Air pollution is invisible. But its threat is clear to see for all in London apart from those who want to close their eyes to it.
When the Standard launched its campaign around a decade ago to clean up the city’s “toxic air”, some key figures in City Hall bristled at the criticism in these pages.
But others welcomed it, even encouraged it. They knew it was wrong, possibly criminally so, for babies in buggies to have to breathe in damaging fumes spewed out at exactly their height level, because of the failure to tackle air pollution.
Equally unacceptable was that so many of the city’s children went to schools close to main roads, with toxic air, known to harm the lung development of at least some of them, billowing into the playgrounds.
The reason some in City Hall welcomed the critical focus is that they wanted to act but did not feel they had sufficient space or mandate to do so.
They pointed to how cyclists had successfully mobilised to get cycle lanes installed, also once controversial, but now widely accepted by most Londoners. They openly invited similar pressure to be piled on the Mayor to act over air quality which has significantly improved in recent years. The fight against climate change may also be at a turning point as it is now no longer a future threat in a far-off country.
Wildfires and record temperatures are making global warming plain to all but the most myopic
Wildfires in Sicily and Rhodes, record temperatures in Arizona and the UK last year, a heatwave in China, and ocean temperatures hitting a new peak are making global warming plain to all but the most myopic.
In democracies, political leaders of all hues can only get so far ahead of their electorates. Bolder ones may risk taking a greater lead, the more timid might retreat at the slightest opposition.
The danger for the eco-debate is it’s dominated by militant environmentalism or populist arguments pushing short-term measures, both with over-simplistic messaging.
Polls have shown that around three-quarters of Britons are concerned about global warming. This falls substantially when people are pressed whether they back some measures such as banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030. But support for action often grows when it is discussed in greater detail, such as in citizen assemblies.
So the public debate has yet to be won on the scale needed to save the planet. It needs to be won quickly and then our political leaders given the space, instruction and mandate to act. We choose them so ultimately it’s down to us.
