What on Earth Issue 77

WHAT ON

EARTH FRIENDS OF THE EARTH SCOTLAND’S MEMBERS MAGAZINE

Issue 77 I Spring 2019

The journey to clean air

WHAT ON

H T R A E T L A N D’S RT H S C O F T H E E A GA Z IN E O S D N F R IE S MA MEMBER

19 Spring 20 Issue 77 I

Haud the bus campaign, North Lanarkshire.

Photo: Craig Maclean

Friends of the Earth Scotland is: > Scotland’s leading environmental campaigning organisation > An independent Scottish charity with a network of thousands of supporters and active local groups across Scotland > Part of the largest grassroots environmental network in the world, uniting over 2 million supporters, 75 national member groups and 5,000 local activist groups

Paint is not protection protest, Photo: Go Bike Glasgow

C O N T E N TS

Our vision is of a world where everyone can enjoy a healthy environment and a fair share of the earth’s resources.

Summer Weekender is back!

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Friends of the Earth Scotland is an independent Scottish charity SC003442

How your Council can cut pollution

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What on Earth is published by and copyright to: Friends of the Earth Scotland 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PR

Why we need better bus services

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T: 0131 243 2700 E: info@foe.scot W: www.foe.scot

Cycle campaigning in Glasgow

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Editor: Connal Hughes

Transport and climate action

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Cover: Illustration by Andy Arthur www.magnificentoctopus.com Design: Emma Quinn The views expressed in What on Earth are not necessarily those of Friends of the Earth Scotland.

FoES accepts no liability for errors, omissions or incorrect data in advertisements.

If you would prefer to receive a digital version of What on Earth please contact us: info@foe.scot Printed on Cocoon silk 100% recycled paper

Get social with us: /foescotland /foescot

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Director’s view Dr Richard Dixon, Director @Richard_Dixon As you will read in this special edition of What on Earth focusing on air pollution and transport, there is a long way still to go to deliver clean air in Scotland.

We first started kicking up a fuss about air pollution in 1994, including running a campaign with a Sunday newspaper to get people to nominate streets which were then monitored for pollution.

For the last six years we’ve published an annual league table of Scotland’s most polluted streets.

25 years after we started, lots has changed but also rather little has changed.

Thanks mostly to us, air pollution has come a long way up the political agenda. There is now a Scottish air pollution strategy – called Cleaner Air for Scotland, because ‘Clean’ Air was seen as too ambitious! I even sit on a Scottish Government review group which is to produce a new, hopefully much more effective, version.

We have a (weak) Low Emission Zone in Glasgow and plans are developing for similar Zones in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh.

But air pollution is still killing people and affecting the lives of many.

Official figures show that around 2,500 people are killed off by air pollution in Scotland every year. Air pollution is associated with heart and lung disease, strokes, poor lung development in children, reduced intelligence and low birth weight. An important report on the link between air pollution and dementia is about to come out.

Fixing our air pollution problem will also be a huge help in reducing climate change emissions, because most of the air pollution people are exposed to is coming from road vehicles and the transport sector is now the biggest contributor to climate emissions.

I hope you enjoy this special issue of What on Earth and that you will continue with us on the journey to clean air.

Huge thanks to those of you who donated generously to our recent air pollution appeal. This will help us keep campaigning on this vital issue.

Official figures show that around 2,500 people are killed off by air pollution in Scotland every year

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News in Brief Scottish Government delays on fracking again The Scottish Government has announced a further delay in making a final decision on fracking. The final decision had been promised in the first quarter of 2019 but they are instead running a further consultation that will push a decision into Autumn.

This was announced shortly after we published a legal opinion from a leading lawyer that says the Scottish Parliament can and should pass a law to ban fracking. This advice said that doing so would be less likely to result in successful legal challenges from companies with an interest in the industry, than the present policy approach.

Divestment Wins!

The global divestment movement continues to go from strength to strength. It has now won over 1,000 commitments from institutions around the world to end their investments in fossil fuel companies.

Over 200 MPs have signed a pledge calling on the Westminster Pension Fund to stop investing in the companies driving the climate crisis. The University of Stirling also became the 9th organisation in Scotland to commit to ending investment in fossil fuel companies, after pressure from student activists.

Plastic Pollution New research by Bangor University and Friends of the Earth found microplastic pollution in some of Britain’s most iconic and remote rivers and lakes. The study, looked at ten sites – including waterways in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, the Lake District, a wetland and a Welsh reservoir – and found microplastics in all of them.

Head of Campaigns Mary Church commented “The plastics crisis is intrinsically linked to the climate crisis, with the vast majority of plastics derived from fossil fuels, including fracked gas. Scotland must tackle plastic pollution at source, preventing its creation by getting to grips with industrial pollution from manufacturing sites, and developing a circular economy.”

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We’re delighted to let you know that we will be organising our special Summer Weekender again this year!

Summer Weekender 2017 Photo: Ric Lander

This weekend residential event will be fun, inspirational and informative. You’ll be able to connect with people who share your passion for environmental action, to learn new skills and spend time in the beautiful surroundings.

It will have an exciting line-up of interesting speakers and workshops, relaxing activities and space to think about how best to put ideas into practice.

Put it in your calendars now so that you can keep it free.

We’ll be releasing tickets and further details of speakers and workshops in the next few months so keep an eye out.

When? Friday 16th to Sunday 18th August 2019.

Save the date in your calendars now!

Where? Wiston Lodge, near Biggar in South Lanarkshire Who? Everyone! From new faces to experienced activists.

The event is family-friendly with wheelchair-accessible rooms and facilities.

How do I get tickets? Keep an eye on www.foe.scot for more details.

Members who are on our email list will also be sent an invitation.

Join the Facebook event at www.foes.do/SW2019

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Your Council has the power to stop pollution

By Gavin Thomson Air Pollution Campaigner

Scotland has toxic, illegal levels of air pollution.

While there are many sources, the main problem is traffic. Petrol and diesel vehicles emit air pollution from the exhausts. Generally, the older the vehicle, the worse the emissions. There are also tiny particles released from vehicle tyres and brakes.

The best thing we can do to improve air pollution is separate the most polluting vehicles from where most people are.

So anywhere we have lots of traffic, we’d expect to have an air pollution problem. One place we have lots of traffic is in the centre of our towns and cities where, unfortunately, there are also lots of people breathing in these fumes. The best thing we can do to improve air pollution is separate the most polluting vehicles from where most people are.

Low Emission Zones Low Emission Zones can do this. LEZs are designated areas in the centre of cities where the most polluting vehicles can’t enter. A boundary, for cleaner air.

To be effective, a Zone must be large enough to genuinely change travel patterns. If the Zone is too small, polluting vehicles will simply drive round the perimeter, increasing air pollution problems at the edge of the Zone. Zones must also include all vehicle types.

Photo: Elli Kontorravdis

Pollution 'die in' at Glasgow City Chambers.

Photo: Ian Macnicol

European Standards The emissions of vehicles are measured by the Euro standard.

The older the vehicle, the lower the Euro standard, and the more polluting it is. So a Euro 2 diesel bus, for example, will emit very harmful fumes.

For Low Emission Zones in Scotland, the standards are Euro 6 for diesel (which means manufactured from 2015 onwards), and Euro 4 for petrol (2004 onwards).

Larger vehicles like buses and HGVs can be retrofitted to reduce their pollution. This means filtering their exhaust fumes.

A vehicle that doesn’t meet the emission standard is not legally allowed to enter a Low Emission Zone. The driver of the vehicle can face a fine, equivalent to a parking fine. This is different to a congestion charge model, where any vehicle can enter after paying the required charge. A congestion charge can reduce traffic and bring in cash for the council to re-invest in sustainable transport. But it also means richer drivers don’t need to change their behaviour, and can continue to emit toxic fumes. So there are issues of fairness and equity with congestion charges.

Low Emission Zones have been used around the world for 20-odd years and Scotland got its first ever LEZ in Glasgow at the end of 2018.

Three more will follow in Edinburgh, Dundee, and Aberdeen. But the longer we wait until they are introduced fully, the more people will suffer the health impacts of air pollution.

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Your local council has a huge part to play in making sure your area has clean air.

Play areas nor parking spaces Like many measures which can improve the air we breathe, Low Emission Zones must be implemented by our local councils. From parking enforcement to cycle lanes, your local council has a huge part to play in making sure your area has clean air.

By creating safe, segregated cycle lanes more people will feel able to get on a bike.

By re-designing streets to remove parking spaces councils can give more space for cycling and walking. The experience for people traveling on foot can be improved by good pavements, street trees and safe road crossings.

Councils can use planning powers to stop developers building housing that rely on residents owning cars. Local parking restrictions or permits can reduce levels of parking and traffic in key areas.

By creating car free zones around schools, like the pilots being run by Edinburgh and Glasgow Council, these environments can be made safer for children. Similarly, they can re-route traffic away from hospitals, care homes and other vulnerable groups. Whilst Councils have the power to fine drivers who are ‘engine idling’, this power is rarely enforced.

Councils should also be pushing bus companies operating locally to retrofit their vehicles, which filters out the pollution.

By installing and properly enforcing bus lanes, journey times can be improved which would boost the popularity of public transport.

Measures to strengthen the quality and performance of buses can reduce the need for cars and avoid people being forced into car ownership.

@GavinThomson

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Rolling out 20mph as the default speed limits in urban area would be a great leap forward

by Councils and make our streets safer for those walking and cycling.

Your power to stop pollution Maybe you have visited a town or city that has introduced a few of these ideas. You’ve definitely been to places where none of these measures were in place. What did you notice?

Which of the measures above would make a difference to your area? Talk to your neighbours about these ideas, or post on your local Facebook group.

If a few of your neighbours agree about what you’d like to see changed in your area, you can start building a campaign.

Ask your council in every way you can – write letters, ask for meetings, write to your local paper, tweet them. You can find your local councillors’ information here: www.writetothem.com/

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Friends of the Earth Scotland can help.

We support community groups in building their campaigns and in refining what they want. Together we can make sure that the coming Low Emission Zones in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh are effective and clean up our air.

Change can be achieved to improve air quality on an international scale (like enforcing huge car companies to stop being fraudulent about the real world emissions from their vehicles) or on a very local scale, like in your street. Elsewhere in this edition of What On Earth, you’ll find campaigning ideas and ways of getting your message out.

Get in touch with me gthomson@foe.scot / or on Twitter @GavinThomson if you’d like to know more, or I can help in any way.

Thank you to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for supporting the work of Friends of the Earth Scotland

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Engine idling, what can be done?

One of the most common requests we get in the office is people asking what they can do about engine idling.

Vehicles leaving their engine idling creates air pollution that should be completely avoidable.

Sometimes these engines can be cars waiting for children at school gates, or discharged patients outside hospitals, meaning that our most vulnerable are breathing in this pollution.

Public Health England recently called for ‘no idling zones’ outside schools in a bid to cut pollution.

Rule 123 of the Highway Code states “You MUST NOT leave a parked vehicle unattended with the engine running or leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily while that vehicle is stationary on a public road.” It is punishable by a fine from the local authority, usually £20.

But approaching a driver to ask them to turn off their engine can be a difficult conversation.

You could make your own information poster or create a ticket stub to give out (politely) to idling drivers. Many drivers simply don’t realise the harm they are causing, and a friendly interaction could help change their mind and their behaviour.

ENGINE IDLING TICKET

TURN OFF YOUR ENGINE! Engine idling pollutes the air for everyone.

Fumes from your vehicle are damaging all of us. Including anyone in your vehicle.

You can get fined £20 for engine idling.

Protect us. Protect yourself. Save money. Turn off your engine.

Cut out and use

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Haud the Bus!

By Jamie Caldwell UNITE Community If we want a first-class public transport network, to allow people to get where they need to go while reducing our fossil fuel use and improving air quality, buses need to be at the centre of that system.

‘Haud the Bus’ is the campaign run by Unite Community Members, who are the unemployed and student membership of the UK’s largest Trades Union Unite.

The campaign came about in 2016 in response to a wave of cuts to bus routes across Scotland leaving local communities isolated. We saved those routes but on a reduced service and it became apparent that a bigger campaign was needed.

It was clear that privately owned companies operated a ‘use it or lose it’ system where unpopular routes would not survive – despite any public need. Saving selected services was simply a sticking plaster over the much bigger problem. The heart of that problem is that public transport was being run by private companies for private profit.

The recent trends aren’t promising. Bus passenger numbers continue to decline; 99 million fewer journeys in 2018 than in 2008.

Passengers across Scotland have seen their fares rise, their routes cut or changed (often with very little notice), and the car is always prioritised in political decisions about transport.

As the campaign has grown since 2016, it has linked up and campaigned with Friends of the Earth Scotland and Get Glasgow Moving as well as creating dialogue with Trade Union members.

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Cuts to bus routes can also leave some of the most vulnerable members of society increasingly isolated.

Banton bus campaign Photo: Craig Maclean

Communities need buses

Who runs buses in Scotland?

Bus users are predominantly people on low-incomes, and 58% women. Buses are often the only viable transport connecting working class communities to opportunities, services, education and jobs. Cuts to bus routes can also leave some of the most vulnerable members of society increasingly isolated.

As transport in Scotland is a devolved responsibility, we have an opportunity to truly transform how we travel around, within and between our towns and cities. The current bus system is not working for most people and is ripe for transformation.

When a bus route from a working class area is cut, it pushes people into car ownership that they might not be able to afford. This is what we mean by transport poverty. Improving our bus network is a social justice issue, and an environmental necessity.

The campaign originated in Banton, North Lanarkshire, when a crucial bus service connecting the village to Glasgow was stopped.

Banton, for many of its residents, was effectively cut off.

With cuts to services and reduction in routes also comes stagnation of wages and terms and conditions within the bus industry. With more people forced into cars, society suffers with more air pollution, more congestion and problems with parking for those who really need a space.

There are profound problems in the system.

It’s a complicated mix of public subsidies, private profit, council contracts and national government oversight. Meanwhile, the private operators are a mixed bag. For every operator struggling to provide a decent service, there is another cutting essential journeys to protect their shareholder dividend. Multiple operators compete for the same busy routes – although tickets aren’t interchangeable, leading to passenger confusion – and again less profitable routes are abandoned.

As it stands, the Scottish Government and Local Authorities give around £250million each year to bus companies. The vast majority of this covers the cost of free bus use for the over 60s. If the taxpayer is handing over huge sums like this to bus operators, the industry needs to be more publicly accountable.

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Photo: Lothian

Unite Scotland submitted a petition to the Scottish Government in 2016 to examine public ownership of buses. We are now campaigning for the Transport Bill to allow local authorities to own and operate their own bus companies, like Lothian Buses. Lothian has lower fares and higher passenger satisfaction than other operators. When the bus company is publicly owned, that means profits from busy routes can be used to subsidise less profitable routes, to create a single, dependable network that serves everyone.

This change would give us the ability to raise revenue in local authorities and meet the challenge of providing a much-needed public service. Helping get people out of cars will significantly reduce pollution in our villages, towns and cities.

But what we need is political will. All of us need to work together to raise awareness not only of the dreadful state of our bus network, but the possibilities of affordable, accessible, clean buses. There is an opportunity to change Scotland’s transport mix, move people from cars to buses, bring down our climate emissions and improve the air we breathe.

We’re working with Friends of the Earth Scotland, and groups like Get Glasgow Moving, to push for transformational change to our buses. If you’re having an event and would like us to come and talk about the campaign, email me at Jamie.Caldwell@unitetheunion.org.

To get involved in the campaign, you can join Unite. www.unitetheunion.org You can also follow Get Glasgow Moving on Twitter: @GetGlesgaMoving.

Thank you to every single one of you who supported our air pollution appeal. With your help, we can free Scottish streets from polluting traffic and make sure children like Cara and Sean can walk to school without breathing dirty air.

Not given yet? You can still chip in at donate.foe.scot/air-pollution/

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John Donnelly is the co-convenor of Go Bike Glasgow

Cycle Campaigning

GoBike campaign for better infrastructure, policy and political support so that everyone, of all ages and abilities, can choose cycling to get around. Having existed since the 1980s, we now cover Glasgow and the wider Strathclyde region.

We strongly believe that active travel can be the answer to so many of our country's issues, including: both physical and mental health; reducing congestion and pollution; as well as providing economic benefits, in particular for our high streets.

The key is to enable those who currently want to cycle but don't, because they view our road conditions to be too dangerous. This can only be achieved through providing safe protected cycling infrastructure, that is joined up and provides continuous routes across our towns and cities.

This will enable children to cycle to school, parents cycling with their children, people cycling to work, older folk pootling to the shops and people with disabilities using wheels to get around. Importantly it will enable people to leave the car at home and chose a bike to make those two thirds of everyday journeys which are under 5 miles.

Everyone involved with GoBike is a volunteer.

We don’t have a big, or even a small budget, so we need to use different and interesting campaign tactics to get our message across.

These are some of our successes:

Byres Road Initial plans to spend £9m on improving the public realm of Byres Road did not include segregated cycle lanes. Working together with Space4People Byres Road, we ran an effective campaign using many approaches that ultimately saw a massive turn around by Glasgow City Council.

We held a mass cycle along Byres Road to highlight the demand. We arranged an event with the local councillors, so people could speak directly with them, to explain why they wanted cycling infrastructure.

Paint is not Protection protest.

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Byres Road mass cycle

Next we spent months communicating with the designers and Council officers, fighting the case for a space for cycling for people of all ages and abilities to be considered within the plans.

This is the unglamorous side of campaigning, that doesn’t generate fun photos, but does produce a lot of emails!

After months of lobbying and when the final plans went to public consultation and were still not good enough, we took to the streets to insist that ‘Paint is Not Protection’.

This is a visual stunt where people use their bodies to show what real protection for cyclists would look like, clearly illustrating how inadequate a few painted lines on the road are. Through a significant effort by all involved it has resulted in Glasgow City Council redesigning Byres Road to include segregated cycle lanes. The new designs are expected to be consulted on shortly.

University Avenue Ongoing work on the £1 billion Glasgow University Campus redevelopment includes improving University Avenue for those walking and cycling.

But, despite being just around the corner from Byres Road, designers had again thought painted lines would be appropriate for cyclists!

We are at the early stages of this campaign, but one of our first events was to again utilise #PaintIsNotProtection. Residents, university staff, students, commuters, cycle campaigners, adults and children who want to use bikes for travel, joined arms on University Avenue. The aim was to send a message to Glasgow University and Glasgow City Council that these people want safe segregated cycling to be installed on this route.

This was a successful event, with a superb turn out and significant media coverage. It also led to us sitting down with representatives of the University to explain our concerns. Sadly, there has however not been much change so far, so watch out for more campaign events in the coming months.

All images: Go Bike Glasgow

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GoBike Board of Shame We use our Board of Shame to highlight existing cycle infrastructure that needs maintenance. It is simply an A-frame blackboard decorated with fairy lights, which we add something witty about the issue we are highlighting.

The first issue was to flag the poor maintenance of a cycle lane in Glasgow during winter. This was effective as Glasgow City Council shortly after moved into action with the required repairs carried out. An improved standard of winter maintenance was also noticed by members along the length of the South West City Way.

#ILOH Insert Loved One Here is a Cycling Embassy of Great Britain campaign. It uses the power of pictures and social media to highlight the dangerous cycling infrastructure that exists around the UK. GoBike asked the Embassy if we could take things one step further with a physical campaign. Armed with bright orange spray chalk and some laser cut stencils, two teams adventured on their bikes to the roads of Glasgow, tagging twelve sections of infrastructure across the city which were dangerous in 2018.

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Praise When It’s Due As cycle campaigners, it is often the bad and dangerous, or more often than not, the lack of cycling infrastructure that we shout about.

However, there is also some infrastructure around that we actually really do like and would love to see more of.

That’s why we had a #ILOH Valentines Special.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, the Cycling Embassy updated the ILOH image creator, to enable people to show their love for genuinely good cycling infrastructure. We decided to make this physical, and created stencils with a love heart and the #ILOH hashtag. An intrepid group of GoBike volunteers took to the rather chilly streets on the evening before, and Glasgow woke up on Valentine’s day to find a little bit of cycling infrastructure love.

Tea Brake!

GoBike campaigners, Friends of South City Way, and a group of local residents paid a visit to labourers that were working on the new South City Way cycle path.

They wanted to thank them for making safe space for cycling.

The peckish builders were treated to rolls and tattie scones lathered in brown sauce, with grateful volunteers bringing a selection of teas and coffees, as well as cakes and biscuits.

All images: Go Bike Glasgow

We try to make our campaigning inclusive and simple. Anyone can take part in them, they don’t require special training or knowledge. You’re welcome to use any of these ideas in your area, to make sure cycling is a safe mode of travel for everyone.

Find out more at: www.gobike.org or on Twitter @GoBikeGlasgow

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Climate change means we must move on transport We know we’re facing a climate emergency. Since UN scientists published their landmark IPCC report last autumn, climate change has soared up the public agenda. Growing public movements are demanding serious change from our governments, with school strikes seeing at least 1.4million children leave classes and take to the streets to demand action.

The IPCC report is clear that governments need to make huge transitions, and fast. To limit temperature rises to the crucial 1.5ºC threshold, the science says we need “rapid and far-reaching transitions in energy, land and infrastructure, including in transport.” So what does that mean for Scotland and what are the links between climate and transport?

School Strike Photo: Maverick / SCCS

Transport is Scotland’s biggest climate culprit 37% of all Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transport – from cars and vans, freight vehicles, public transport, flights and shipping. What’s worse is that climate emissions from transport haven’t come down in over 25 years. While Scotland’s total climate emissions have dropped by nearly half since 1990, emissions from transport have gone up 7%.

Progress in areas such as renewable energy and reducing waste has been undermined by repeated political failures to change how we move around.

People often assume that flights will be responsible for the bulk of our damaging transport emissions, but it is actually the traffic on our roads. Cars, vans, motorbikes, buses and lorries together are responsible for three-quarters of Scotland’s transport emissions. Cars alone are responsible for 42%.

Just as frequent flyers are likely to be wealthy, car ownership is also linked with wealth. One third of people in Scotland don’t have access to a car. If you are poor, you are more likely to use buses or walk to your destination. Yet current transport policy is geared towards car use and building ever bigger roads.

Progress in areas such as renewable energy and reducing waste has been undermined by repeated political failures to change how we move around.

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For decades, successive governments have prioritised cars and road building over public transport and better walking and cycling. The Scottish Government recently doubled the walking and cycling budget to £80m a year. This was a great success after a lot of campaigning. But to put this in perspective, the roads budget is £1 billion a year (and this doesn’t include one-off infrastructure like bridges and bypasses). We’re a long way from where we need to be.

We need huge investment in public transport, and in better walking and cycling to ensure that nobody is left behind. These investments in climate solutions will also help deliver a fairer Scotland.

So, what else needs to change?

Lothian Buses demonstrated how just one of their new buses could take 100 cars off the road.

Photo: Lothian

Phasing out fossil fuel vehicles in Scotland Together with other groups, we campaigned for a ban on sales of new fossil fuel cars by 2030.

The Scottish Government pledged to ‘phase out the need for’ new fossil-fuelled cars and vans by 2032. Not quite as legally airtight as we would want, but still a welcome commitment.

We’re still waiting to see the detail behind how this pledge will be met; so far the plan for meeting it is very much focused on electric vehicles.

Electric cars are a positive change but – as is covered on page 22 – they replicate some of the problems we face with fossil fuel cars.

Deprioritise cars There won't be a single silver bullet that will solve the problem of the glut of cars on our streets.

Lots of smaller measures will gradually chip away the dominance of cars. These include local measures like park and ride schemes, more bus lanes, car sharing schemes, and Workplace Parking Levies.

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Pedal on Parliament Photo: Ric Lander

Change where the money goes

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£

If you want to see a government’s priorities, just look at what they spend money on. With successive Scottish and UK governments creating the infrastructure for fossil fuel cars.

It’s no surprise we have a car-choked society.

We need to change where the budgets go. The commitment to double the walking and cycling budget only takes it up to around 3% of the overall transport budget. It needs to be 10%.

The Scottish Government have invested in the rail network and it has delivered results. The huge success of the Borders Railway and Airdrie-Bathgate line has showed the public appetite for train travel. Train passenger numbers are up by 17.4% over the last 5 years, and that is despite the desperately poor performance of ScotRail. Local campaigns to re-open lines in Levenmouth, St Andrews, and the Dunfermline-Alloa line should be seriously examined by Government to help better connect communities.

Rail freight is an often overlooked climate solution that can take lots of lorries off the road.

With around ¼ of rail track in Scotland currently electrified, there is huge further scope for goods and people to be moved using clean, renewable electricity.

The new Climate Bill could also change the way the climate impact of big government spending decisions are made. We’re calling for it have more accurate ways of assessing the true cost to the climate of building infrastructure. For example, under the current system, only the emissions created by building the Forth Bridge are counted rather than the emissions created by all the increased driving the new bridge will encourage. This transparency will ensure more informed spending decisions can be made and the true climate cost will be represented.

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No more aviation expansion Finally, Scotland must resist the pleas from the airline industry to further expand airports and reduce taxes on passengers via the Air Departure Tax (ADT). The Scottish Government had committed to halve and then scrap the Tax entirely but their plans have been put on hold.

The airline industry doesn’t pay any tax on fuel and there is no VAT on plane tickets, meaning that the most environmentally polluting form of travel already receives a huge public subsidy each year.

Slashing the ADT would encourage more flights while further increasing climate emissions from an industry that has fought tooth and nail against any meaningful action.

The low-cost airline Ryanair was recently revealed as the 10th biggest polluting company in the European Union – the 9 companies worse than them all operate coal-burning power plants!

With both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports recently reporting record-breaking passenger numbers, their pleading for further handouts looks more like sheer greed than necessary help for a struggling sector. Not to mention the £300 million hole in public finances that would be created by scrapping ADT. By investing instead in rail lines and improving services, we can reduce demand for short haul flights within the UK. The reality of cutting climate emissions means we must change how we travel within and between our towns, cities and countries. There is a real opportunity within this need, to increase the healthy, sustainable transport options for everyone. We can use the streets for more than just cars and reinvest the billions currently propping up our inefficient model of one person per polluting vehicle travelling short distances.

Our Climate Campaigner Caroline Rance – @CaroRance on Twitter – is running a campaign to make sure the Climate Bill delivers the necessary action. Find out more here: www.foe.scot/campaign/climate-action/

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Are electric cars the solution?

Electric cars are a great innovation. Hopefully their price will continue to plummet, because right now – with the vehicle price being higher but fuel costs being close to zero – they are a long-term saving for drivers who are rich enough to afford the up-front costs. But we should not get carried away by the lofty promises of a car industry that lied about emissions testing and has often sought to slow climate action.

Electric vehicles are not pollution free, as we still breathe in tiny particles from electric car brakes and tyres. Emerging evidence suggests that these cars brake less suddenly on average, so we get less particulates from their brakes than with fossil fuel vehicles. The huge positive is that 100% electric models have none of the harmful pollution from their exhaust.

The bigger question our society must consider before the rush to electric cars, is how much do we want to continue to build our communities around cars, no matter how clean they are? Cars are not very efficient users of energy or land. They usually carry only one person. They require lots of space – both when parked and on the move.

If all cars magically became electric overnight, there’s still lots of problems we’d need to solve.

Not least, pedestrian and cycle safety. The perceived risk from vehicles is a key barrier to people taking up cycling, or walking their children to school. So cars, of any kind, can limit positive behaviour change. Meanwhile, the space we could give to cycle infrastructure – and for valuable assets, such as greenspace and street trees – is currently used to satisfy parking demand.

Then there’s the cost to the taxpayer of our car-dominated society. To take one example, the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route will cost over £1billion to alleviate congestion. If the road proves to be effective, it will improve journey times. Then the demand for the new road will increase, more and more traffic will appear until the new road becomes congested. Same as the old road. £1billion, cancelled out.

And a traffic jam of electric vehicles is still a traffic jam. We need to fundamentally change the ways we move around. We need fewer cars, not just newer cars.

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Your legacy, Scotland’s future We take so much from the planet during our lives, it seemed like the right thing to do to give something back for future generations

Thanks to the support of thousands of people like you, for the last 40 years we’ve helped protect and defend Scotland’s environment.

We need to keep campaigning on issues such as air pollution, climate change and plastics and continue to be Scotland’s leading voice for the planet.

After providing for your loved ones in your will, please consider leaving us a share of what is left and help turn the vision of a healthy, fair, fossil-free Scotland into a reality.

Leaving a gift in your will is easy, simply visit www.foe.scot/legacy or contact Kerrigan on 0131 243 2717 kbell@foe.scot for more information.

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