Wednesday 20 January 2016 12.09pm
Are you a baby buggy pusher regularly around Elephant & Castle?
My wife Lyla and I are gathering volunteers to fix a small air pollution monitor to their buggy as a project together with Hugo Knowles at Internet of Things Academy.
http://www.superflux.in/work/buggyair
As a parent of two under 3s, the fearful part of me would rather not know what I'm exposing them to, but ultimately I'm eager to be better informed and hope I can find a few mums and dads who share the same view. Please e-mail [url=mailto:
lyla@perronethouse.com]
lyla@perronethouse.com[/url] if you are interested in taking party.
In the context of a transport authority and local government who have knowingly increased air pollution in many areas at the Elephant and Castle as an acceptable side-effect in return for a new pedestrian piazza, and who have also turned down proposals for pollution-mitigating Nature Superhighways to be included within the large new concrete islands segregating cyclists, there is the need for more hard evidence to help put pressure on those who build our community, or to see the reasons why we should give up and move away. Our local Labour MP
Neil Coyle has said nothing of his efforts to tackle the issue (I've asked) despite tweeting last June that Elephant & Castle was the most polluted place in South London. Perhaps he'll join in the experiment?
Here's the chilling warning from the makers of the monitoring kit...
"Today, in our cities, infants and toddlers who are constantly wheeled and carted around our roads are most susceptible to ground level air pollution, and are at highest risk. Till date, no project has investigated the impact of air pollution on this demographic, which represents the largest subgroup of the population susceptible to the effects of ground level air pollution mainly caused by NO2 (Nitrogen Dioxide) and PM (Particulate Matter). Long term health implications include lung, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, cancers such as leukaemia, allergy sensitization, asthma and significant deterioration in well-being."