In a particularly bad time for air quality (not yet over), a couple of newspaper headlines that bring home the problem.
The front page of yesterday' Evening Standard
A London head teacher today issued a heartfelt “cry for help” to protect her pupils from toxic air which has blighted the capital for days.
Effie Demetriou of Bowes Primary School, next to the North Circular, begged Sadiq Khan and Transport for London to act and cut local pollution. “The level can escalate high and it affects our pupils’ health,” the associate head teacher told the Standard.
“The only way to reduce air pollution is to reduce traffic. That’s a cry for help primarily for our pupils but also for all local families and our staff.” [...]
If you’re a Londoner experiencing aching sinuses, an odd taste in your mouth or difficulty breathing, you’re not alone. The capital has just been through several days of very high air pollution.
The causes of the most recent episode were the usual: a lack of wind to blow away the build-up of noxious gases and small particles of matter that London generates on a daily basis. The still, cold weather has not only been freezing our bones but trapping pollution.