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LOCAL AIR QUALITY CAMPAIGN PRAISED FOR TACKLING AIR POLLUTION IN THE COMMUNITY
September 2009
Defra Minister of State, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, praised the work of South Yorkshire�s air quality campaign, Care4Air, at this year�s national �A Clearer Future� Conference for its �fun� feel and focus on raising awareness - particularly among young people.
This year�s conference, co-hosted by the Low Emission Strategies (LES) Partnership, had vehicle emissions at the top of the agenda. The most dangerous pollutants from road traffic emissions are nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter � pollutants that reduce life expectancy in the UK by an average of 7-8 months and cost the NHS a staggering �20 billion per year1.
Keynote speaker, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, said: �Reducing pollutants is a difficult task and I can understand how easy it must be to get disillusioned at times with the scope of the problem and the practical and economic difficulties in fighting it. The rewards can sometimes be unclear.
�But the Care4Air Campaign makes clear, in bold, bright colours, to the individual in the street, to organisations, schools and businesses that if we are to tackle air pollution, we must do it together. We must do it, not just because the law says so, but because it is in our best interests and the interests of future generations.�
The conference examined practical policies and measures for reducing emissions from local transport, emphasising links between air quality and climate change and focused in particular on opportunities surrounding the use of low emission vehicles and fuels.
Jim Fitzpatrick, who became Environment Minister in June, added: �What we need to do, following the good example of organisations such as Care4Air, is to get the facts out to the public, not in the format of a scientific report, but in a way that is relevant to our day-to-day lives. Air quality will change for the better when we have changed for the better, in the way we think, in the way we view our environment and our place in it. Today�s event takes us a further step down that road.�
Care4Air, currently in its fifth year, welcomed the praise as yet another recognition of achievement for the award-winning campaign. Earlier this month the Care4Air website was voted best �Non-Local Authority website� by Air Quality Bulletin magazine for the fifth time.
Care4Air also recently won a Green Apple Award for Local Authority Environmental Best Practice. The prestigious Green Apple Awards are one of the biggest, longest established environmental award schemes in the UK and all winners are put forward to represent the UK in the European Business Awards for the Environment.