Love your lungs week (21st – 27th June) is a project started by the British Lung Foundation to raise awareness for lung health.
Lungs are vital for our health, they provide oxygen to our blood stream, to keep our organs functioning and remove carbon dioxide from our bodies.
Some things are unavoidable when it comes to poor lung health like genetics and disease, but environmental factors like pollution have a huge impact on us.
Air pollution is air that is contaminated from things like cars, factories, or even natural events like wildfires. Pollution causes breathing problems, heart issues and damage to our plants and wildlife. Data from WHO show, nine out of ten people breathe polluted air worldwide.
How to help tackle air pollution:
- Travel on public transport – Travelling on public transport when you can, is an easier way to reduce congestion and our emissions. Trains are often hybrid - powered by a mix of electricity and fuel and buses are slowly becoming hybrid too, as seen in Brighton & Hove, resulting in less air pollution within the city.
- Walk or cycle – Walking or cycling to work is a great way to reduce carbon pollution. If possible, travel outside of rush hour, this can have an impact on air pollution in congested areas (not always possible for work).
- Cut down on meat and dairy – Cows produce methane gas which is even worse pollution than carbon dioxide for our changing climate. Cutting down on our consumption of meat and dairy reduces the number of animals we would need to farm and therefore also reduces methane pollution. Check out National Vegan Month blog on how to get started.
- Go seasonal and local – Buying seasonal and local food is fab for the environment. It cuts down carbon pollution as the food does not need to travel as far and supports our local economy too.
Bonus tip - Consider cutting out plastic waste too when buying your fruit and veg – buy only what you need and don't bag it per product.
