Polluted places in Copenhagen, Denmark. This website was created to help members of the press reporting on Danish environmental policies get a more balanced view of the environmental choices of the country and the Danish government. When going to links leading to websites in the Danish language, we suggest you use translate.google.com to have them translated into your own language.
Denmark was very excited to host the COP15 conference in 2009 and is working to get both political and legal agreements made to control global warming and other climate related problems. However, Denmark is not necessarily the role model it would like to be considered. In the Danish capital, Copenhagen, you find obvious examples of how local pollution problems are overlooked while the Danish government is busy working on making other countries pollute less. Why does the Danish government find it acceptable that citizens in Copenhagen are killed or made chronically ill from air pollution it has the power to deal with, while spending time and energy trying to influence other governments and countries to make them take environmental issues more seriously?
The following are 3 locations in central Copenhagen where particle pollution levels are either suspected of or measured as being above levels allowed by the European Union. When going there we urge you for your own safety to wear face masks that are capable of filtering out ultra fine particles. You need a respirator eg. 3M 7500 series with a P3 class filter, 3M 2135, a 3M 8835 face mask or a similar P3 level product which can be bought in local hardware stores for about USD50 per filter.
A small one way street from Sølvtorvet to Fredensbro. Webersgade is suspected of being the most air polluted street in Copenhagen, due to the traffic amount, how close the houses are to the road and the prevailing wind conditions. Although originally designed to be a quiet side street with the occasional horse drawn cart as traffic it today has app. 13,600 cars driving through it daily, emitting CO2, NOx and particles from eg. engine exhaust, tires and brakes. 5.8% of the vehicles are heavy vehicles like trucks and buses, with a weight of over 3.5 tons. Note that the houses on the apartment building side only are about 2.2 meters or 7.2 feet from the curb. According to current research the PM 10 (very fine, down to 10 micron in diameter) particles released by passing vehicles cause a 50% increase in mortality for people living within 50 meters or 150 feet of where the pollution is released. It is estimated (Danish website) by Professor Steffen Loft, Institute of Public Health, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health at the University Of Copenhagen that app. 500 people in Copenhagen die each year from the effects of particle pollution. The number for all of Denmark is 3,400. To put this number in perspective, the total number of people killed in traffic in Denmark in 2009 was 309. Particle pollution kills 65% more people in Copenhagen alone than all car accidents in Denmark.
When not using Danish characters the street name is written as Noerre Soegade. This is one location where PM 10 pollution has been measured to be above legal levels. The PM 10 annual limit value is an annual average of 40 micrograms/m3. The value measured on Nørre Søgade is 58 micrograms/cubic meter. Add to that the impact of the 35,600 vehicles a day has on the recreational area the Copenhagen Lakes are supposed to be. The paths around the lakes are popular jogging routes, but with the current traffic levels and lack of efficient closed particle filters on vehicle exhausts joggers in reality damage their health by running here.
When not using Danish characters the street name is written as Aaboulevard. This is another location which has particle pollution levels confirmed to be above the legal level of the EU standards. Add to that the 50,700 vehicles driving through daily and the substantial noise pollution.
Do you have a Garmin GPS navigator and the Mapsource map program that comes with it then you can download 3 waypoints of the mentioned locations in Copenhagen where particle pollution levels are close to or above the PM 10 levels allowed by the European Union. Garmin GPS waypoints of polluted places in Copenhagen
Copenhagen is twice as polluted as New York City. This is not because of more traffic but because the streets in Copenhagen are narrower and contain the pollution longer at the emission location. In Denmark noise pollution is the responsibility of the municipalities while air pollution is the responsibility of the state and government. Even though the Copenhagen Municipality has tried to initiate activities to combat air pollution, the government has overruled them consistently.
Besides the PM 10, very fine or up to 10 micron in diameter sized particles, there is increasing focus on PM 2.5 particles which are one fourth the size of the PM 10 particles, known as ultra fine particles. The pollution levels of PM 2.5 particles are still sparingly documented because emission levels acceptable in the European Union are yet to be decided. The PM 2.5 particles however are known to affect the DNA of those inhaling them as they make it all the way into the lung's alveoli and blood stream, making their toxicity a direct cause of eg. cancer (page 33). Especially children, whose growing bodies are less capable of repairing DNA damage, are affected by the PM 2.5 particles.
What should be done by the Danish govenment and the Copenhagen Municipality to live up to their ambitions for the rest of the World themselves? Let all public transport be electrically powered. Set up a payment ring around Copenhagen, requiring payment to enter the city by car or truck. Require closed particle filters on all diesel and gas driven vehicles. Build tunnels for the transit traffic through Copenhagen. Plant more trees next to or close to roads to benefit from their particle collecting ability.
Do you want to talk with local representatives about particle and noise pollution in Copenhagen, please visit these websites: Trafikforeningen Webersgade (about Webersgade), Red Søerne (about Nørre Søgade) or info(at)copenhagenpolluted.com for interviews or further information.