CLEAN AIR FOR ALL

Why it’s safer walking to work than choking in a polluted car

We followed a team of volunteers, including Emily Bernstein, for a week to find out how much pollution they encountered
We followed a team of volunteers, including Emily Bernstein, for a week to find out how much pollution they encountered

Where does air pollution affect us most in our daily lives and what can we do about it? Those are the questions The Times set out to investigate in a unique trial involving a dozen people with varying lifestyles and different occupations.

We teamed up with King’s College London and the environmental charity Hubbub to equip these volunteers with high-quality portable pollution monitors, which they wore for a week throughout their daily activities.

The monitors detect levels of black carbon, which is closely linked to air pollution from vehicle exhausts. It is a component in fine particulates such as PM 2.5, to which the World Health Organisation says any exposure is harmful.

Studies on air pollution often focus on its overall impact and contain alarming