* We've established that cooking or heating with gas is not the best thing to do for anyone who suffers from any sort of asthma or lung condition - because up to 30% of the gas goes into the room and not into the cooking!
* Well now we've also established a similar impact on our health! Increasing air pollution from burning fossil fuels in motor vehicles!
*11,000 Australians now die every year from diseases attributed to air pollution! This is more than die from skin cancers!
* There are now numerous urban centres, particularly in Queensland and Western Australia, where air pollution levels do not meet World Health Organisation [WHO] Standards: The WHO predicts that by 2050 air pollution will be the major cause of deaths in the world!
It is well established that 1/3 or more of our emissions come from road transport. What was announced yesterday is the result of that! - annual Australian deaths because of increasing levels of air pollution mainly caused by road transport, particularly trucks, many of which are old and would not meet emission standards in other countries, that have now become the main basis of our supply chains.
* There are three urgent actions Australia, and particularly our governments, need to take to remedy these serious and increasing health problems from declining air quality:
1) Stop burning fossil fuels as our main sources of energy and power and convert to renewable energy power!
2) Immediately legalise much tougher emission standards for every type of road vehicle - similar to what most other developed countries of the world - except Russia - have already established: that will remove many of the heavily polluting vehicles from the roads.
3) Provide financial, legal and infrastructure [which could include establishing an EV production industry in Australia]to support the rapid take up by individuals businesses, and, particularly trucking companies, of electric vehicles. Maybe we could also investigate reverting to supply chains based more on rail rather than road.
[David Smith for 'Electrifying Bradfield']
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