New Bupa Documentary Stars our Planting Healthy Air Project
We’re excited to be part of a new documentary ‘Healthy Cities’, which looks at positive climate action on a global scale. Produced by our funder, the Bupa Foundation, the film highlights inspiring initiatives like our Planting Healthy Air project at a Surrey school - showcasing practical solutions, coming together with a shared goal of a hopeful future.
Trees for Cities Planty Healthy Air project is featured at timestamp 26:20
Making cities better is a really amazing blueprint for making our planet healthier too.
Alice Edy, Documentary Narrator, Filmmaker and Climate Advocate
Healthy cities create healthy people
Over 84% of us currently live in cities in the UK, and this powerful documentary reminds us that by the year 2050, a projected 5 billion of us will live in urban areas globally. With this increasing population pressure, how can we adapt to benefit both people and our planet?
The film includes experts in their fields, such as Brian O’Connor, Respiratory Consultant, who presents us with a staggering statistic: 99% of the global population are exposed to air pollution levels that are well above what the World Health Organisation regards as safe. Asthma sufferer Kelly tells us that her asthma was a lot worse when she lived in London, where she had 15 attacks in just one year.
How we’re tackling air pollution in schools
The film turns to Trees for Cities when looking at ways how to combat air pollution, showcasing the playground we’ve transformed at Town Farm Primary School in Staines, Surrey. We implement Planting Healthy Air projects at schools in areas of high air pollution, redesigning playgrounds with a focus on improving air quality and increasing biodiversity. Town Farm Primary School is just 1km away from Heathrow Airport’s runways, where planes have an immense impact on pollution levels.
We're right next to Heathrow Airport so we're very conscious of the pollution levels that might be created by that industry. We're an inner city school, there's lots of traffic, so it's important for our children to understand what healthy levels are and what we can do to change those levels in and around the school."
Karen Elias, Teach at Town Farm Primary School
Each class at the school was encouraged to plant a standard tree and be responsible for its maintenance, and Year 5 pupils have monitored the air pollution around their school grounds, learning about the effects of pollution and the impact that trees and other plants have on reducing air pollution. Pupils shared their findings with the rest of the school through posters and storytelling, even writing letters to their local MP.
Creative solutions for sustainable cities
The film looks at a range of solutions making waves worldwide: restoring wastelands in Madrid, native garden planting in Melbourne, and tackling plastic waste in Hong Kong – including innovations like robots that clean water by collecting garbage.
Many thanks to the Bupa Foundation for including us in this impressive range of projects that share a common goal in helping to make our cities more sustainable, and for their continued support. The Bupa Foundation works with Trees for Cities to invest in urban tree planting, greener schools and community spaces, and education about positive action on climate change.
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Found out more
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Planting Healthy Air
Find out about Planting Healthy Air in Schools, developed to address London's poor air quality.
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Trees for Schools
We run a number of schools programmes to help connect children to tree planting and the world of nature. Learn more here.
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Clean Air Day 2024
17 June 2024
Clean air is essential for our well-being. But what is air pollution, and how do we reduce it in our towns and cities? We asked air quality expert, Dr James Levine.
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