Wendy Zuckerman
π€ SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And doctors groups in the UK are updating guidelines and training manuals to make sure that doctors know that air pollution can trigger asthma.
And in London, they already had this program that basically charges a fee for some of the dirtiest cars and trucks, but it was only in central London.
So after this decision came down, they decided to expand it even further to neighbourhoods like where Ella lived.
And today, it now covers all of Greater London.
And it has worked to make the air cleaner.
The city reported that since that program started, nitrogen oxide levels have dropped almost 30% across all of London.
Stephen told us that this case, this little girl, was able to break through and stir up real change when tons of research, I mean mountains of papers on air pollution and asthma, didn't.
And for all of this work, in 2021 at the United Nations' big conference on climate change, the World Health Organization dedicated a special report to Ella.
Right there on the cover, it says.
But Rosamund knows that what they've done so far, it's not enough.
She quit her job as a teacher and became a full-time clean air advocate, giving speeches, starting a foundation and organising protests.
She wants our air to be cleaner.
She wants us to do the stuff we've been talking about since Captain Planet came out.
Burning less fossil fuels, having fewer cars on the road.
And the vehicles that are on the road need to be electric and run from the power of the wind and the sun.
We also need to be thinking about things like preventing wildfires.
Because scientists say that wildfire smoke in some places is starting to reverse the decades of progress we've made on improving air quality.
And, you know, Rosamund says that these changes, like getting off fossil fuels, we need to do them anyway.
What do you think Ella would make of this work that you've done and all of this?
We spoke to Rosamund in 2022, and since then, she's continued to fight for accountability after Ella's death.