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“Care for Their Air” Glasgow ride

23.06.24

“Care for Their Air” Glasgow ride

“Care for Their Air” Glasgow ride Sunday 23rd June 2024 Air quality in Glasgow has improved significantly over the last 5 years, which is good news for the health of our population. Momentum could be sustained by now adopting more ambitious national objectives. A revised Cleaner Air For Scotland strategy is due by the end of 2026.

“Care for Their Air” Glasgow ride Sunday 23rd June 2024

Air quality in Glasgow has improved significantly over the last 5 years, which is good news for the health of our population. Momentum could be sustained by now adopting more ambitious national objectives. A revised Cleaner Air For Scotland strategy is due by the end of 2026. The time is right for adopting the thresholds set out in the World Health Organisation Air Quality guidelines for key pollutants.

Timed to mark Clean Air Day (20th June), our ride celebrates reductions in local air pollution, whilst advocating for further progress. Starting in Govan, near our Children’s Hospital, we will observe where diffusion tube monitoring is providing annual mean concentration readings for Nitrogen Dioxide. At Water Row we will admire the almost-completed new Govan-Partick Bridge. We’ll pass the Science Centre, and the SEC – the site of COP26, destination of the first Ride for Their Lives in 2021. In Anderston, we will pass the Automatic Air Quality Monitoring Station by St Patrick’s primary school and Sandyford nursery. This provides more detailed data than the diffusion tubes – and for particulate pollution as well as nitrogen dioxide. Whilst within the current Scottish objectives, annual mean Nitrogen Dioxide concentration here for 2023 was double the WHO threshold.

Proceeding through Kelvingrove Park, we will pedal up Kelvin Way, enjoying the absence of motor vehicles! Next stop, the Byres Road Automatic Air Quality Monitoring Station, where again we can rejoice in improvements, but acknowledge the ongoing harm to health with annual mean NO2 concentration in 2023 more than double the WHO threshold. With the new cycle route almost complete, we anticipate future continuing improvements in air quality. We will note diffusion tube monitoring on Queen Margaret Drive, then pass Belhaven nursery and head up to the canal, admiring the wonderful Hamiltonhill Claypits Local Nature Reserve as we approach Applecross Basin, and lunch at The Gathering Ground. After lunch, we have the option of following the towpath to Stockingfield Bridge, to admire Bella the Beithir and the Art Park.

By the end of the ride we should all know a bit more about key air pollutants, how and where they are monitored, some of the recent figures, and why it’s so important that they continue to improve. And we will have enjoyed some already-improved cycle infrastructure, whilst eagerly anticipating the completion of some more!