Interesting Facts

Diesel drivers in the UK are facing a congestion charge in 16 UK cities from 2020. Maarten van den Heuvel -  twitter.com/mvdheuvel (Dubbed the "T tax" (here T stands for toxic), the first cities to receive approval are Birmingham,  Derby, Leeds, Nottingham, London, and Southampton. Cities that are considering clean air zones are Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Hull, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sheffield, and Stoke. Diesel fumes are blamed for 12,000 deaths a year, but many people are accusing councils of using diesel drivers as cash cows.)

According to the World Health Organisation, Spain is the noisiest country in Europe, and Madrid is one of the noisiest capitals. (In fact Spain is the second noisiest country in the world, behind Japan. Most of the noise comes from traffic, such as cars, heavy lorries and noisy motorbikes and mopeds. This is closely followed by building works, discotheques and leisure activities in general; especially in summer. Having been to Valencia during Las Fallas, I'm sure fireworks, which are more like army ordnance, don't help.)

According to research carried out by scientists at WWF and the Zoological Society of London, the number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years. (Since 1970 animals have been decimated across the planet as humans kill them for food in unsustainable numbers, whilst at the same time polluting or destroying their habitats. I wonder what our children and grandchildren will have to say to us?) Source

A 60mph (mile per hour) speed limit is set to be introduced on some sections of motorways in the UK. (Currently the speed limit is 70mph, and there had been talk of increasing it (Of course this never applies if there are roadworks, or you're on the M25 (good luck getting above 25mph on that monster, I never realised it was named after its top speed)).  The first motorway to be affected will be a 32-mile stretch of the M1 in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire.   The idea is to cut pollution levels to meet EU regulations, and if you're laughing at people in Derby, don't ... it could be brought in on other sections around the country if air quality is deemed to be at risk. The problem for me is that whenever we travel back to the UK, after German motorways, the British motorway system seems to be so slow.) Source:  The Independent

According to a review by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO), the health of the world’s oceans is deteriorating. (The problems have been known for some time, but the deterioration is happening even faster than had previously been thought. The oceans face many threats; climate change means they are warming, and slowly turning less alkaline by absorbing CO2.  Additional problems include over-fishing, pollution, siltation and toxic algal blooms. If that's not bad enough, dead zones are being formed by fertilizer run off pollution.)

Production of 100, 75 and 60 watt light bulbs has ceased in the US and Europe. (From 2014, incandescent bulbs of 40 watts or above will be banned in the US. Supporters of this move say that by replacing the old fashioned lamps with more efficient models domestic energy consumption for lighting will be reduced by 60 per cent in the EU alone. That's the equivalent of 30 million tons of CO2 pollution every year. What was really funny is that when they announced that these bulbs (which we haven't used for years) were being phased out, people went out and bought loads to stock up. Demand was highest in Germany, Austria, Poland and central Europe.  Germany surprised me as they usually care about the environment.  The reason given was that people felt that compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which use a fifth of the energy needed for a conventional bulb, give off a sickly light.  Aw diddums.)

There's a war of words going on in Malawi about the actual meaning behind "fouling the air". (Justice Minister George Chaponda says the new bill would criminalise flatulence to promote "public decency". Solicitor General Anthony Kamanga, says the reference to "fouling the air" means pollution. The Bill reads: "Any person who vitiates the atmosphere in any place so as to make it noxious to the public to the health of persons in general dwelling or carrying on business in the neighbourhood or passing along a public way shall be guilty of a misdemeanour." Mr Chaponda, a trained lawyer, insists that this includes farting. I think they need to sort this out before I visit.)   Update - Mr Chaponda has eaten humble pie and admits he had not read the proposed law before the radio interview, saying fouling air "does not necessarily mean farting" and that it will be not punishable by law in Malawi. [ View the story "Fa...

According to Michal Krzyzanowski, an air quality adviser at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, around 2 million people worldwide die each year from breathing air filled with pollutants. (In a World Health Organization (WHO) report, the death toll from air pollution in China is thought to kill around 656,000 Chinese citizens each year, and in India it causes 527,700 deaths a year.)

Pollution kills 750,000 people in China every year. (An environmental report has allegedly found that outdoor air pollution levels in Chinese cities cause 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths each year. Poor indoor air kills another 300,000 people and more than 60,000 die due to poor quality water. Researchers estimate that pollution will cost China as much as 5.8 percent of its GDP (gross domestic product), or about $160 billion a year. The cost of progress seems too high to me.)

The Office for National Statistics' Social Trends survey says that complaints about noise pollution from UK households increased nearly five-fold between 1984/5 and 2004/5. (Anyone who thinks noise pollution isn't serious has never lived underneath a bunch of DJs. And yes I have.)

powered by ODEO According to a major study published in the Lancet there is a link to motorway pollution and permanent, life-limiting damage to children's lungs. (Children who live within 500 metres of a motorway grow up with significantly reduced lung capacity. The culprit could be diesel fumes, but the only solution is to reduce emissions.)