Good for you: Travel change is key to improving the world we live in
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Nairn GP, Dr Alice Scriven, considers the importance of clean air.
When I moved the Highlands 12 years ago, I was amazed by the lichen on the trees in the forests around Inverness, writes Dr Alice Scriven.
I had previously lived in Glasgow, and there definitely wasn’t much lichen there. Lichen thrives on clean air.
Living in the Highlands with mountains and forests everywhere, it is easy to think that air pollution can’t be a problem. So it was an unpleasant surprise to learn that last year Academy Street was ranked fourth in the Friends of the Earth’s list of the most polluted streets in Scotland.
Nitrous oxide was the “culprit” here and is one of many harmful substances emitted by motor vehicles. Public Health England estimates that in the UK up to 36,000 deaths a year are caused by air pollution.
Many will recall Ella Kissi-Debrah (9), from London, who was in the news last year, sadly because she died in 2013. A court made the landmark decision that her death was in part directly due to air pollution.
As well as those who have underlying health conditions (like Ella, who had asthma), those who live in deprived areas are at increased risk from polluted air. It is interesting to note that in many big cities this has been the case since the Industrial Revolution, when workers were housed in the areas to the east of the factories. With the wind usually blowing from the west, smoke from the factories blew towards the east of the cities. The factory owners wanted their houses and estates away from the smoke and so built these on the west.
Thankfully in the UK industrial pollution on this scale is past. Yet air pollution remains a problem in deprived areas, and studies have found that this is frequently related to the activities of the more well-off, who tend to drive more and increasingly use fuel-hungry vehicles like SUVs. This worsens the already stark health inequalities between the least wealthy and most wealthy in society.
For many years UK government transport policy has been centred around provision for the car.
Climate change means that action is required at every level of government to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Increased use of electric vehicles may help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce air pollution but won’t solve congestion. Bold vision is required to create attractive streets that encourage and prioritise walking, cycling and wheeling.
It is essential to create path networks in rural areas to allow people (and particularly children) to travel without a car into Inverness and between villages.
Covid-19 means more working from home, but also reduced car-sharing and use of public transport.
Alternatives to the car aren’t always possible or may be challenging. However, every journey that we can manage “under our own steam” can improve our health, our mental wellbeing and connection to our communities. These journeys will also improve the health of the planet and the health of those around us by reducing air and noise pollution.
In the first of this series of articles on health and the planet Dr Andrew Dallas wrote about a change to how we view health. He stressed that what is “good for you” is also “good for the planet”. In no area of life is this more the case than in how we travel.
Dr Alice Scriven is a GP at Nairn Medical Practice and a member of Highland Healthcare for Climate Action.
Related article: Going green for our healthcare could be better for us all
