Air pollution in our cities is endangering health |
Australians are too complacent about allowing diesel-run vehicles in urban areas. Diesel exhaust is carcinogenic and can cause other illnesses.
Most Australians understand that air pollution is harmful to human health. But they usually associate it with smog-bound cities in developing countries, where the main culprit is traffic-related air pollution (TRAP). The bushfires of Black Summer in 2019–20 did dramatically raise awareness of air pollution as a health issue along the eastern seaboard, with heartbreaking stories of newborns being delivered in smoky hospitals. The cause, though, was seen as a transient, natural phenomenon. Australia is a land of bushfires, after all.
The general consensus is that background air quality in Australia is good and we live in a clean environment. This is why it’s called ‘air quality’ and not ‘air pollution’. This belief is reflected in individual behaviour, urban planning and policy decisions at all levels of government.
It’s considered acceptable to drive fuel-inefficient SUVs and diesel utes in the centre of our cities, which are largely planned around cars. Nobody is calling for ultra-low emission zones as they exist in some European cities, where combustion-engine vehicles are either banned or heavily taxed. While the National Environment Protection Council sets nationally consistent air pollution standards to be enforced by state regulators, there is no single agency tasked with correlating TRAP with health........