182 1 year, Britain promulgated the Smoke and Dust Prohibition Act, which stipulated that the public hazards caused by smoke and dust could be prosecuted, but the law excluded high pollution sources such as locomotives and boilers, which made little contribution to improving air quality. Since then, Britain has issued a series of local laws to regulate smoke and dust emission, but the effect is not good because of the vague content.
1853, under the impetus of Pa Max Don, the British Parliament passed the Smoke Pollution Control Act, which required industrial kilns and steam boats traveling in the main channel of the Thames to reduce their emissions as much as possible, and stipulated that coal should not be used, otherwise they would be fined. However, due to poor police enforcement and extremely low fines, the bill did not attract the attention of those responsible.
The fate of the two soda production laws promulgated in 1863 and 1874 respectively is similar. The law requires enterprises to adopt the most advanced technology to reduce the emission of toxic and harmful gases, but the emission limit requirements are often evaded by enterprises, and the inspection team is afraid of strong capital and lazy to perform its statutory duties, resulting in the regulations being ineffective.
Under the pressure of public opinion, Britain promulgated the Public Health Law on 1875, and many articles related to air pollution. However, due to lax compliance and poor implementation, the air quality in Britain has not improved. By the end of19th century, various environmental protection technologies in Britain were becoming more and more mature. However, due to the unilateral pursuit of low cost by enterprises, residents are limited by traditional living habits, and advanced technologies and alternative energy sources cannot be popularized.
After entering the 20th century, two world wars and post-war reconstruction reduced the urgency of environmental pollution control. From 65438 to 0944, the Ministry of Fuel and Electric Power set up a special advisory committee to re-evaluate the domestic fuel policy. The Committee published a research report in 1946, calling for the comprehensive replacement of bituminous coal with anthracite and urging the government to intervene strongly. The British government affirmed the research results and authorized the municipal governments of London and Manchester to establish smoke-free areas. Unfortunately, due to the destruction of coal manufacturers and related interest groups and the opposition of a large number of residents, the efforts of the two municipal governments ended in vain.
The lesson of the failure of air pollution control in Britain is that due to the obstruction of interest groups, the corruption of officials and the silence of conservatives, many legislations are either too strict to be implemented or too loose to be exempted from many responsibilities; The government ignores environmental problems and does nothing for a long time; The amount of fines is too small, and enterprises would rather pay fees than illegally discharge pollutants; Residents' emissions are not included in the scope of governance.
1952 after the London smog incident, the whole country was shocked, and all walks of life learned from it and faced the pollution challenge with the strength of the whole society. Many factors have played a role in boosting, mainly including the widespread mobilization of the people, the strict supervision of the government, the change of social values, the popularization of green lifestyles, the progress of energy technology, the improvement of enterprises and people's awareness of resource conservation, and the transfer of heavy industries, especially heavily polluting industries, to developing countries.
Promote non-governmental forces
In the long-term struggle against air pollution, voluntary social organizations in Britain have played a driving role and aroused the environmental awareness of the people and the government. As early as the17th century, some prophets, including British writer Evelyn, noticed the problem of air pollution and lashed out at the negative effects of industrialization. During the period of 1843- 1850, the environmental protection movement led by activists, such as McKinley, surged, which gave birth to many legislations to prevent enterprises from polluting the air.
1842, Pastor Rockdale established the civil society "Manchester Anti-smoking Federation"; 1877, the hill sisters founded the "Kyle Club" and ran around to build a "beautiful home for the people"; 1882, London Tobacco Control Committee held the "Smoke Reduction Exhibition" in the suburbs of London, and its sensational effect highlighted the desire of environmental pioneers to improve air quality.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, people's civic spirit and environmental awareness have played a guiding role in the movement to control air pollution. 1929, in Charles? Under the leadership of Gandy, the "British Tobacco Reduction Association" was established. The association calls for the establishment of smoke-free zones throughout the country, advocates energy-saving and heat-insulating building design, and promotes the use of smokeless fuels. Although the efforts of the association fell short due to the obstruction of coal producers, its suggestions have attracted the attention of all walks of life. This is actually a turning point in the process of air pollution control in Britain, which provides concrete measures for the Clean Air Act of 1956.
Nowadays, environmental organizations have sprung up like mushrooms after rain in Britain. In addition to international organizations such as Conservation International, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, there are many local and community environmental protection organizations. According to this phenomenon, British thinker Giddens listed the right and responsibility of environmental protection as the basic rights of citizens, and his ideas have become the knowledge of all walks of life in Britain.
Strong government intervention
The inaction of the British government has long been criticized, but after 1952, Downing Street launched a fierce offensive against interest groups, turning legal provisions into rigid constraints. At present, the British government implements an iron fist policy in controlling air pollution, and all kinds of air monitoring information are made public, which puts great pressure on special interest groups. British citizens can invoke the Freedom of Information Act to obtain relevant environmental data from government agencies, so as to strictly supervise enterprises in their communities. If the enterprise is slightly negligent, citizens can take it to court, and the mainstream media will also cooperate with the government to support voters.
After 1980s, motor vehicle exhaust replaced soot as the main source of air pollution in Britain, and the British government resolutely implemented the unleaded gasoline policy. In the early 1990s, research showed that pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and unstable organic compounds emitted by motor vehicles were extremely harmful, so since 1993, the government has made it mandatory for all new cars sold in China to be equipped with catalytic converters. From 65438 to 0995, Britain passed the environmental law, requiring the formulation of a national pollution control strategy and the joint efforts of the business community, traffic control departments and local governments to reduce the emissions of eight common pollutants. Today, the business community is almost powerless to resist the pressure of the government, the public and the media on environmental protection issues.
After 2000, the City of London began to study the problem of PM2.5 in the air raised by environmental protection organizations. In view of the fact that 80% of urban air pollution comes from motor vehicle exhaust emissions, the municipal government started to collect congestion charges in 2003, and increased the collection quota year by year to restrict private cars from entering the city. All the income from this is used to improve the public transport system. This greatly improves the reliability of public transport and shortens the travel time of citizens 14%. All dignitaries and government agencies must strictly abide by it, even the arrogant American embassy. Despite the obstruction of the super-rich class, this measure has been effective so far and has been welcomed by ordinary citizens.
Lifestyle changes
In the19th century, British industrial emissions have been loosely regulated by a series of laws, but these laws do not cover residents' emissions, because political parties are afraid of losing people's votes. 1952 after the London smog incident, the public realized the great harm of air pollution, and the supervision of residents' emissions finally got the support of public opinion and people. Some lobbying groups also took the opportunity to influence the parliament and force politicians to adapt to the changes in people's values. The change of social consciousness finally led to the promulgation of 1956 Clean Air Act, which indicated that citizens, enterprises and institutions in British society all assumed the responsibility of maintaining and improving air quality.
The historical data of environmental protection in Britain shows that a few local cities have not strictly implemented the Clean Air Act of 1956, but the air quality has also been greatly improved. For example, Chester did not enforce the bill at all, but the pollution level also dropped significantly; In York, the establishment of smoke-free areas did not begin until 1970, and the work was not completed until 1990. However, the 1960s was the period when the air quality in York improved the most. In fact, further research shows that the main reason is that local residents have chosen a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.
British families now basically own cars, but most people usually use developed public transport to go to work, and only drive on weekends or when they go shopping in supermarkets. In London, due to the high gasoline price, congestion charge and parking fee, driving into London is very expensive, and citizens gradually like the convenience and economy of public transportation. Some Londoners even show signs of revolution in their lifestyles, advocating driving electric cars and hybrid cars, or walking and cycling, or even giving up buying private cars altogether.
Environmental awareness has shaped the green lifestyle of Londoners. The area of public green space in London is close to 20,000 hectares, and soft materials such as parks and private gardens account for more than 60% of the total urban area. Strict urban construction management system protects green space, limits the expansion of high-rise buildings, and disperses a large number of people to satellite cities in the suburbs, so that the urban area of London will not be overcrowded and the maintenance of air quality will be more secure.
Industrial structure transformation
1956 The Clean Air Act promulgated by Britain is recognized as the first air pollution prevention and control law in the world, which strictly limits the smoke and dust emission of enterprises and residents. It is a national pollution control bill, which has a far-reaching impact on environmental protection legislation in Europe and America. However, among many policies to control air pollution in Britain, the most forward-looking link is the upgrading of economic structure, especially the transformation from heavy industry to light industry, service industry and high-tech industry.
After the industrial revolution, with the rapid development of industrialization and industrial upgrading in various countries, the global manufacturing industry and pollution emission center moved from Britain to Europe, then to the United States, then to Japan, and finally to emerging economies in East Asia. The economy with heavy chemical industry as one of the industrial pillars is facing the problem of high pollution density. From the historical data of carbon dioxide emissions per unit in Britain, America and Japan, it can be seen that the peak trend of pollution is consistent with the path of international industrial transfer, which appears in Britain, America and Japan in turn.
19 The 1970s and 1990s were the peak period of British emissions. Britain completed the industrial revolution and established an industrial production system powered by steam engines. The energy of steam engine mainly depends on coal, and its exploitation and combustion produce a lot of pollutants such as smoke, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. At this time, it is logical that Britain's pollution emissions will peak.
Since the 1960s, the air quality in British cities has gradually improved, the industrial coal consumption has decreased, the production mode has changed, and the smoke control zone has been established, which has achieved twice the result with half the effort. The traditional view is that residents' emission reduction is very important, but new research shows that enterprises' emission reduction plays a fundamental role.
The improvement of air quality in Britain is inversely proportional to its manufacturing output. Since 1950s, Britain's economic development has experienced epoch-making structural changes. The manufacturing industry, especially heavily polluting enterprises, went overseas, and the domestic service industry rose rapidly. A large number of "two high-tech and one capital" enterprises moved to developing countries for production, and then their finished products returned at low prices, which immediately reduced the domestic ecological pressure. Judging from the world economic history, this is actually a beggar-thy-neighbor road to industrial upgrading.
At present, the British government vigorously promotes the green economy policy, including three major industries: low carbon, environmental protection and new energy. According to the information of Business Innovation Skills Department, from 20 10 to 20 15, the fastest growing industries in the UK are carbon finance, alternative energy, alternative fuels and new energy vehicles. Green industry will become the engine of future economic growth in Britain.