Our Air Aware campaign aims to raise awareness about fine Particulate Matter (PM10) dust and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) gas which are air pollutants that damage our health.
They come from vehicle exhaust pipes and are the biggest single source of air pollution, with diesel vehicles being the most polluting. Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) gas from exhaust pipes becomes NO2 gas when it mixes with the air.
The campaign is encouraging people to reduce air pollution by:
- walking or cycling more and driving less whenever they can
- switching their engine off when stationary
- walking and cycling in cleaner air away from heavy traffic areas
- trying car-sharing and remembering to check their tyre pressures
- buying a low emission vehicle - petrol vehicles are less polluting than diesel and hybrid (petrol and electric), electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles are even cleaner
As well as raising awareness amongst adults, the campaign focusses on school children aged 7 to 11, as they will be making decisions about the ways they travel in the future.
We’ve created some fun and interactive resources for this age group which include a set of characters designed to help them understand how ‘what they do makes a difference’.
These are:
- ‘Daisy Driveless’ and’ Will.U.Walkmore’, the Air Pollution Busters
- ‘Beaty’, ‘Pedalo’, ‘In and Out’, ‘Sniffy’ and 'Fresho', the Air Pollution Busters’ helpers
- 'Peril Particulate' and 'Nasty NOx', the Air Polluters