One in four neighbourhoods across England breach multiple nature pollution thresholds, friendsoftheearth.uk (Sep 03, 2024) — New research by Friends of the Earth shows 1 in 4 neighbourhoods classify as nature pollution hotspots. Pollution hotspots are areas where air, water, noise and light pollution levels all exceed safe thresholds for wildlife. Friends of the Earth is calling for the right to a healthy environment to be enshrined in a new Environmental Rights Act. The law would empower communities to hold regulators and public bodies to account to reduce the multiple layers of pollution affecting their areas to better protect wildlife and people.- ‘When it’s sunny, we get the barbecue out’: urban gardeners transform foul alleys into verdant havens, theguardian.com (Aug 12, 2024)
- Expanding London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) has improved air quality and reduced harmful emissions from cars and vans says City Hall, BBC News (Jul 25, 2024)
This article focuses on information specific to United Kingdom. Please see our Environment quality page for a topic overview.
"I don't drive to birdwatch any more. I walk from my house. I'm under no pressure to see anything exciting. I've stopped commodifying it. I just think of being out where I should be. Whenever I do that I'm really thankful for it. Nature is not there to make me feel better. It's something we can use to help us but ultimately we have to be there for it as well. And we've got to make wholesale changes to how we live." Joe Harkness[1]
Community action projects[edit | edit source]
- Pesticide-Free Towns, see Pesticide-Free Towns – success stories, from pan-uk.org. Read how villages, towns and cities are going pesticide free and how you can make positive change where you live.
Events[edit | edit source]
February, 2024 — Show the love, every February, growing public support for climate action through local events, heartfelt conversations and green heart craftivism in every corner of the country, theclimatecoalition.org- Mar 11 - 17, 2024 (Mon - Sun) — The Big Plastic Count, helping citizens and communities be part of the push on government, brands and supermarkets to take bold action to tackle the plastic crisis, thebigplasticcount.com
- Mar 15 - 31, 2024 (Fri - Sun) — Great British Spring Clean, Keep Britain Tidy call to help improve local environments, keepbritaintidy.org
- Jun 20, 2024 (Thu) — Clean Air Day, actionforcleanair.org.uk
Networks[edit | edit source]
- Adfree Cities, network of groups across the UK who are concerned about the impacts of corporate advertising on our health, wellbeing, environment, climate, communities and the local economy
- Network for Clean Air
- Pesticide Action Network UK
- Zilch.org.uk, national network of individuals in the UK working to eliminate littering.
Resources[edit | edit source]
Maps[edit | edit source]
England Noise and Air Quality Viewer, extrium.co.uk added 16:56, 13 July 2020 (UTC)
How clean is the air where you are? foe.co.uk
NightBlight, CPRE
UK Ambient Air Quality Interactive Map, Defra UK, government site
What's in Your Backyard? Local and national environmental data from the Environment Agency
Citizens data initiative[edit | edit source]
- Do you live in a pollution hotspot? Interactive map showing pollution hotspots, across England: (from) friendsoftheearth.uk, added 14:49, 3 September 2024 (UTC)
"1.8 million kilograms of the UK's plastic waste is exported to other countries every single day." The video gives a visualisation of the amount for a single day. One of the comments invites us to imagine the amount for a whole year.
- Ranking UK supermarkets on pesticides, 2021, pan-uk.org, added 14:56, 4 February 2022 (UTC)
- UK AIR, air quality information resource, Defra
Apps for sustainability[edit | edit source]
Other resources[edit | edit source]
- Noisenuisance.org, a source of advice and help for those suffering from noise pollution added 17:00, 13 July 2020 (UTC)
Environmental inequality in the United Kingdom[edit | edit source]
UK environmental inequalities refers to the way in which the quality of the environment differs between different communities in the UK.
Examples of environmental inequalities in the UK include: Access to parks, green spaces and the natural environment; Exposure to flood risk; Air pollution; Exposure to harmful chemicals; Transport-related problems and Proximity to waste and landfill sites.
Responses to UK environmental inequalities have included NGO's, academia and government. W
Campaigns[edit | edit source]
- Badvertising, campaign to stop adverts fuelling the climate emergency, including ads for cars, airline flights and fossil fuels, added 16:41, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
- Pesticide-free towns and cities, pan-uk.org
- UK Noise Association
See also[edit | edit source]
- Environment quality
- Biodiversity UK
- Climate action UK
- Open spaces UK
- Community river action UK
- Reduce, reuse, repair and recycle UK
- Rural sustainability UK
- Trees, woodland and forest UK
- Urban sustainability UK
local information can be found, or shared, via our many UK location pages
External links
Information from gov.uk
- Committee on Radioactive Waste Management
- Environment
- Environment Agency, public body responsible for protecting and improving the environment in England and Wales. W
- Floods destroy. Be prepared.
- Local environmental quality
References
