Air Quality – E-mail to my MP

I’ve never contacted an MP before………………………………

Dear Mr MP,

Recently, I have taken an interest in air quality. As a result, I now have two air purifiers in my flat and a personal air quality monitor.

Fig 1 shows the high air pollution on my walk from my flat to the park in my town. I was urged to raised this to the attention of passing joggers, which off course I decided not to do.

You will notice that this is not an isolated problem – see Fig 2. Closer inspection in the website will show no air quality readings in Reading for a month.

Fig 3 shows the Borough Council air quality, suggesting that the air quality is good. However, this scale in 1 to 10 which differs from international standards, not all of the pollutants which could be measured are measured, and some will be averaged over 24 hrs. This produces a misleading output.

Whilst we are unable to address air quality at a local or national level alone, we do have a duty to provide people about something so fundamental to our health. I’m assuming that you have very little idea about the quality of air you are breathing and the affect it is having on your health. The last thing you will be thinking on a sunny day is that you are breathing unhealthy air.

My initial suggestions:

Buy a personal air quality monitor. Then encourage some of your colleagues to do the same
Measure accurate air quality readings in my town – this is not expensive – analyse the data
Add accurate air quality forecasts to weather bulletins
Use real-time air quality monitoring in town, to help people make informed choices about whether to go out for a jog

We all have to breathe, but not all of us either pay enough attention and then can afford air purifiers.

Best regards,

Paul

Fig 1