Stephen Rees's blog

Two good op-ed pieces to-day in the Sun, and both about the impact on us of cars. This is part of the paper’s series of articles promoting local academic research.

First “What we’re doing to the air we breathe” looks at the effects of outdoor air pollution on a large group of B.C. children that the reserachers have been following since birth. Not just asthma but also middle ear infections are strongly associated with vehicle exhaust – still the biggest single source of air pollution (though those ships at our expanding port are catching up fast).

Secondly the impact of so called “green vehicles” which might be better than older cars, but much of the benefit is being squandered though our taste for ever larger vehicles – like the “green car of the year” Tahoe. By the way, in Norway, the car companies are no longer allowed to call cars “green” – because they aren’t. They might be a bit better in some aspects, but when you look at the whole cycle of production and so on, no car can be called green because no manufacturer can support that claim.

And I have an added the Car Free web page to the blogroll, which has all sorts of ideas how we can reduce our automobile addiction.