Archived on 6/5/2022

‘Red alert’ issued and millions warned to stay at home as London is hit by toxic air from Germany (2017)

anon5422159
20 Jan '17

Will refrain from any political commentary on this one! :grin: If you planned a jog in London, might be worth postponing for a few days…

system
20 Jan '17

There’s a political element to this discussion so we’ve created a topic for it in our “Politicos” category.

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anon5422159
13 Feb '18

This raises an interesting question. Given that South East England is blighted by German industrial pollution, would the EU sanction us based on our domestic car usage? Surely they’d need to consider all pollution sources - some of them continental.

Hopefully after 2021 we’ll be able and willing to seek a remedy from Germany for the problems caused by their pollution, based on international law (the current bloc-level law seems inadequate).

Londondrz
13 Feb '18

It’s those pesky VW’s again :frowning:

RachaelDunlop
13 Feb '18

Slightly alarmed until I realised the original alert was a year ago.

Michael
13 Feb '18

Is that true or just one alert in a year? Prevailing winds tends to mean that our air comes from the atlantic most of the time.

RachaelDunlop
13 Feb '18

Pollution travels both ways:

Currently, 570 premature deaths each year in the UK are estimated to be caused by air pollution from countries in mainland Europe, with Germany (230), Poland (110) and France (80) the worst offenders.

However, British coal plants are estimated to be responsible for 2,870 premature deaths, of which 1,350 occur in other EU countries, with France (350), Germany (320) and the Netherlands (160) the worst affected. UK coal burning is also estimated to add about 1,400 new cases of chronic bronchitis every year.’

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/uk-air-pollution-eu-coal-power-station-kill-hundreds-britain-a7706411.html

anon5422159
13 Feb '18

I noticed that article and was wondering what year the report’s data was from. When I clicked on it, I got a 404 error. That’s not to cast aspersions on the findings, or necessarily to suggest they’re out of date. However, UK coal power production has fallen significantly in the last few years, with all coal power generation scheduled to end in 2025 - possibly sooner.

RachaelDunlop
13 Feb '18

Still, it makes the point that pollution can go both ways.

Londondrz
13 Feb '18

Which reminds me, did we ever get any compensation from the then USSR for all the slaughtered livestock in the UK as a result of Chernobyl?

Jon_Robinson
13 Feb '18

That is why Ukranian men can’t wear shorts - Chernobyl Fallout.

anon51837532
13 Feb '18

Nor did the UK compensate anyone for the Windscale fire and fallout and allegedly both had similar impacts on farmland across the UK.

Londondrz
13 Feb '18

Two wrongs don’t make a right.

applespider
13 Feb '18

The prevailing wind in the SE is a southwesterly which is why smelly/polluting industries traditionally were in the east end of cities.

This means that when we’re stuck under a high pressure weather system (when the wind becomes southeasterly), we get more Continental pollution. Air under a high tends to move less so pollution isn’t dispersed as much by wind.

anon51837532
13 Feb '18

Absolutely - but absolutely every child in south west Scotland had a healthy glow for a few weeks.

All down to prevailing winds.