Some of the most vociferous climate change denialists are in their declining years. Other seniors like David Attenborough are sharp as diamonds. In either case we imagine every remaining day is precious as they strive towards their dreams. This post is for these special people. If electric cars could help you live for six months longer how would you spend that bonus time?
How Electric Cars Could Help Us to Achieve This
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan will introduce more restrictions on certain vehicles entering London tomorrow, April 8, 2019. This is because he regards air pollution as a ‘national emergency’ and believes electric cars could help reduce this on City streets.
“One of the things that troubles me is that because we can’t see the particulate matter, the nitrogen dioxide. The poison, you don’t take it seriously,” he explains. London correspondent David Shukman adds that nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter “can reach deep into the body with the danger of causing lasting damage”. One of the most obvious effects is asthma.
World Health Organization: How Air Pollution Impacts Your Body
Proof of This Risk Discovered Among School Children
Research has shown that children growing up in heavily polluted streets have smaller lung capacity than those in cleaner areas. This is on average 5% less according to a study conducted in London and a limitation that cannot be reversed.
Dr Ben Barrett of King’s College London is studying children living near London’s busy South Circular Road. They wear special backpacks measuring nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter around them as they walk to school. “It’s not necessarily that there’s a particular disease that they develop,” Dr Barrett explains. “However their body is less able to cope with those challenges as they go into adolescence and into old age.”
The risks include potential for blocking arteries, increasing the danger of stroke, along with heart disease and heart attacks. There are also signs linking air pollution to dementia. If electric cars could help counter all these things we could therefore perhaps live longer lives.
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Preview Image: The South Circular Road near Catford, London
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