MoreEco supports Volvo’s campaign to make people more aware of the dangers that car emissions pose to our health.

Did you know that as many as 50,000 people a year are dying prematurely due to toxic air emissions, linked to fossil fuel combustion? That’s more than 20 times the number that die in road accidents in the UK each year! [source: Environmental Audit Select Committee]

The most dangerous of these emissions NOx, Hydrocarbons and Particulates. But together, we’ll call them “Nasties”. Watch this animation to see the Nasties in action.

Click here to watch the Emissions Equality Video.

Click here to read Volvo’s three point plan how they intend to support this important campaign.

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Commuter cyclists with no washing facilities at their place of work are coming up with increasingly imaginative ways of getting clean after their morning ride, the most extreme of which being a shower they build themselves, according to the Environmental Transport Association.

The DIY shower uses items that are readily available on the high street, costs around £50, and once assembled transforms a standard loo into a fully-functioning hot water shower. Once finished with, the shower can be packed away in less than a minute.

Photographs and further details on how the shower is built are posted at www.ilovemybike.co.uk

Director at ilovemybike.co.uk, Andrew Davis said: “The lack of workplace showers is one reason why more people don’t commute by bike – employers should spend Bike Week thinking about what they can do to help.”

No shower at work – how do cyclists manage?

Baby wipes: Many cyclists shower before they set off for work and
then when they arrive, wipe themselves down with disposable baby wipes.

Ride slower: Cyclists in continental Europe tend to ride their bikes
slower when they commute to work – it doesn’t add much to the journey
time and you don’t sweat

Use a local gym: The easiest way to get access to a shower if there are
no washing facilities at your place of work is to join the local gym

Keep a supply of shirts at work: This doesn’t solve the problem of
getting clean, but bringing five clean and ironed shirts to work on a
Monday ensures the commuter cyclist looks smart

A poll conducted on behalf of ilovemybike.co.uk for Bike Week found that over 4 million British motorists would be prepared to cycle
more to cut their motoring costs.

Rich countries
risk wrecking vitally important international talks on a climate agreement,
Christian Aid warns today at the close of the latest UN negotiations in Bonn.

They
have failed to commit to dramatic curbs in their greenhouse emissions, or
recognise the scale of funding poor countries urgently need to cope with the
impacts of global warming.

There
are now just six months to go until the critical UN summit in Copenhagen, at which a new climate deal must
be agreed to come into force when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends.

During
the Bonn talks,
it was clear that rich countries plan to continue polluting at levels that will
make dangerous climate change inevitable.

This was
highlighted by Japan’s
announcement of a target to cut its emissions from 1990 levels by only 8 per
cent by 2020. That is a mere 2 per cent more than Japan’s
existing target under the Kyoto
protocol and is entirely inadequate.

‘Developed
countries have been unable to agree on any overall target for their cuts, let
alone one which will hold the global temperature rise below 2^oC
- the point at which scientists predict climate catastrophe,’ says
Nelson Muffuh, Christian Aid’s senior climate
advocate. ‘They are
wrecking the negotiations that are supposed to secure a deal by December.’

Mithika
Mwenda from Kenya,
Coordinator of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, says rich
countries’ proposed emissions cuts are even weaker than those required by
the existing Kyoto Protocol.

‘I’d
rather see my country refuse an agreement with such low ambition,’ says
Mr Mwenda,  ‘Rich countries’ political will to make up for
their historic responsibility and to safeguard poor people’s lives,
dignity and development is just not there. Things have to change dramatically.’

The lack
of trust has worsened as rich countries drag their feet and demand more action
from the developing world.

Developing
countries are rightly worried about efforts to change the terms of the
negotiations and shift the burden of dealing with climate change onto them.
Their concerns are deepened by rich countries’ failure to deliver on
previous emissions and finance commitments.

Developing
countries are demanding that rich nations admit their responsibility for
causing climate change, through a century and a half of industrialisation.

Pollution
from rich countries is already having devastating effects in developing
countries, through droughts, floods and tropical storms. But during the
negotiations, rich countries including the European Union have refused to
accept their responsibility for such damage.

Mr
Muffuh adds: ‘Without real progress on commitments by the rich world, the
negotiations will collapse. Developed countries should prevent further delays
by immediately committing to urgent, deep emissions cuts.

‘They
must come back to the next round of talks willing to act and to agree to
ambitious, quantified financial support for adaptation and mitigation in
developing countries, as well as technology transfer.

‘Such
action is neither an act of charity nor a punishment against rich countries.
Rather, it is compensation for the damage they have done.’