We need a bit of open space to help us get a bit of fresh air, and for the benefit of children yet to come

We are calling on the Mayor of London to tackle air pollution and save lives by creating an Ultra Low Emission Zone (‘ULEZ’) to cover the whole of Greater London. An ULEZ is an area in which vehicles must meet exhaust emission standards or pay a daily travel charge. The highest charges will be paid by the most polluting vehicles. The Mayor is proposing to create an ULEZ for all vehicles in central London in 2019. He is consulting on whether to extend it to cover the area inside the North and Circular Road and also to create an ULEZ for the whole of London but only for heavy vehicles. We are asking him to go further. Air pollution is now a major health risk. We need powerful measures to tackle it. An ULEZ which applies only to heavy vehicles will not be enough to protect people from pollution in outer London, especially where people live and work next to the North or South Circular. Creating an ULEZ for all vehicles to cover the whole of London would significantly reduce pollution in outer London and would better improve the air quality in central London than an ULEZ that covers central London alone. For these reasons we ask you to add your name to this petition:

Peterborough is one of the most car friendly cities in the United Kingadom with its transport links and parkways. Air pollution is increasing more and more through new distribution companies being attracted to the city and people moving to the city due to work. We urgently need to be reduce Peterborough's air pollution in order prevent this affecting resident's health and wellbeing. Peterborough is wanting to be the UK's Environmental Capital. By addressing increasing air pollution in our city this would send a clear message to the rest of the UK that our political representatIves are concerned and proactively wanting to address this serious situation and find a solution. Air pollution causes permanent lung damage in babies and young children and exacerbates lung and heart disease in older people, and particularly affects people living in the city centre and near busy roads. In 2014 air pollution levels reached record highs in Peterborough with people complaining of breathing difficulties. http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/health-worry-as-air-pollution-quality-in-peterborough-hits-worst-level-1-5978333 London and other cities are implementing Clean Air Zones. Peterborough should not be left behind. The people of Peterborough deserve healthy, clean air.

Q: Why is the building important? A: Dunelm House was completed in 1966 by the Architects' Co-Partnership and engineered by Ove Arup. Ove Arup was born in Heaton, Newcastle Upon-Tyne and was one of the greatest engineers of the 20th Century. Arup played a crucial role in pioneering engineering works worldwide, serving most notably as the designer and supervisor for Durham’s own Kingsgate Bridge (Grade I listed), and as design engineer for the Sydney Opera House. Arup, an honorary Geordie, considered Kingsgate Bridge one of the most important projects of his career, requesting that his ashes be scattered from the bridge following his death in 1988. Kingsgate and Dunelm House are physically connected, as a marriage of structures that depend upon each other. This makes Dunelm House and Kingsgate Bridge two of the most significant structures in the UK, if not Europe, if not the World! And they are on our doorstep in Durham. Why would you want to lose or damage either? Q: It’s a load of ugly dirty grey concrete - knock it down. A: Yes, it is dirty. It is white concrete. And it needs a clean. If you had not cleaned your house for 51 years, it would look grim too. The building needs major work, which Durham University calculate would cost £14.7m. It might seem like a lot of money, but this is a fraction of what recent building projects have required, and is comparable to renovations and extensions to other university buildings. And just think what it could cost to demolish it, bury it in a landfill (how unsustainable!) and rebuild on the same site. Q: The building 'is not able to accommodate new uses, so we should demolish it. A: This statement has been reached as part of the University’s ‘strategic masterplan’, which wants to put another building use on the site of Dunelm House. Of course, this doesn't work without significant investment. So perhaps the masterplan has not been adequately evidenced or justified in trying to impose a new function on an existing building - it’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Why not simply adjust the masterplan? Demolition is highly unsustainable, wasteful and very costly financially and environmentally. It should always be the last move when all else fails, and your building is literally falling down. Dunelm House is not falling down - it was designed by one of the greatest engineers of the 20th Century. Q: But the building has a leaky roof! A: Yes it does. All roofs leak at some point (even Durham Cathedral’s roof leaks - it doesn't mean we should knock it down). Most new roofs are only guaranteed for 20 years. Dunelm House's roof is 51 years old, and so like any other building it needs a new roof! Durham University has been aware of the leaky roof for over 10 years. Now is the time to fix it. Q: It will cost too much to repair it. Isn’t it cheaper to just build new? A: Durham University have carried out detailed estimations on the redesign and repair estimated at £14.7m. Dunelm House has a gross internal area of 3980sqm, making the refurbishment cost an estimated £3600 per sqm. That seems like a lot of money, but it is cheaper than the cost of Durham Universities new Ogden Center for Fundamental Physics (the new abstract timber building) which is costing £11.5m for 2,478 sq. m – that’s a whopping £4640 per sqm! Refurbishing the building could be cheaper than building new. A completely new building on Dunelm House’s site could cost millions more due to the cost of demolition and disposal to put Dunelm House into a landfill, not to forget the complexities of the site due to the topography, retaining walls, structures required and access issues that make this project site very complex – and as a consequence very costly! Q: We want a shiny new building by some famous international starchitect. That will put Durham on the map and make it a world class city! A: Durham is already a world class city, with a world class University. It has a diverse architectural grain from across the past millennium, and this includes the twentieth century. Durham University has been an amazing patron of modern architecture, particularly during the 1960s. So why undo that good work and lose it all now? Yes, hire great architects with lots of imagination and creativity. BUT, please look at what other highly successful refurbishment projects of Modernist buildings there have been. Look at Park Hill refurbishment in Sheffield (Hawkins Brown) or the Barbican refurbishment in London (AHMM) completed in past 10 years. Both hugely successful developments, prestigious, award winning, high profile, world class buildings that simply recognise and celebrate the value of Twentieth Century Architecture. Go on Durham, you can do that too!

There is currently a proposal to make 20 million pounds worth of cuts to the Birmingham Parks Budget . This means reducing staffing in the 6 major parks down to only 2 hubs with these expected to manage every other country park and park space run by BCC in the whole of Birmingham. This will mean no more supported schools groups, a huge reduction and diminishment to our green spaces, no more eco action and nature events ... or secret santa, or nursery for plants to make our city beautiful, no more community action liaison work, no more drug and alcohol support group work, no more keeping an eye on our country parks to keep them safe places for us to visit, reduced visitor centres and significantly less maintenance of these precious spaces across our city. Without regular care will fall into dereliction and disrepair. We need these major parks for our kids to play in, for us to walk in and keep fit, and we want to know they are staffed and safe! Birmingham is the UK's second city with the most green space of any uk city these spaces don't just look after themselves. They need dedicated care to remain the nurturing places we all know and love. Unfortunately central conservative government has slashed the council budget for Birmingham (a labour council) disproportionately compared to say that of conservative Oxford. It's not right!!! The consultation document is worded to try and get those who do respond to agree to these draconian cuts as a good idea...we need to stop them and the consultation is only open to respond to until the first week in January 2017.

So much plastic polluting the planet with 3 heads per person per year !

As a parent whose child attends West Acton Primary, I have a concern for the effects it will have on our children and for the local residents living in the area. Some waste will eventually rot, but not all, and in the process it may smell. The noise, dirt and increased traffic in a already congested area and other polluting effects. We urge you to take action against the waste dump coming to our beautiful neighbourhood. This could effect people suffering with asthma and health of your children attending school at West Acton and other local schools.

The sale of fur was banned by Harvey Nichols in 2004 but real fur has recently reappeared in huge quantities in store. This trade is cruel, wasteful and unnecessary. No argument about ethical sourcing can justify the raising and slaughtering of animals for our decoration. The sale of fur represents a huge step backwards for Harvey Nichols as a market leader and for animal welfare in general. Harvey Nichols has the power to make a real statement of intent about their ethical practice and to lead the fashion retail sector by again refusing to normalise and profit from this trade.

To fundamentally cut CO2 emissions within central Sheffield. To prevent deaths from air pollution which diesel car pollution is a major factor. “Soot from diesel vehicles is among the big contributors to ill health and global warming,” added Helena Molin Valdés, head of the United Nations’ climate and clean air coalition, noting that more than nine out of 10 people around the globe live where air pollution exceeds World Health Organisation safety limits. Diesel fuel use is a key cause of air pollution in cities, as the engines produce nitrogen dioxide, a harmful gas, and tiny particulates that can lodge in the lungs. These forms of pollution can also interact with other substances to create, in some conditions, a toxic soup. Fiona Harvey The Guardian 2/12/2016

France has become the first country in the world to ban supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold food, forcing them instead to donate it to charities and food banks. There is food banks in most towns and cities across the UK and like France the wasted food could be donated to them. Almost 50% of total amount of food thrown away in the UK comes from our home. We throw away 7 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year in the UK, and more than half of this food and drink we could've eaten and this 7 million tonnes of food wasted is equal to over £17,000,000,000 of worth of food each year, yes you heard me £17,000,000,000 which could be all given to those in need. It is also terrible for the enviroment. It takes a land mass larger than China to grow the food each year that is ultimately never eaten – land that has been deforested, species that have been driven to extinction, indigenous populations that have been moved, soil that has been degraded – all to produce food that we then just throw away. In addition, food that is never eaten accounts for 25% of all fresh water consumption globally. Gulp. Not only are all of the resources that went into creating the uneaten food wasted (land, water, labour, energy, manufacturing, packaging, etc), but when food waste goes to landfill, which is where the vast majority of it ends up, it decomposes without access to oxygen and creates methane, which is 23x more deadly than carbon dioxide. Every which way you look at it food waste is a major culprit in destroying our planet, and in fact if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the USA. Millions upon millions people are starving every year all around the world and we all will be affected by global warming,that's over 7,00,000,000 people! Saving these unused foods can resolve this problem immensely.

I live beside the Park and walk my dogs there every day. Not knowing much about this problem, at first I thought I might be selfish objecting to the expansion of the Football Club. But then I realised that Meadow Park had been given to the town over 100 years ago for the community to use - not to be owned by an exclusive corporate company for profit which, needing to expand again, should be accepting national guidelines and moving further away from a town centre anyway. It should certainly not be taking community property of such practical and intrinsic value to the whole community who may or may not follow the league. A couple of weeks ago, there was a 13 strong flock of geese making a pit stop on our little park which prompted another impromptu discussion about the value of every blade of grass or tree contained there. Non of that is up for sale or lease to anyone. Obviously this little oasis in the midst of cement, patrimony of the community, antidote to the stress of urban living and venue for community events right in the middle of the town is valuable. The Boreham Wood Football Club has been allowed to gradually encroach on the park and now wants to take, fence off and profit from our space so what is left cannot accommodate traditional town events in the future Besides the need to protect dwindling urban park space (Borehamwood is growing alarmingly), Meadow Park is anyway used for many other outdoor activities. And there are football youth groups playing every week (they are not permitted to use 'the expensive' Football Club facilities which are private). If lots of us come together to sign the petition, we might be able to convince the council to stop the plans.

This may be our last chance to stop climate change. If the average temperature rises by 2°C then coral reefs will die. Not only are these natural phenomenons beautiful and unique, coral reef plants and the animals that inhabit them are important sources of new medicines that are being developed to treat cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, and other diseases due to their amazing biochemistry. Also, if the Greenland ice cap melts completely, as it is already starting too, then the fresh water might completely stop the Gulf Stream, which is a natural ocean current that keeps us warm. If the Gulf Stream stops then precipitation will fall as snow instead of rain, and over time could lead to the UK's climate becoming more like that of eastern Russia during winter.