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    ULEZ Archived Message

    Posted by Ian M on July 31, 2023, 8:04 pm, in reply to "Populists are feeding the climate crisis to culture wars"

    Out of interest I did a search of JSO and XR websites and twitter pages for 'ulez' to see if they were indeed pushing for this policy in cahoots with the labour party. All I found were a few lukewarm tweets from the XR London regional branch, only one from this year, a retweet at that:

    *****

    https://nitter.moomoo.me/XRLondon/search?f=tweets&q=ulez&since=&until=&near=

    Extinction Rebellion London 🌍 retweeted
    XRGrandparentsAndElders @xr_GPsAndElders
    Jul 30
    Hi @MayorofLondon
    Please have a look at what Paris is doing and then do the same for London.

    Please advocate for the lungs of the people at the same time as creating shade and beauty.

    Please advocate for the right to breathe instead of the right to drive #CleanAir #ULEZ

    [quote tweet] Andrew Simms @AndrewSimms_uk
    All over Paris car parking spaces are being upgraded to plots for trees and micro gardens - cooling the city, cleaning the air & making the streets more pleasant for people - thanks to the vision & tenacity of city's mayor...

    Extinction Rebellion London 🌍 XRLondon
    23 Oct 2020
    Extend congestion charge to the south & north circular roads but charge only £5 for entry & £15 for the inner zone. Keep the ULEZ proceeding as planned.

    What do you think?

    Extinction Rebellion London 🌍 @XRLondon
    21 Oct 2020
    Air pollution costs London more through early deaths, sick days & health costs than Berlin, Paris & Madrid combined.

    An emergency, so:
    - Ban SUV parking
    - extend congestion charge & ULEZ to the M25
    - one fare zone for all London
    🚙💭 🚙💭 🚙💭 🚙💭 🚙💭

    theguardian.com/environment/…

    Extinction Rebellion London 🌍 @XRLondon
    5 Jan 2020
    And York! 😍

    ULEZ is weak, slow & small.

    theguardian.com/uk-news/2019…

    Extinction Rebellion London 🌍 @XRLondon
    18 Oct 2019
    Oxford Street is heavily polluted.

    As the super rich drive around in luxury cars, unconcerned by congestion & ULEZ - it is the everyone else that suffers.

    Stunted lung growth in children, & severe impacts on adults too.

    thetimes.co.uk/article/air-p…
    Air pollution takes decade off memory, study suggests

    Living in an area with high air pollution worsens your memory to the same extent as ageing ten years, research suggests. A study of 34,000 people across England found a significant difference in...
    thetimes.co.uk
    Show this thread

    Extinction Rebellion London 🌍 @XRLondon
    7 Oct 2019
    Replying to @SadiqKhan
    The Mayor still supports climate wrecking infrastructure:

    - new £1 billion for road tunnel (Silvertown)

    - new East Bow concrete plant

    - new Edmonton Incinerator

    & ULEZ will only be wide from 2021.

    You declared this as an emergency now. Call a citizens' assembly to respond.

    *****

    The focus on SUVs and 'luxury cars' indicates that they were at least concerned to target the proposals on the wealthy.

    The above article and other output from De-Smog seems generally in favour of ULEZ, though in their newsletter they at least note that:

    'As with the roll-out of any clean air zone, there are some legitimate concerns about the implementation of ULEZ, and the extent to which marginalized communities will be impacted.

    But the weaponization of the scheme by some commentators and politicians has been used to propel broader distrust in the UK’s legally binding net zero target, while ignoring voters’ genuine concerns about climate change amid a month of record-shattering temperatures.'

    You don't exactly get the impression that the authors will be feeling the pinch directly in the way that tradespeople dependent on clients in the capital will be, but it's not like they're completely ignorant about the class aspects and issues of fairness relating to how these policies get implemented. That's part of the general narratives around 'climate justice' after all, with the general principle being that those most responsible for causing the crisis should be those who pay the most to repair the damage and prevent future harm.

    cheers,
    I

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