Dr Guy Coulson: Air Quality Collective Director on the amount of pollution in New Zealand

The air quality in New Zealand has increased across the country, but some areas are still dealing with high levels of pollution. 

The Our Air 2024 report shows the level of key pollutants —largely produced by transport and home heating— has reduced across most monitoring sites.  

However, it also says air quality isn't good everywhere, and in some urban areas the pollution is above national standards and international guidelines.  

Director of the Air Quality Collective, Dr Guy Coulson told Ryan Bridge that we’re headed in the right direction, improvement is just happening rather slowly.  

He said that an estimated 3000 adults die each year from air pollution.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ear pollution is gradually getting better in New Zealand, but
much of the ear we breathe is still more pollution
than The World Health Organization recommends doctor Guy Coulson as
the director of the Ear Quality Collective. He's with us
this morning, Good morning, you is ear so bad here
order to kill us?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Sorry? Say that again?

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Is the ear so bad in New Zealand? It could
kill us.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
In some places? Yes, I mean generally air quality in
New Zealand is very very good, you know, but there
are small pockets where we could do better. And our
best estimate at the moment is that something of the
region and three thousand people die each year as a
direct result of air pollution where they live.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
How do we know that these people die from air pollution?
And do they live literally next to a motorway?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
You can't. I can't give you their names and addresses
on anyone's death certificate that they died of their pollution.
This is a statistical measure, if you like. We know
from epidemiological studies around the world that an increasing level
of air pollution leads to an increasing number of corresponding

(01:19):
number of death. So it's a statistical association that as
air quality increases, the number of people turning up our
hospital or dying will go up as a function of that.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
This motion concentration, this gradual improvement in our air pollution
thanks to what cleaner cars, heat pumps and things. Is
this a good thing? Does this name? We're sort of
on the right track.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
It's going in the right direction, definitely. Yes, it's just
happening rather slowly. So when our air quality legislation came
in about twenty years ago, there were a lot of
places that were very bad. They improved rapidly till they
met the legislation and then for the most part improvement

(02:07):
from there has been very slow. But yes, we then
what's doing in the right direction, But as usual could
be better.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Where is the best place in New Zealand if you
do worry about pollution? Where's the place of love?

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Out of the main town centers. So if the large
town centers like Auckland, Wellington, christ Churchs have a traffic
pollution problem, and then small towns in the rest of
the country, particularly sort of South Ireland.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
I think we just lost them. Yes, I think we
have two anyway. That was doctor Guy Colson, Director of
Equality Collective. The interesting thing about the Equality Collective. So
he was part of a bunch of guys who were
employed at Kneewha to look at ear quality monitoring. They
who got fired made redundant because of changes there. He's
now gone and set up with his buddies an independent

(03:11):
group and they are contracting back to the government. He says,
at the moment, the government doesn't have any ear any
ear quality monitoring experts on hand twenty. I mean, I
suppose just go out somewhere in the country and the
wind and breathe if you're really feeling, you know, if
you've got a bad chest issue, just don't live under
a motorway. For more from News Talk said b listen

(03:33):
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