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Environmental Issues In London

  • May 28, 2021
  • 3 min read

Edited by Rashmi Chainani


London's environment has been improving everyday, however; there are still many challenges that London is facing within its environmental spaces. There are still traces of lingering toxic air, noise pollution and many threats to London’s green spaces. Not only will these challenges harm the green spaces within London yet it will also pose a threat to every resident living in this city. Lets go more in depth on what challenges London is facing through its environment.



Toxic Air

Toxic air has been an issue that London has been dealing with for a while. However, recent data shows that the number of Londoners living in areas where the amount of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) exceeds legal limits, shows a drop of 94% in toxic air.


However the question is, why was there toxic air to begin with? According to recent data and statistics, most of the pollution is caused by road transport and domestic and commercial heating systems. Within this toxic air pollution, scientific analysts have calculated a high trace of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). When they found traces of Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the air, they have also observed an increase in hospitalised London residentials that were affected by the air.


Data

In 2008 data calculated by environmental experts portrayed that 4,300 deaths that year were all primarily caused by the pollution that circulated through the air. After a while, experts’s data showed that in 2010 there were up to 5,900 deaths which were due to the amount of NO2 in London’s air. Despite the struggles of living within the polluted air, there has been a drastic decline up until just recently. Scientists have seen a steady, constant decline of pollutants from 2010 and 2020. This most definitely also resulted in a steep decline in deaths.



London's The Shard under heavy fog.
Photo by By mattbuck CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0), CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

Strategies

London officials sought out to find strategies in which will help turn over the issue of polluted air. The first strategy used was a draft strategy. This was the mayor's take on taking control over London’s environmental complications. In this effort, the mayor tried to reduce the air pollution by issuing a lower complaint to all gas stations. He did this in hopes of reducing the amount of pollution withholding in the air.


Secondly, London officials commissioned an Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) on the draft London Environment Strategy. This was done to evaluate the social, economic, environmental, health, community safety and equality consequences of the strategy's proposed policies. This action was performed in order to ensure they are fully considered and addressed. The IIA helped overlook the draft strategy to every point in which it was affecting the greater population.


For the future, the mayor has also initiated an implementation plan. This includes strategies for the future in order to execute and result in a healthy situation for all the citizens residing in London. The plan includes: going beyond the legal requirements to protect human health and minimise inequalities, to make London the world’s first National Park City (where more than half of its area is green) and for London to be a zero carbon city by 2050. In addition to that, to improve Londoners’ quality of life by reducing the number of people adversely affected by noise and promoting more quiet and tranquil spaces, and for London to transition to a low carbon circular economy.


This implementation plan holds the hope of restarting London’s environment with a fresher and improved start. The implementation plan is to take place until 2050 or until London officials decide when necessary.


London under heavy smog
Photograph: Kathy deWitt

How to help

Whenever we come across topics such as this one, we need to use our voice the best we can. The first step in the right direction would be to keep educating yourself in order to stay updated on issues that impact the world. Staying educated will not only help you to understand the significant events occurring in the world, but will also open up a door to empathising with and taking action to help people who are facing problems that we do not have to deal with due to our privilege.

Lastly, reach out and educate others as well. Spread awareness about the issue and discuss possible solutions within your community.


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