November 10, 2019, Cabra, Dublin – The Green-Schools Travel programme together with students from St. Finbarrs’s N.S, Cabra officially launched Ireland’s first Clean Air Week 2019 at a student demonstration-style event outside their school gates recently.

Clean Air Week will run from Monday, November 18 to Friday, November 22. This week-long event is the newest campaign from the Green-Schools Travel programme and is focused on raising awareness of, and taking action, on air pollution at school gates.

Following a study carried out in Spring 2019 in partnership with schools and the international GLOBE programme students discovered that nitrogen dioxide NO2 levels were higher for schools situated in major towns and cities when compared to schools located in rural areas. This can be attributed to traffic at the school gates as well as idling engines from cars and buses.

Launching the week, Green-Schools Travel Manager Jane Hackett said:                                                                                                                                     

“Clean air is not something we should have to strive or campaign for; it is a human right. The school gate should be a place that is safe, healthy and free from cars and idling engines, however many school gates in Ireland have high levels of the air polluting gas NO2. The main source of NO2 in Ireland is from road transport and journeys to school by car are contributing to poor air quality in our towns and cities. It is shocking to hear that 1 in 5 Irish children experience asthma at some stage in their lives, and this is directly linked to poor air quality. We are calling on schools around Ireland to investigate the quality of air outside their schools and to help improve their student’s health by promoting sustainable journeys to school, no idling zones and safer, healthier school gates that are free from cars.”

A No Idling Toolkit and an Air Quality resource has been developed to help schools launch a clean air-focused campaign during Clean Air Week. Green-Schools are asking students to make a pledge to #BeatAirPollution in order to create a healthy environment around the school gate and to improve wellbeing by travelling to school actively.

Useful links and resources can be found at: https://greenschoolsireland.org/clean-air-week-2019/