New London Air site wins award

The recently updated LondonAir website has won first place in Air Quality Bulletin’s annual website review. Each year the magazine reviews over 500 websites and LondonAir was awarded first place in the non-council (’other’) websites, which covers all air quality companies, council consortia, pressure groups and central government.

We are always looking for ways to improve the site. If you have any comments or suggestions for improvements we'd welcome your views. You can contact us here.

Launch of London Air on Android

The Environmental Research Group at King’s have launched a new version of their popular LondonAir mobile app which is available now as a free download from the Android Market.

The launch comes during a week when London is experiencing unseasonably high temperatures and pollution levels. ERG hopes that providing Londoners with another simple but powerful mobile application will help many more users keep up to date with the Capital’s air quality.

Read more.

London Air on Google Chrome

Hot on the heels of the LondonAir for Android launch, King’s have this week also unveiled another innovative new application to help keep Londoners up to date with the Capital’s air quality

LondonAir for Chrome is a neat little browser extension, available as a free download from the Chrome Webstore which condenses the entire LondonAir Quality Network into a few easy to navigate tabs.

The extension sits in the browser address bar and quietly signal increases and decreases in pollution levels across London.

Read more.

EPUK republish Fumifugium

John Evelyn’s landmark essay ‘Fumifugium or the Inconvenience of the Aer and Smoak of London Dissipated’ has been translated and republished by Environmental Protection UK to mark 350 years since its original publication.

The famous essay set out to convince King Charles II to tackle the problem of poor air quality in London by outlining the causes, effects and possible solutions to the heavy smogs which blighted London in the 17th century.

EPUK have translated the old language into modern English and provided updates and footnotes on some of Evelyn’s early insights into the problems and solutions of London’s smoak dissipated.

Read EPUK’s translation here. Read John Evelyn’s original text here.

Camden & Islington Air Quality Summit

Camden and Islington have announced a joint air quality summit in November to help raise awareness of air quality issues in the neighbouring central London boroughs.

The summit features an impressive list of speakers from business and the London air quality community, who will cover a wide range of today’s most pressing air quality questions.

The summit is on November the 21st in Camden Town Hall, you can book your place by contacting: airquality@camden.gov.uk

World Environmental Health Day

On September 26th environmental health practitioners and institutes around the globe celebrated the first ever World Environmental Health day. The theme was air quality and the Chartered Institute of Public Health and The City of London held events to mark the day.

The Environmental Research Group were honoured to be invited to the City of London’s evening reception which drew together representatives from local businesses and individuals and organisations from across the air quality community in London. Discussions took place on how different sectors can work more closely together to both raise awareness of, and improve air quality in London.

More.

Sustainable City Awards

The City of London has opened applications for the 2011/12 Sustainable City Awards.

For the last ten years these awards have recognised and rewarded UK organisations, from multinational companies and local authorities to small charities and businesses, for outstanding achievements and innovation across all aspects of sustainability.
Last year an air quality category was introduced to the Awards, with The Campaign for Clean Air in London scooping the top prize.

Apply for the awards here.

Soundslide: How to avoid air pollution.

This month’s featured soundslide looks at what actions individuals can take to minimise their exposure to pollution.

It features interviews with Professor Roy Harrison from University of Birmingham, Dr Kirsty Smallbone from University of Brighton, Professor John Ayres from COMEAP and ERG’s very own Dr Ian Mudway and Professor Frank Kelly.

From the web

A selection of stories from around the web this month:

-Pollutionwatch September 2011 Dr Gary Fuller’s monthly Pollutionwatch series for the Guardian.

-The UN holds a summit on non-communicable diseases.
-Obama scraps proposals for tigher ozone limits.
-Sootfreecities.eu attempts to rank European city’s air quality.
-US concerns over China’s air quality reporting appear in wikileaks story.
-The results of TFL’s dust suppressant trials in London.
-The Economist reports on lead pollution in Mexico
-New study links air pollution to increased risk of heart attack to those already at risk.
    > Audio interview here.
    > BMJ article here
-TFL deploys eco-marshalls to encourage cab drivers to stop idling.
-The urban vertical greening project.
-BBC Radio 4 programme 'Costing the Earth - The Air That I Breathe'.
-The World Health Organisation launches europe-wide air quality database.

And Finally:
-We liked this.