Introduction
Cities around the world are trying to clean up the air people breathe. One way of doing this is introducing low emission zones, which restrict or ban polluting cars. Last year, London introduced the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), and this year British cities including Bath, Leeds and Birmingham are also bringing in Clean Air Zones. 6 Minute English discusses this clean-air initiative and teaches some useful items of vocabulary.
This week's question
Which UK city recently announced it wants to be the country’s first ‘net zero’ city - placing their greenhouse emissions at a neutral level. Was it…
a) Glasgow
b) Manchester, or
c) Cardiff
Listen to the programme to find out the answer.
Vocabulary
emissions
amounts of, usually, gas that is sent out into the air from things like cars
pollutants
substances that cause pollution
to focus the mind
to concentrate on one idea or thought
incentive
something that encourages someone to do something
complex
something that is complicated, difficult and involves many parts
concentrations
amounts of substances, or pollutants, within something
Transcript
Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript
Sam
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Sam…
Neil
And I'm Neil.
Sam
In this programme, we’re discussing low emission zones and explaining some useful items of vocabulary along the way.
Neil
Well, that’s good, Sam. But what exactly is a low emission zone?
Sam
Well, the noun emission is an amount of, usually, gas, that is sent out into the air and harms the environment – it’s pollution. And a low emission zone is an area of a city where the amount of pollution is controlled.
Neil
Of course, and cities like London have them - most vehicles, including cars and vans, need to meet certain emissions standards or their drivers must pay a daily charge to drive within the zone – or they might even be banned altogether.
Sam
Exactly. It’s all about making the air we breathe cleaner. And my question today is about one UK city which recently announced it wants to be the country’s first ‘net zero’ city - placing their greenhouse emissions at a neutral level. But which one is it? Is it…
a) Glasgow
b) Manchester
c) Cardiff
Neil
Ah yes, I’ve heard about this and I’m sure it is a) Glasgow.
Sam
OK, I'll let you know if that was correct at the end of the programme. Now, Neil mentioned that London already has an ultra-low emission zone. But this year, other UK cities, including Bath, Leeds and Birmingham, are also bringing in Clean Air Zones.
Neil
And around the world, many other cities, like Beijing, Paris and Madrid have these zones. Although there are many types of emissions, such as from factories, these zones predominantly target exhaust fumes from vehicles – poisonous gases called nitrogen dioxide.
Sam
Let’s hear from an expert on this - Alastair Lewis, who is a Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of York. He spoke to BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science programme and explained why we should be trying to reduce these pollutants – a word for the substances that cause pollution…
Alastair Lewis, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, University of York
Most of the evidence we have now on air pollution is that we continue to see health benefits by reducing pollution, even when you're below the target value. So, just because the city meets a particular value, there is still an incentive to continue to improve air quality, because the health benefits continue to build up as you do that. So, targets are very good at focusing the mind, but they shouldn't be the only thing that we're considering.
Neil
Alastair Lewis mentions ‘targets’. These are official levels of something that need to be achieved. They give us something to aim for – in this case reducing air pollution.
Sam
He uses the phrase ‘focusing the mind’ – that means to concentrate on one idea or thought.
Neil
But, while setting a target to cut air pollution is good – it has health benefits – we shouldn’t just focus on meeting the target. Even if the target is met, we shouldn’t stop trying to improve. The incentive should be that we are improving people’s health.
Sam
And an incentive is something that encourages someone to do something. So, I think it’s accepted that creating low emission zones is an incentive because it encourages people to either not drive into cities or to, at least, drive low-polluting vehicles.
Neil
And, of course, changing to electric-powered cars is one way to do this. There’s more of an incentive to do this now, at least in the UK, because the government has said new diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned from 2040.
Sam
But pollution from vehicles is just part of the problem, as Alastair Lewis points out…
Alastair Lewis, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, University of York
One has to accept that air pollution is an enormously complex problem with a very very large number of contributing sources, and there will never be any one single action that will cure the problem for us. So, low emission zones are one way to reduce concentrations, but they are not, in isolation, going to be the solution.
Neil
So, Alastair points out that air pollution is a complex problem – it’s complicated, difficult and involves many parts.
Sam
Yes, there are many sources – things that create these emissions. So, it’s not possible to solve - or cure – the problem by doing one thing. Low emission zones are only one part of the solution to the problem.
Neil
He said it was one way to reduce concentrations – he means amounts of substances, pollutants, found in something, which here is the air.
Sam
Well, earlier, Neil, you had to concentrate your mind and answer a question about emissions. I asked which UK city recently announced it wants to be the country’s first ‘net zero’ city - placing their greenhouse emissions at a neutral level. Was it…
a) Glasgow
b) Manchester, or
c) Cardiff
And, Neil, what did you say?
Neil
I said it’s Glasgow.
Sam
And it is Glasgow! Well done, Neil. It wants to become the UK's first ‘net zero’ city. And later this year it is hosting a major United Nations climate change summit.
Neil
OK, Sam, I think we need a recap of the vocabulary we’ve discussed, starting with emissions…
Sam
Emissions are amounts of, usually, gas that is sent out into the air from things like cars. They harm the environment. And pollutants are the actual substances that cause pollution…
Neil
To focus the mind means to concentrate on one idea or thought.
Sam
And we mentioned an incentive, which is something that encourages someone to do something.
Neil
Complex describes something that is complicated, difficult and involves many parts.
Sam
And when talking about pollution, we sometimes talk about concentrations. These are amounts of substances, or pollutants, within something.
Neil
So, in a polluted city, we might find high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide because of all the traffic – it’s not great for our health, Sam.
Sam
Indeed, Neil – that’s why we need low emission zones! And that brings us to the end of this 6 Minute English programme. See you soon. Bye.
Neil
Goodbye.