor’s office shows that 98 per cent of schools in London are exposed to levels of air pollution exceeding the World Health Organisation’s limit, compared to 24 per cent outside London.
Analysis by Environmental Defense Fund Europe (EDF) using Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants’ models, as part of Breathe London, shows the most deprived Londoners are over six times more likely to live in areas with higher pollution than the least deprived, and that NO2 air pollution is on average 24-31% higher in areas where people from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds are most likely to live.
How do we ensure we can all breathe safely? All Londoners need to be able to benefit from the ULEZ, from affordable and accessible public transport, from walking and cycling provision, from zero (tailpipe) emission buses, from action to clean up the Red Routes. These were our joint asks, with EDF, Choked Up and Medact, to the incoming Mayor of London in this year's Mayoral elections, and it is what we hope to see happen in the not too distant future.

Day 22: Zero Emission Buses
In London, diesel bus pollution hotspots are disproportionately concentrated in areas of higher deprivation.
Earlier this year in our joint Mayoral campaign with EDF, Choked Up and Medact, we called on the incoming Mayor of London to deploy a fleet of zero emission exhaust buses by 2030, instead of the previously promised 2037. We were very happy to hear a commitment from Sadiq Khan in September to bring forward this date to 2034, and with Government funding, to 2030.
With TfL's funding in the balance though, the acceleration of the zero emission bus rollout may have to be scaled back, which would be a very disappointing backwards step for clean air in London.

Day 23: What happens next?
Looking ahead to 2022, we have two big things appearing on the horizon. The public consultation on particulate matter targets, which is part of the Environment Act (scheduled for end of February at the moment we believe), and the local elections in May. These will both be crucial for the future of the air that we breathe - we need strong targets for policy makers to aim at, and we need strong policy makers to be able to meet those targets.
We're planning our campaigns for both of these at the moment, brainstorming ideas and working out how we can be most effective. Please join us if you want to take part.

Day 24: All we want for Christmas is…
…clean air! Thank you for making it through all of our advent calendar! We hope it's helped you learn about air pollution, and galvanised you to talk about it or get involved.

The Mums for Lungs team 💚 x