Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Child's death directly blamed on air pollution in London: when will we wake up to the danger of our terrible air quality?
Not sure what will be the wake up call for Londoners about our filthy air and its threat to our health, but this story of a child's death in South London being directly linked to her exposure to illegal levels of pollution on the South Circular should certainly not be ignored.
Living as we do so close to Green Lanes which is often clogged with cars and along which many children must walk to get to school, we must surely wonder if a similar story will emerge here before too long.
Read the story here
Tags for Forum Posts: air quality, nature notes
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dan77 on
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I thought people could be fined for idling. Or do you just mean civil enforcement officers don't have the power?
People idling outside our house drives me bonkers. I ask drivers to turn their engines off on a daily basis. Three times out of four they are pleasant and do it. The fourth time they are sweary.
I've asked the council for help - a sign was what I was after, really. They were definitely not interested.
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Permalink Reply by Rich on
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Full agree. I feel getting rid of parking on GL was the key to the whole transport study. Nothing in that plan was going to work or have public support without free flowing public transport on green lanes.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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We are damaging the health and shortening the lives of everyone. But in particular of young children and elderly people. It's fine to suggest and maybe carry through small helpful measures. But don't we need a more ambitious plan?
How about starting with George Monbiot?
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Permalink Reply by Dan on
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Appealing to people's better nature is unfortunately not a sure fire way to change human behaviour. Yet time and again, we can fall into the trap that others are motivated to care about the same things as we do, in the same way. Context is everything.
Enforcement and bans require policing, which is an upfront cost. A revenue stream must be identified (especially when the belts are tight)- and as pollution (outside of CongCharge) is not priced, then a council must make hard choices, which may not go down well with the voting and vocal motorists among us. We all just want to get from A - B. How we all do it is where the variation lies!
A regulatory approach could well come in, with cross-party support. However, with the UK running fine economic margins (B word), pricing in pollution on top of fuel duty may be a step too far in the face of many who really depend on cars/trucks (rather than flagrantly choose to whip the BMW down to the shops).
Rather than be for Londoners, I would argue that councils and the councillors who represent us, should be taking strategic action together to tackle this (better together). London Councils and the GLA have a lot to answer for here.
Realising value from additional parking charges, pollution and so on, will require bravery, clarity (accountancy), and support. You make a great point Liz, and the evidence is so clear.
I personally believe that using robust (not behavioural snake oil) evidence-based incentive mechanisms to reward individual mode/time choices is a great way forward and start. TFL is so advanced with oyster being so multi-modal. With the tech available to us now, transport mode can be remotely detected (as opposed to reported). Even now with cars.
If an innovate council (And the GLA) were to step up - we can begin to show what it costs to incentivise travellers to make alternative travel/purchase decisions (e.g. not driving kids to school <2miles in 4x4). Balance this with externalities and we can begin to understand ROIs. Data can allow us to make intelligent investment decisions that work.
My company are working in this very area. We're working to examine time shifting on the BART system in San Fransisco, and are undertaking world-first experiments to shift mode in Manchester.
I would be keen to explore viable opportunities with people/parties/councils who can create value with us. The solutions are definitely out there today, but it's really new, and good innovation needs to be encouraged.
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Hi Alan,
I work with the Universities of Oxford, Chicago, Boston, LSE and UCL. The company is The Behaviouralist. The work in SF and Manc is being written up, so this is hot off the press.
I am not sure about your other questions! Are you proposing to ban cars (the examples you use being cutting off at source, which is straightforward)? Yes I am sure that banning cars along green lanes would help local pollution. I am not sure about your point on George Monbiot. It's great that he's turned up though - he's a great person.
If you can contribute a solution this would be amazing.
Thanks for connecting!
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Hi Alan, I am lucky to work with such a great bunch of people. My co-founder was mentioned in Richard Thaler's nobel award.
It would be good to understand how you think policies and changes should be evaluated? (you are a politician right?). Before and after? How would you decide how to evaluate an air pollution project/campaign? What would be the counterfactual (what would happen without the intervention?).
Yes - we undertook the UK's first ever field experiment in Camden, saved over £100 per household on a large housing estate. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2589269 We've also worked with Haringey - raised around £110,000 from late council tax payers by simply changing the way information is presented to those with debt (and you would be surprised about where that is).
We are doing more work in homelessness/housing allocation (which is huge social/financial issue for councils)+ mapping fuel poverty across the UK. The opportunity for social/financial/environmental value in councils using robust evaluation, tech, data, and behavioural economics is enormous.
When I say snake-oil, I refer to processes and methods that are not proven to work. My view is that we test policies and campaigns using causal evaluation techniques. knowing what works (and what doesn't) is fundamental to good investment. Context is very important. It's easy to waste money even with good intentions.
I know of no causal work in the area of air quality improvement- because we do not have a counterfactual and measuring individual choices (how do we know if someone is driving) has been based upon diaries (which as stated preferences, tell us very little in truth). So the solutions lie in the methods. So to go full circle, we are now able to do this with the technology available to us. It would be great to use methods we employ in california to help the local community here. sometimes it is very difficult!
Have a great day
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Hi Alan,
If you look at the paper - I am credited in delivering the work with Metcalfe and Dolan (we). You can check with Haringey for our work. We have a piece on our website.
We are just trying to use our proven methods to help communities.
Thanks
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Alan, I would also like to add that such responses are not encouraging to new and potential contributing community members. I Really do not feel like I want to contribute more to such debates after this wringing from you. Your searching for my personal details on a public site, and seemingly personal agenda about my role and my individual standing is a bit weird tbh. I'd like to talk about air pollution.
I will now bow out. The offer stands to anyone who would like to make a difference.
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I take that as a compliment, Tris.
Always reassuring when we disagree. -
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The Turkish restaurants use large amounts of wood and charcoal for their barbecues.
Even with air filters this must be posing a big risk locally? It creates a smog over the streets at busy times.
Does anyone have any information on this? I have written to all local councillors about it but, you guessed it....
NOT A SINGLE REPLY.
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Permalink Reply by Zena Brabazon on
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Hi Richard
I have followed up on this issue. I am waiting for a reply on my questions. I will check my emails again. Can you resend me your email address so I can contact you. I apologise for not contacting you sooner. Too many emails! My email address is: zena.brabazon@haringey.gov.uk
Zena
Zena Brabazon
Cllr, Harringay ward
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The Turkish restaurants use large amounts of wood and charcoal for their barbecues.
Even with air filters this must be posing a big risk locally? It creates a smog over the streets at busy times.
Does anyone have any information on this? I have written to all local councillors about it but, you guessed it....
NOT A SINGLE REPLY.
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