Breathe: Seven Ways to Win a Greener World

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Covid saw a renaissance in the denial of established scientific reality, with anti-vaxxers and the like. A few short years later, traffic-calming measures are now decried as a globalist conspiracy of control orchestrated by the World Economic Forum. The ULEZ expansion is not only vital to achieving compliance with legal limits for air pollution but is also a key step towards meeting the more stringent health-driven World Health Organization guidelines for toxic particulate pollution by 2030.

I can do something about it, and if you can, you've got to do something about it. You don't need to be the Mayor to do this stuff, you don't need to be Greta Thunberg. All of us can do something about this. Editorial director Rowan Borchers said Breathe would be “both an intriguing inside account of life in City Hall, and a warm and practical guide to green politics”. Members get the first chance to book our entire programme of events, including go-down-in-history gigs, concerts with world-class orchestras, and talks from cultural icons and political giants. He seems in good form, though. He asks who I’ve interviewed recently. I mention Smokey Robinson and he’s off – singing The Tears of a Clown, talking about seeing Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross live, and his love of soul music. The waiter arrives. Khan looks at my flat white dismissively. “What’s that? That’s very posh. I’m from south London so I’m going for a skinny Americano.” It’s classic Khan – playing the geezer and not getting it quite right. To his credit, he’s told me every time we’ve met how uncool his two daughters think he is.While significant progress has been made, with a substantial reduction in the number of Londoners living in areas exceeding legal limits for NO 2, tens of thousands of Londoners still breathe illegally polluted air and 99 per cent of Londoners live in areas exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended guidelines for PM2.5, which are much tighter than the legal standards. This event is Speech-to-Text transcribed (STT) and British Sign Language interpreted (BSL). The BSL interpretation is by Paul Michaels and Omoyele Davey (subject to change). Khan with Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, whose daughter Ella was the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Oliver Lord, UK Head of the Clean Cities Campaign said: "This is a welcome next step in our fight for clean air in London and especially for people living on the most polluted roads. Anyone doubting this decision should take a long walk along the north and south circular and reason with the families living there why they don't deserve cleaner air.

The Ultra Low Emission Zone was introduced in April 2019 and expanded to the North and South Circular in October 2021.A drop-off point at the Royal Festival Hall (30 metres) has been created for visitors who are unable to walk from alternative car parks. Our Access Scheme Despite significant improvements in London’s air quality between 2016 and 2019, a study by researchers from Imperial College London found that London’s toxic air contributed to the deaths of around 4,000 Londoners in 2019. The greatest number of deaths attributable to air pollution were in outer London boroughs, mainly due to the higher proportion of elderly people in these areas, who are more vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution.

Standing up against Trump and fighting against air pollution has made Sadiq Khan a target for the far right. He talks death threats, the toll on his mental health – and why he wants six terms as London mayorMayor Khan introduced the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone, which has helped cut toxic roadside nitrogen dioxide pollution by nearly half in central London at the same time as helping to reduce carbon emissions. The Mayor has also: planted 350,000 trees since 2016; introduced over 500 electric buses; committed to making London a net zero carbon city by 2030, faster than any comparable city; and developed a climate action plan that is compatible with the highest ambition of the Paris Agreement. Sir Ian Cheshire, Chair, We Mean Business Coalition; Chair, Channel 4; Chair, Spire Healthcare Group; Chair, Menhaden Capital, and non-executive director at BT, said: “I applaud the Mayor of London’s decision to expand his flagship air quality policy, the Ultra Low Emission Zone, which will mean five million more people breathing cleaner air. This is the kind of large-scale, decisive action we need to halve emissions this decade, and I have no doubt businesses in London and around the world will recognise the huge benefits that this policy will bring to communities and families across the capital."

The first point to make is that on a London scale, climate change in air quality proportionately affects the poorest people more than the wealthy people. So those least likely to own a car suffer the worst consequence of air pollution from those who own the car. The borough in our country with the largest amount of four-wheel drive vehicles is the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. They have one of the highest life expectancies because they drive their vehicles not in their patch but outside their patch. So it's an issue of social justice and racial justice. And so we've got to make it easy for people. Following the consideration of various points raised in the consultation and in stakeholder meetings, The Mayor has decided to introduce new grace periods to support disabled Londoners, recognising that they may be more reliant on private vehicles.As he gets up to leave, most of the restaurant empties. Meanwhile, formalities over, Khan has recovered his chirpiness. On the way out he stops for a chat with Ahmed, the restaurant manager. “We’re having an Eid celebration in Trafalgar Square on Saturday. You should come down. There’ll be thousands of us. We take a picture with everyone there.” He grins. “Then we send it to Trump.” And with that he’s off. ‘One short life forced people to face up to an invisible killer’ This article first appeared in the latest issue of the Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. Find out more.