While Beijing and Delhi often make headlines for having some of the world’s most polluted air, the reality is that the air pollution crisis extends around the world. In almost every large city, there are streets where the air exceeds levels that experts consider to be safe.
So to coincide with the EU’s Green Week, Greenpeace volunteers from across Europe have been demanding change. With a vast slice of air pollution coming from fossil fuel vehicles that dominate our roads, Greenpeace volunteers and local groups fittingly took their message to the streets.
Here are a few highlights of what they got up to.
Berlin, Germany: Greenpeace volunteers demonstrate just how much space is dedicated to cars compared to other forms of transport. In Berlin, around 60 percent of street space is set aside for cars (roads and car parking etc), while cyclists have only 3 percent of the available space.
Greenpeace activists are demonstrating with 30 so-called “walkmobiles” in Berlin.
Paris, France: A team of Greenpeace volunteers stand either side of a bike lane, cheering on and thanking people for choosing to cycle despite wet weather.
Greenpeace volunteers cheer at cyclists during an activity to promote sustainable transports such as cycling and tramway, and call for new city planning on urban mobility solutions to tackle the problem of air pollution.
Rome, Italy: A four-floors-tall banner, designed by Italian ‘artivist’ Tvboy and unfurled by Greenpeace campaigners, drapes down the side of a government building in Rome. The banner calls on Lazio politician Nicola Zingaretti (pictured wearing a pollution mask) to do more to clean up Rome’s toxic air.
Greenpeace activists protest at the Lazio regional government building, in Rome. Greenpeace asks Nicola Zingaretti, President of the Lazio Region, for a recovery plan to improve air quality.
Moscow, Russia: In Russia, Greenpeace is working with Let’s Bike It, the country’s largest cycling organization, to raise awareness of the impact polluted air has on human health. In this photo, Greenpeace volunteers (wearing green waterproofs) cycle alongside 30,000 others along Moscow’s Garden Ring – a ring road that is usually filled with cars and not bikes.
Cycle protest in Moscow.
Belgium: From suspending a huge banner across one of Brussel’s busiest streets, to a bike-powered protest in Liege, to a flashmob at Antwerp’s central station, Greenpeace volunteers across Belgium went all out to raise awareness of the environmental and health issues brought on by air pollution, and to show how the problem can be solved.
We’ll be continuing to pressure government and car companies to do more to rein in emissions from fossil fuel vehicles. To get involved and help make a difference, sign up here.
Richard Casson is a Digital Campaigner for the air pollution campaign