London takes 5 days to breach 2017 air pollution limit

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: January 7, 2017 at 8:23:17 AM EST
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] London takes 5 days to breach 2017 air pollution limit
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> London takes 5 days to breach 2017 air pollution limit
> By Karla Adam
> Jan 6 2017
> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/06/london-takes-5-days-to-breach-2017-air-pollution-limit/>
>
> LONDON — It was a powerful image: soaring high in the sky next to Big Ben was a Mary Poppins figure wearing a 
> protective mask.
>
> And for good reason: London exceeded its annual air pollution limits for the whole of 2017 on Thursday night — a 
> whopping five days into the new year.
>
> London is a world leader in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) -- levels are far higher than they are in the U.S. -- because of 
> its reliance on diesel-powered vehicles. Many of the city’s iconic black cabs and double-decker buses are run on 
> diesel, a major source of NO2.
>
> Activists were expecting London to breach its limits early in the year — in 2016, it took eight days — and the 
> Greenpeace environmental organization responded by staging a protest with a giant mask-wearing Mary Poppins balloon.
>
> According to European Union and British law, no single area is allowed to exceed the hourly limits — of 200 
> micrograms of NO2 per cubic meter of air — more than 18 times in a year. On Thursday night, an air-quality monitoring 
> station on Brixton Road in south London breached the limit 19 times, reaching 347.7 ug/m3 at 9 p.m.
>
> Clean Air in London, an advocacy group, said that Brixton Road reported 20 exceedances over a 24-hour period, which 
> “could be a new world record for an official monitor.”
>
> Its director, Simon Birkett, said that “with diesel vehicles responsible for 90-95 percent of NO2 from vehicle 
> exhaust,” the only way to comply with the law was to “ban diesel from the most polluted places.”
>
> He also urged pedestrians to avoid Brixton Road and urged locals to abandon outdoor dining.
>
> “Emergency measures and action are needed,” he said.
>
> Britain, along with other countries in Europe, bet heavily on diesel cars before they understood that they emitted 
> harmful pollutants. As my colleague Griff Witte reported:
>
> [snip]
>
> Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>



-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/18849915-ae8fa580
Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-aa268125
Unsubscribe Now: 
https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-32545cb4&post_id=20170107085242:8D59C48E-D4E0-11E6-9521-860EDB5AB1F2
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com