Your article on the rising air pollution (The air that we breathe, The Press, March 29) in York was excellent, highlighting the damage to all of our health from escalating traffic levels.

However, these increasing traffic levels are a quadruple hit, causing ever more congestion, climate-changing emissions and creating more dangerous streets.

Doing something about all of these things, for me, is about creating the kind of place we all want to live in. I want a city where my kids aren’t going to develop asthma because of more air pollution, where we’re not damaging our climate, where we’re healthier because we walk and cycle more and where we have cheap, efficient public transport.

We can wait until we’re forced to do something, either because petrol becomes so expensive as oil runs out, or congestion charging is introduced. Or we can decide that we want to create that future and that it’s going to make us healthier and better off.

There are so many things we can do – start car-sharing schemes for our streets, find someone at the office to share a lift with, have a no-car Monday or join a walking bus to take our kids to school.

And I’ll be telling my councillor that I’m doing my bit, now they can do theirs to make sure that air pollution and congestion gets better, not worse.

Jennie Dodson, Grange Garth, York.