In the words of Winston Churchill "If you want an argument against democracy, have a 5 minute conversation with the average voter."
But yea I think the best way we can curb air pollution is through what we buy, although its difficult to know which companies are really carbon neutral there are a few that stand out at present:
GoodEnergy are a renewable energy company you could switch to with only a phone call, electricity prices are competitive, show them some support.
BELU water are good if you must buy plastic bottled water.
Considering it takes over 6 calories of oil to put 1 calorie of food in a supermarket, or the land/water/food requirement for farming cattle and other animals could feed 10 times the amount of people, eat way less meat, learn how to cook nice veg and beans, nuts and seeds, without meat and you will also be healthier for it, healthy is wealthy haha.