Air quality in the media

Jo Barnes has been invited to participate in interviews on BBC Radio Bristol's Breakfast programme and with ITV and BBC News tomorrow morning. The interviews are linked to the 'Smogmobile' which will be making a trip to Bristol tomorrow. In previous journeys the Smogmobile has demonstrated that air pollution levels within vehicles can be as high or even higher than those measured outside. This, together with the findings from the report from the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health released last week, encouraging walking and cycling to reduce air pollution, help to highlight the need to reduce our reliance on cars, not only to reduce emissions but also to reduce our personal exposure to pollution.

Air Quality in the media

Air quality has featured heaviliy in the media this month, thanks in part to some excellent coverage from the BBC, sparked by their School Report. BBC News School Report gives UK secondary school students the opportunity to make and broadcast their own news. In February 2015, students from Oasis Brightstowe Academy, near Shirehampton, investigated their exposure to air pollution on their commute to and from school. AQMRC's Dr Jo Barnes advised on the monitoring and data analysis and was invited to participate in a number of interviews for TV and radio:

• Recorded radio interview with BBC Radio 4 Costing the Earth (3 Feb 2015)
• Recorded interview with BBC Radio Bristol (9 Feb 2015)
• Recorded TV interview with BBC Point West (12 Feb 2015)
• Recorded TV interview with CBBC Newsround (12 Feb 2015)
• Recorded interview with BBC World Service (12 Feb 2015)
• Live telephone interview with BBC Radio Bristol (23 Feb 2015)
• Live studio interview with BBC Points West (23 Feb 2015)
• Recorded TV interview with Made in Bristol (26 Feb 2015)

Many of these are available on the BBC iPlayer but here are a few additional links:

• BBC School Report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/31608825
• BBC World Service: http://t.co/XyXSMD1CAW
• BBC Radio 4 Costing the Earth: http://t.co/KfaO9Rj6GH
• CBBC Newsround: http://t.co/pBhwvEjOvY
• BBBC Radio Bristol Breakfast show podcast http://tinyurl.com/n6sz5fn (40:00-44:00 and 1:42-1:46)

Jo Interviewed for BBC Radio 4's Costing the Earth

This morning Jo was interviewed by the producer of BBC Radio 4's Costing the Earth on air quality in Bristol and the potential legacy of the Green Capital year for air pollution. The programme will be featured on February 24th.

Jo fields media enquiries about air pollution episode

In response to the media interest in the elevated pollution experienced over much of the UK today (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26844425), Jo made the following statement (http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/news.aspx?id=2791), which has been followed up in interviews including with the Daily Mail and the Bath Chronicle as well as tweeted and retweeted by UWE News and others (https://twitter.com/uwebristolnews/status/451329543698006016).

"While the high levels of air pollution that we are seeing this week across England and Wales are as a result of a combination of short-term meteorological factors and continental and Saharan sources, it is important to recognise that this is simply adding to and exacerbating existing long-term poor air quality experienced in many of our towns and cities much of the rest of the time. There are already more than 60% of UK local authorities with Air Quality Management Areas declared for exceedances of air quality objectives for nitrogen dioxide (NO­₂) and particulate matter (PM₁₀), primarily for traffic-related sources. In February 2014 the European Commission launched legal proceedings against the UK for its failure to cut excessive levels of NO₂. Technological solutions (e.g. Euro standard vehicles) have not delivered the expected reductions in pollutant emissions and resulting concentrations and behavioural changes (e.g. driving less) are difficult to bring about without greater public awareness and education about the effects of individual’s actions. It is therefore good to see that this week’s extreme pollution has made it onto the media and public consciousness, but I hope that it doesn’t give the false impression that once the rains come everything will be fine!"

AQMRC interviewed for BBC One's 'Bang Goes The Theory'

Last week Rose was interviewed by researchers for BBC One's 'Bang Goes The Theory' for a forthcoming episode on air pollution. The researchers behind the show were keen to understand more about how sources of air pollution have changed over time, from coal smoke and industrial pollution to the majority of problems today being traffic related.

 

'Bang Goes The Theory', "investigating the science behind the headlines and making sense of the everyday issues that matter to us all", is a popular science programme, shown on Monday nights on BBC One at 7.30pm http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lwxj1

 

The episode will be shown tonight http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s7twg.