Air pollution is a serious issue in the UK and around the world. In the UK, it has significant health impacts, contributing to around 40,000 early deaths each year. In Camden alone, it has been linked to 109 deaths.

The cost to the NHS and the wider healthcare system is estimated at £15 billion annually. Now that scientists better understand the connection between air quality and health, many efforts are underway to improve the air we breathe.

This is why here at Castlehaven we’re working hard to educate people air pollution, and quality, and what we can do to improve it, through our monthly Environmental newsletters, which you can sign up for here, as well our own project in our own community park to measure air pollution.

 

If you’ve visited our Community Park recently, you might have noticed small plastic test tubes attached to fences and lampposts. These are diffusion tubes, 30 in total, placed across our 3-acre park, including our Food Growing area, Football Pitch, and Horticulture Hub. They’re used to monitor nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) levels in the air; a pollutant linked to busy roads and urban areas.

Understanding NO₂ levels is especially important in Camden, where air quality can impact health, particularly for children, older adults, and those with respiratory conditions. That’s why local air quality projects and monitoring matter. They show where pollution is highest and what’s helping to reduce it. This project helps us better understand Camden’s environment and how we can protect it.

Each month, our citizen science volunteers replace the tubes, and the used ones are sent to a lab for analysis. We’ve just launched this initiative and will share the results as they come in! You can see where the tubes are in the park here.

If you’d like to get involved as a monthly volunteer and help monitor local air quality, please email us at environmentalteam@castlehaven.org.uk.

Camden Council is also busy reducing air pollution in the borough. Thanks to schemes like using electric generators for film sets and campaigns to stop cars idling outside schools, NO2 emissions have been steadily decreasing.

There are also some simple ways we can all help out. Driving less where possible and upgrading old gas boilers can make a real difference, not just for air quality, but for tackling climate change too.

To explore the link between climate action and clean air, our Environmental Project Coordinator, Ollie, recently sat down with Georgia, a Sustainability Officer at Camden Council. In their 30-minute conversation, “How Climate Change Affects Air Quality,” they discuss how Camden’s local efforts fit into the bigger environmental picture, and how local residents can get involved. You can listen to the full conversation here.

Find Out More About our Environmental Initiatives Here