M Compton-Edwards 🌍 💚

Writer, researcher and communications specialist. Eclectic tweets on everything from the environment and politics to fluffy stuff. Clean air campaigner.

[M Compton-Edwards 🌍 💚 @MelissaCEdwards]

When updating this #London #AirPollution flyer for @MumsForLungs, I found so much #research suggesting possible links with #health conditions, I couldn’t fit them all on an A5 sheet. So here’s some more. Suspect these are the tip of a toxic pollution-berg. #wewantcleanair

[Mums For Lungs @MumsForLungs]

Hot off the presses ready to be sent out to schools for Christmas fairs (after we’ve stuffed them into envelopes tonight!). Our updated #London #AirPollution flyer. What do you think?

[M Compton-Edwards 🌍 💚 @MelissaCEdwards]

I just filled out the government’s consultation on #AirPollution targets. Toxic air is damaging all of our health. We can’t delay. We need #CleanAirNow! #EnvironmentAct Make your voice heard below!
https://t.co/T30vf2frZW

[Mums For Lungs @MumsForLungs]

Love this thread from @TimSmedley about the woeful #EnvironmentAct consultation, published yesterday. We need all hands on deck to demonstrate there is a desire for actual world-leading targets. #CleanAirCantWait @Feargal_Sharkey @mothersriseup @MothersCAN @parents4futureG

[M Compton-Edwards 🌍 💚 @MelissaCEdwards]

@cactusmelonism @juliacambridge1 @LBRUT @AlexanderEhmann Bollards or a planter by the cemetery would help greatly. With public engagement, an urban planner could create a scheme that gives pedestrians more space & still allows through-access to active travellers who use cargo bikes & other bikes, incl. those avoiding toxic S. Circular.

[M Compton-Edwards 🌍 💚 @MelissaCEdwards]

@juliacambridge1 @LBRUT @AlexanderEhmann I walk up & down this dangerous rat run several times a day on a ridiculously narrow pavement (which cars regularly mount, putting a squeeze on pedestrians). It’s crying out for filtering as part of a whole -neighbourhood scheme & a car-free Barnes Hospital development.

[Mums For Lungs @MumsForLungs]

😍 CALL TO ACTION! 😍
We're asking the Government to improve public awareness of #AirPollution, as they said last year they would, ahead of the upcoming consultation on pollution targets. Please join us & sign this open letter by Weds 9th. 🙏 #CleanAir
https://t.co/rnI3zJVEUo

[Sian Berry @sianberry]

In this excellent feature on smarter, fairer road charging, I talk about how the status quo is not fair for non car-owners. “It’s 20p for petrol or £1.50 for the bus for a short journey – the price signals are completely wrong.”

[M Compton-Edwards 🌍 💚 @MelissaCEdwards]

@sootyjaredo @MayorofLondon Actually the reverse. To quote Mayor: This is "a matter of social justice – with #airpollution hitting the poorest communities the hardest. Londoners on lower incomes are more likely to live in areas of the city most badly affected by air pollution and least likely to own a car".

[M Compton-Edwards 🌍 💚 @MelissaCEdwards]

If I could do a backflip, I would! Thank you @MayorofLondon for considering smart road pricing. 👏👏 Looking forward to participating in the conversation with Londoners about what the interim measures before road pricing should be. EVs shouldn't be exempt as their tyres pollute.

[Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @MayorofLondon]

The science is very clear: urgent climate action is needed.

The cost of inaction—to our economy, livelihoods, the environment, and Londoners' health—would be far greater than the cost of taking the necessary action to reach net zero, and reduce air pollution.

[Caroline Russell @CarolineRussell]

Properly glad to see this move, at last, by the Mayor and so proud of the consistency of @GreenLondonAMs calling for a smarter, fairer system for charging for travelling on London’s roads.👇

[Healthy Streets Scorecard @HSscorecard]

"if no additional action is taken to reduce #AirPollution beyond the existing polices, around 550,000 Londoners would develop diseases attributable to air pollution over the next 30 years & the cumulative cost to the NHS & the social care system is estimated to be £10.4 billion."

[M Compton-Edwards 🌍 💚 @MelissaCEdwards]

@martin_mckee @RailtonLTN @BBCTomEdwards I fear you're correct. The same tactics they use to stifle any #cleanair proposals/measures. I only hope Londoners wake up and smell the exhaust fumes and vote accordingly - for candidates that genuinely want cleaner air and are brave enough to action 'polluter pays' schemes.

[Mums For Lungs @MumsForLungs]

We are so pleased to see @MayorofLondon emphasising his commitment to #AirPollution action with options to reduce traffic during his current term. We have repeatedly called for more than the #ULEZ. Today is a good day for the health of London's children. https://t.co/sE6zV6hJrC

[Peter Kalmus @ClimateHuman]

Note that the climate "solutions" pushed by the media and politicians are the ones that boost capitalism, such as "more EVs," whereas the real solutions are suppressed b/c they require less consumption, more equity, and a rapid, deliberate, just end to the fossil fuel industry.

[Carla Francome @carlafrancome]

Call me picky, but I’d much prefer to see an ad campaign where cyclists and pedestrians are shown as #RoadRoyalty, rather than one where a driver does a close-pass and then shouts at a cyclist. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Be a good chance to chat Highway Code changes too 👑👑👑

[Mums For Lungs @MumsForLungs]

Thank you to @HinaBokhariLD for raising this. We look forward to seeing a #Woodburning awareness campaign from @MayorofLondon. #AirPollution #London

[M Compton-Edwards 🌍 💚 @MelissaCEdwards]

Whilst the #ULEZ expansion has helped to encourage people to switch to cleaner vehicles, @MayorofLondon now needs urgently to introduce road-user charging + other car reduction measures to substantially reduce the no. of vehicles on #London's roads.
#AirPollution #HealthyStreets

[Healthy Streets Scorecard @HSscorecard]

📢Expanded #ULEZ first month report reveals that on an average weekday there were 11,000 fewer vehicles driving each day in the zone, a 1% reduction.
It's estimated there will be a 5% reduction in CO2 emissions from cars & vans in the newly expanded zone in its first year.

[Mums For Lungs @MumsForLungs]

What do chess, baseball, placentas, the stock market and GDP have in common?

#AirPollution

Read it and weep.

Thank you @dwallacewells.

[Oliver Lord @0jhl]

@BBCTomEdwards If such a critical time for public transport funding then why reduce the £15 Congestion Charge operating hours from 10pm to 6pm on weekdays?

Funding aside, the Mayors Transport Strategy states traffic is at its highest in the evenings.

Seems a no brainer for ££, AQ & climate.

[CleanSchoolAir @CleanSchoolAir]

Yes, @grantshapps and @BorisJohnson, following hot on the heels of #COP26, please do not turn your backs on #publictransport and #activetravel in #London. It would be the worst outcome for #AirPollution in our capital and a bad example to the world.

[M Compton-Edwards 🌍 💚 @MelissaCEdwards]

Walking, #cycling & using public transport should be made more attractive than driving to help tackle #London's #AirPollution, climate & inactivity crises. @grantshapps please give @TfL fair, long-term funding for active travel and improving public transport to avoid carmageddon.

[Ross Lydall @RossLydall]

Breaking: Major concerns at TfL re funding crisis https://t.co/eMW6ZFEhtz