Breathing lessons
Level 1
Elementary
Where to sit on the bus
Interestingly, Colvile says that his own research
shows that sitting on the driver’s side of a bus
can increase your exposure by 10%
compared
with sitting on the side nearest to the pavement.
Protect yourself indoors too
On average, we spend about 90% of our time
indoors and two-thirds of that time is spent at
home. And indoor pollution can actually be
more
serious than outdoor pollution, it seems.
Studies by the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) suggests that pollution levels
can be two to five times higher indoors than out
- and this can rapidly rise depending on what
activity you are doing at home.
Centrally-heated,
carpeted, airtight homes only act to make the
situation worse.
If you want to reduce the risk, ventilating your
home is therefore an important step - hopefully
with air that’s not full
of air pollutants from the
outside. Also, use a good doormat to help
prevent outdoor pollutants from the pavement
entering your home.
Living in the suburbs, away from major roads,
seems the best way to
avoid the worse urban air
pollution. But that then means you are probably
a car owner and are therefore only making the
situation worse.
Don’t drive
The best thing you can do, both for yourself and
for
other people, is to get out of the car. Fuel
choice is also important: diesel may produce
less carbon dioxide compared with petrol, which
is good news in terms of climate change, but it
produces more ground-level pollutants.
Get out of town
As long as you go by public transport so as not
to create yet more pollution, leaving of the city
offers at least a temporary escape.
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