Breathe: Seven Ways to Win a Greener World

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So join us as we explore the big ideas changing the way we think, act and live – and how much impact we can really have as individuals. Khan ought to have been well placed to notice this. The 2021 London mayoral election marked a turning point of sorts for public discourse, with far-right figures and conspiracy theorists clogging up the ballot paper and lurking outside City Hall on election night. You can also use the external lift near the Artists' Entrance on Southbank Centre Square to reach Mandela Walk, Level 2. If I told you that your house was burning down, it would be illogical for you not to take action, right? And our planet is burning basically, so it's illogical for people not to take action. We've realised over the last few years that people haven't had a sense of urgency, and it's because it's been happening slowly over a long period of time. You mention the IPCC findings, but there have been a number of examples of equally worrying reports from experts where there hasn't been a sense of urgency. Just remember the 41°C temperatures last summer - people were literally overheating. Last year's wildfires led to the London Fire Brigade being the busiest it’s been since the Blitz. The year before we had flash flooding, where a number of our stations and tens of thousands of homes were flooded. We had massive floods in the Lake District in 2009 that at the time were called “floods of Biblical proportions” - they happen every two years now. So, it’s timely, but we could argue that it’s been timely for the last 5/ 10/ 15 years.But the point is, there is still a chance for us to do something about it.

He doesn’t just want to win a third term as mayor, Khan tells me; he’s hoping for six in total. I assume he’s joking, then realise he’s not. It becomes apparent that this is how long he thinks it will take to revive the city. What would he hope to have achieved by the end of a third term? “By then we’ll have had a Labour government for at least three years, so we’re going to see even more progress on fixing the housing crisis, the air quality, and you’ll have started to see the fruits of the reformed police service and fire service, and more jobs created in London.” And at the end of the sixth term? “You’ll see a London that can have our children feeling they have a future rather than being worried about what the future holds.” As he says, he’s always been an optimist. Scandalised, Khan underwent a political transformation that would see him become one of the most prominent global politicians fighting (and winning) elections on green issues. Dr Chinedu Nwokoro, Consultant Respiratory Paediatrician at The Royal London Hospital, part of Barts Health NHS Trust said: “ As a respiratory doctor with a research interest in lung disease and air pollution, I am acutely aware of the impact of air pollution on child health. Children exposed to high air pollution experience restricted lung growth, increased asthma and respiratory infections, and other health effects that can begin in the womb and last through to old age. I talk to my patients about the importance of acting on air pollution and about easy steps they can take to protect themselves, and I try to model these behaviours for my own children; all of us owe it to children to act now to rescue their futures. By working together we can reduce the health impact of air pollution and create a healthy environment for our communities, now and in the future.” For many years, Khan wasn’t fully aware of the dangers posed by air pollution, nor its connection with climate change.World-leading measures, including the central London ULEZ, introduced by the Mayor in his first term had already cut the number of state schools located in areas with illegal levels of pollution by 97 per cent – from 455 schools in 2016 to just 14 in 2019. It’s the simple things. I'm not saying we've all got to adopt a vegan diet and get rid of our cars, but there are little things we can do which incrementally lead to big changes. ULEZ expansion vital to improving air quality in the capital as expanded zone will cover an area 18 times larger than the existing central London ULEZ

Alternative parking is available nearby at the APCOA Cornwall Road Car Park (490 metres), subject to charges. Blue Badge parking at APCOA Cornwall Road As he gets up to leave, most of the restaurant empties. Meanwhile, formalities over, Khan has recovered his chirpiness. On the way out he stops for a chat with Ahmed, the restaurant manager. “We’re having an Eid celebration in Trafalgar Square on Saturday. You should come down. There’ll be thousands of us. We take a picture with everyone there.” He grins. “Then we send it to Trump.” And with that he’s off. ‘One short life forced people to face up to an invisible killer’The cost of living crisis has obviously made it more difficult for people to be greener because they just can’t afford it… The biggest challenge was pressing send and waiting for the response. When I used to be a lawyer, the most difficult part was when the case was finished - the judge goes out, the jury goes out and you're just waiting. The space between pressing send and publication feels like that. Khan with Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, whose daughter Ella was the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Expand C40’s Global Green New Deal programme, funded by the Open Society Foundations, which will direct additional funding to increase the number of cities working in partnership with trade unions, young people and community organisations to ensure climate action benefits everyone. He seems in good form, though. He asks who I’ve interviewed recently. I mention Smokey Robinson and he’s off – singing The Tears of a Clown, talking about seeing Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross live, and his love of soul music. The waiter arrives. Khan looks at my flat white dismissively. “What’s that? That’s very posh. I’m from south London so I’m going for a skinny Americano.” It’s classic Khan – playing the geezer and not getting it quite right. To his credit, he’s told me every time we’ve met how uncool his two daughters think he is. Join Khan for this memorable evening and hear him demonstrate how anyone – whether voter, activist or politician – can win the argument on climate. It will help create a world where we can all breathe again. I can do something about it, and if you can, you've got to do something about it. You don't need to be the Mayor to do this stuff, you don't need to be Greta Thunberg. All of us can do something about this. At the book launch for Breathe, a man stood up and shouted that it was “a lie” that Ella died from air pollution. Her mother Rosamund was among the audience.When the experts explained to me that this was quite common now, my mind boggled. I started to find out a bit more about what is actually going on, and I discovered that over a period of time air has been getting worse. Things that cause climate change cause air pollution - but it is reversible.

I’m still waiting for Khan to take a breath. “Listen, Simon, in just two years we managed to reduce the toxicity in a centralised city by almost 50%. I spoke to experts from around the world who say they have never seen a policy so effective in such a short time. When I first became mayor, King’s College said it will take 193 years to make our air within legal limits. Now they’re saying you can do it by 2025. So if you’re fatalistic, don’t be. There is something you can do. Here’s the proof.” Members get the first chance to book our entire programme of events, including go-down-in-history gigs, concerts with world-class orchestras, and talks from cultural icons and political giants.While I broadly recognise the arc he is describing, I worry that opponents of climate action have regressed more than he gives credit. Local campaigners have gone to some effort to refute the claims of this passage line by line. It is difficult to imagine Khan writing this in twenty years’ time as part of an honest appraisal of his legacy. Latest issue out now! Along with hospital staff, the Mayor will meet a group of year six pupils from the nearby Canon Barnett Primary School which also falls within the expanded ULEZ zone. So began our campaign to have a new inquest. It took four years to get a verdict, but when it came, it was transformative. In December 2020, coroner Philip Barlow concluded that toxic air had indeed played a role in Ella’s death. She became the first person in the UK to have “air pollution” listed as a cause of death. Any sized item can be left in our cloakroom, including fold-away bicycles. We don’t accept non-folding bicycles. Items must be collected on the same day they are stored. From time to time, the cloakroom may not be available. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the auditorium of the Royal Festival Hall or the Queen Elizabeth Hall, or into the Hayward Gallery, so please leave large bags at home.