Pollutionwatch: the fight for clean air at the school gates

Parents across Europe take action as air pollution found to restrict children's lung growth

Almost every week our newspapers report new studies on the damage that air pollution does to our health and especially to children. For example, last November, researchers revealed reduced lung growth in children who lived in the most polluted parts of east London.

In March 2018, a group of Belgian parents took action. Instead of going for coffee on a Friday morning, they closed the road outside their children's school. They named their movement Filter-Cafi(C)-Filtre. Over the next two weeks, another 42 schools joined in. Now parents and teachers in 21 cities meet each Friday morning. With hazard tape from DIY shops, banners and musical instruments, they close about 76 schools. Children play in the street and the parents drink coffee together to demand traffic-free zones, better walking and cycling routes and public transport so children do not have to be driven to school.