An environmentalist from Carlton will join a demo in Nottingham City Centre tomorrow (27) highlighting the devastating impacts of air pollution
Members of Extinction Rebellion will gather to protest at Nottingham Railway Station, before walking up to Market Square accompanied by drummers and carrying placards, flags and banners.
The group say they want to give local people a positive message that another future is possible.
XR Nottingham’s website says there will be a ‘display of gravestones to symbolise deaths from air pollution with names and the cause of death – the names are not real but the causes of death are.’
The protest group claim that over 600 people across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire die early every year due to air pollution.
The impacts of air pollution include lung cancer, asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), diabetes, heart attack and stroke.
The protestors say that air pollution which is mostly created from the burning of fossil fuels not only causes these premature deaths but is also the main driver of the climate crisis. Young children in particular are badly affected, 1 in 11 children already suffer from asthma and millions of children are exposed to dangerous levels of outdoor pollution at school.
Carlton resident Jon Simons from Carlton who is attending the protest said: “Another future really is possible – cheaper green public transport, improved cycling lanes and footpaths would make a big difference. As would investing in more renewable energy to replace dirty fossil fuels”.
XR Nottingham posted on social media “It is now 11 years since the tragic death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debra in London and in 2021 her inquest listed air pollution as a cause of death.
“We owe it to her and all our children to act now.”
