Britain announced a new strategy yesterday to clean up its air, focusing on changes to the transportation sector such as encouraging the development of cleaner fuels and automotive technology. The government specifically talked up a new air quality website that will provide warnings for people with respiratory problems. Friends of the Earth criticized the government’s limited approach to air pollution problems and specifically attacked it for relaxing standards for particulate air pollution, which the group says causes 8,100 premature deaths each year. Meanwhile, eight Italian cities, including Rome, Milan, and Florence, have decided to ban automobiles from city streets every Sunday until air quality improves. Last weekend, a few Milan residents observed the ban by turning out on horseback.
