In 2013, nine-year-old London resident Ella Kissi-Debrah sadly died following an asthma attack and in December 2020 she became the first person to have air pollution officially recognised as a cause of death on a death certificate. Tragic cases such as Ella’s untimely death are pushing air quality higher on political agendas and driving public interest.
Around the world, air pollution causes seven million premature deaths every year, with an estimated 2500–3500 of those in Scotland. Most of the health burden of air pollution is borne by vulnerable groups, including children, older people, those living in disadvantaged areas with higher air pollution and those living with health conditions like asthma.
Today (June 15) is Clean Air Day and this year’s theme is "Clean up our air to look after your mind", highlighting that air pollution has impacts on our health well beyond heart and lung conditions. For example, air pollution has recently been linked with dementia.
In Scotland, air pollution levels are reportedly within legal limits for the first time. However, there is no safe level of air pollution, meaning actions to improve air quality must continue.
Air pollution in Scotland comes from a range of sources, causing a cocktail of pollutants in our air that can affect our health. It’s also constantly changing in space and time. Solving this problem is not easy. Scotland-wide action to improve air quality was recently criticised in an Air Quality Investigation Improvement Report issued to Scottish Ministers by Environmental Standards Scotland. Evidence provided to the Scottish Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport committee in response to this showed that measures like the new Low Emission Zone (LEZ) in Glasgow (and future LEZs in Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen), are a step in the right direction. However, given the complexity of the problem, a range of solutions are simultaneously needed to tackle emissions across the key polluting sectors of transport, industry and agriculture.
There’s also lots that we can do as individuals to reduce the amount of pollution we produce and breathe. We can walk or cycle instead of driving, take quieter routes, use public transport, avoid using wood-burning stoves, save energy, and if we do have to drive, avoid idling. The impacts of these actions might seem small but collectively the impact is huge.
While some of our air pollution problems are well understood, there are still key areas we know relatively little about. Though we spend an average of 90% of our time indoors - at home, at school and at work - we know very little about most indoor air pollutants and the impacts they have on our health. This is a key area of research for the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI’s) £42.5 million Clean Air Programme. As UKRI’s Regional Clean Air Champion for Scotland, I work to share emerging research findings with policy makers, environmental organisations, charities, schools and the wider public. By spreading the word about the newest air pollution research, the hope is that the various Scottish stakeholders with the power to do something about it will take early action.
Dr Heather Price is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Geography at the University of Stirling
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