Survey of knowledge and attitude of people about air pollution in Tehran, Iran

Introduction: The importance of air quality and paying attention to what we breathe have been valuable always. So that air pollution is one of the key environmental issues in urban communities. Several studies show that the potential effects of air pollution on human health include increased mortality and changes in cardiovascular and respiratory functions. Materials and methods: The population of this study was people in 22 dis-tricts of Tehran megacity. The questionnaires were placed at the municipality centers of 22 districts and randomly completed by people who came to the center. Questions included the importance of air pollution, the comparison of air quality with last year, the main sources of air pollution, the problems created by air pollution, the quality of informing system, as well as questions about their satisfaction about government’s actions on air pollution control plans. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 24. Results: 84.14 % of the participants stated that air pollution is important to them and has a negative influence on their lives. Also, most of them were not satisfied with the measures taken and expected that actions would be better to reduce air pollution. 91.10 % of the participants considered cars as the main causes of air pollution. Also, 68.22 % of people believed that air pollution had a significant negative impact on their quality of life. Conclusion: Most people are willing to live at a higher cost but a less pol-luted environment, while more of them are not well aware of their role in reducing air pollution. Moreover further education should be provided on the role of people in reducing air pollution. Additionally, the government must deal with air pollutants and take serious measures.

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Analysis of Spatial Distribution of PM2.5 and Human Behavior on Air Pollution in Jakarta

IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science ◽

10.1088/1755-1315/940/1/012018 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 940 (1) ◽

pp. 012018

Author(s):

K I Solihah ◽

D N Martono ◽

B Haryanto

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Spatial Distribution ◽

Human Behavior ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Linear Regression Models ◽

Raising Awareness ◽

Knowledge And Attitude ◽

The Government

Abstract Particulate matter is one of the threatening pollutants harmful to health. Currently, many researchers focus on the problem of PM2.5 concentrations in urban areas. This study aims to estimate the spatial distribution of PM2.5, and identify human behavior on air pollution in Jakarta. The method used were Spline with Tension to build the PM2.5 models, and multiple linear regression models to analyze human behavior on air pollution. The results showed that the annual average of PM2.5 in the last two years tends to be high in western, southern, and eastern parts of Jakarta. In addition, there was a decrease of PM2.5 concentration in 2020 compared to 2019 assumed as a result of Covid-19 Pandemic restrictions. Besides, analysis results showed a significant association between knowledge and attitude aspects on the action aspect. Based on descriptive analysis, people have good knowledge of air pollution and also concern to reduce air pollution. However, the actions for air pollution control are still not maximized which may cause high PM2.5 concentrations in Jakarta. We conclude that to reduce air pollution, the government should focus on the border areas of Jakarta and it can be done by increasing public knowledge and raising awareness for air pollution.

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Evaluation and Treatment Analysis of Air Quality Including Particulate Pollutants: A Case Study of Shandong Province, China

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17249476 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (24) ◽

pp. 9476

Author(s):

Bowen Jiang ◽

Yuangang Li ◽

Weixin Yang

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Forecast Model ◽

Maximum Error ◽

Shandong Province ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Control Policies ◽

Pm2.5 And Pm10

At present, China’s air pollution and its treatment effect are issues of general concern in the academic circles. Based on the analysis of the development stages of air pollution in China and the development history of China’s air quality standards, we selected 17 cities of Shandong Province, China as the research objects. By expanding China’s existing Air Quality Index System, the air quality of six major pollutants including PM2.5 and PM10 in 17 cities from February 2017 to January 2020 is comprehensively evaluated. Then, with a forecast model, the air quality of the above cities in the absence of air pollution control policies since June 2018 was simulated. The results of the error test show that the model has a maximum error of 4.67% when simulating monthly assessment scores, and the maximum mean error of the four months is 3.17%. Through the comparison between the simulation results and the real evaluation results of air quality, we found that since June 2018, the air pollution control policies of six cities have achieved more than 10% improvement, while the air quality of the other 11 cities declined. The different characteristics of pollutants and the implementation of governance policies are perhaps the main reasons for the above differences. Finally, policy recommendations for the future air pollution control in Shandong and China were provided.

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Legal aspects of the resolutions determining the acceptable types and quality of fuels under Polish legislation

Ochrona Srodowiska i Zasobów Naturalnych ◽

10.2478/oszn-2019-0013 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 23-28

Author(s):

Kinga Makuch

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Quality Improvement ◽

Air Quality ◽

Human Health ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Legal Aspects ◽

Local Authorities ◽

Air Quality Improvement ◽

The Impact

Abstract The article focuses on the selected aspects of introducing a resolution by a self-government of a province, which allows to determine the acceptable types and quality of fuels. The impact of polluted air on human health is significant. The actions carried out by the local authorities should be aimed on seeking effective air protection remedies; nonetheless, the scale of these activities seems to be still insignificant. One of the legal mechanisms is introducing resolutions determining the acceptable types and quality of fuels by a self-government of a province in order to protect the health of Polish residents and reduce the negative impact of air pollution on the environment. The question, however, is whether such resolutions could be audited with respect to the execution of such a resolution and whether they effectively lead to air quality improvement.

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A New Study on Air Quality Standards: Air Quality Measurement and Evaluation for Jiangsu Province Based on Six Major Air Pollutants

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10103561 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 3561 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Xueyan Liu ◽

Xiaolong Gao

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Air Pollutants ◽

Quality Evaluation ◽

Jiangsu Province ◽

Energy Structure ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Control Policies

China’s current Air Quality Index (AQI) system only considers one air pollutant which has the highest concentration value. In order to comprehensively evaluate the urban air quality of Jiangsu Province, this paper has studied the air quality of 13 cities in that province from April 2015 to March 2018 based on an expanded AQI system that includes six major air pollutants. After expanding the existing air quality evaluation standards of China, this paper has calculated the air quality evaluation scores of cities in Jiangsu Province based on the six major air pollutants by using the improved Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Model. This paper has further analyzed the effectiveness of air pollution control policies in Jiangsu Province and its different cities during the study period. The findings are as follows: there are distinct differences in air quality for different cities in Jiangsu Province; except for coastal cities such as Nantong, Yancheng and Lianyungang, the southern cities of Jiangsu generally have better air quality than the northern cities. The causes of these differences include not only natural factors such as geographical location and wind direction, but also economic factors and energy structure. In addition, air pollution control policies have achieved significant results in Nantong, Changzhou, Wuxi, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Yancheng, Zhenjiang, Tai’an and Lianyungang. Among them, Nantong has seen the biggest improvement, 20.28%; Changzhou and Wuxi have improved their air quality by more than 10%, while Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Yancheng have improved their air quality by more than 5%. However, the air quality of Nanjing, Huai’an, Xuzhou, and Suqian has worsened by different degrees compared that of the last period within the beginning period, during which Suqian’s air quality has declined by 20.07% and Xuzhou’s by 16.32%.

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COVID-19 Lockdown and the Aerosphere in India: Lessons Learned on How to Reduce Air Pollution

10.5772/intechopen.98513 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Subhasmita Panda ◽

Priyadatta Satpathy ◽

Trutpi Das ◽

Boopathy Ramasamy

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Atmospheric Chemistry ◽

Surface Ozone ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Oxides Of Nitrogen ◽

Comprehensive Overview ◽

Constant Operation ◽

The Government

The giant increase in COVID-19 infection across India forced the government to impose strict lockdown in order to curb the pandemic. Although the stringent restrictions crippled India’s economy and poor people’s livelihood, it significantly improved the air quality of most of the polluted cities of India and rejuvenated the atmosphere. Thus, the major objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of lockdown on pollutants prevailing in the atmosphere. A prominent decline in primary pollutants such as Particulate matter (PM), Black carbon (BC), Oxides of nitrogen (NOx), Carbon monoxide (CO) is observed across the country. However, lockdown had a trifling impact on Sulphur dioxide (SO2) concentration over some parts of India due to the constant operation of coal-fired thermal plants as a part of essential service. Furthermore, the sudden decline in NOx concentration disturbed the complex atmospheric chemistry and lead to an enhancement of surface ozone (O3) (secondary pollutant) in many cities of India. Thus, lockdown emerged as a unique opportunity for the atmospheric researchers, policymakers as well as stakeholders to collect baseline data of pollutants and their major sources. This will help to set new targets of air quality standards and to develop various mitigation processes to combat air pollution.

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How can we improve air pollution? Try increasing trust first

Environment and Development Economics ◽

10.1017/s1355770x2100036x ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-21

Author(s):

Bridget Lynn Hoffmann ◽

Carlos Scartascini ◽

Fernando G. Cafferata

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Survey Data ◽

Mexico City ◽

Environmental Policies ◽

Short Term ◽

The Government ◽

Polluting Firms

Abstract Environmental policies are characterized by salient short-term costs and long-term benefits that are difficult to observe and to attribute to the government's efforts. These characteristics imply that citizens’ support for environmental policies is highly dependent on their trust in the government's capability to implement solutions and commitment to investments in those policies. Using novel survey data from Mexico City, we show that trust in the government is positively correlated with citizens’ willingness to support an additional tax approximately equal to a day's minimum wage to improve air quality and greater preference for government retention of revenues from fees collected from polluting firms. We find similar correlations using the perceived quality of public goods as a measure of government competence. These results provide evidence that mistrust can be an obstacle to better environmental outcomes.

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Analysis of the Effectiveness of Air Pollution Control Policies Based on Historical Evaluation and Deep Learning Forecast: A Case Study of Chengdu-Chongqing Region in China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13010206 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 206

Author(s):

Hao Gao ◽

Weixin Yang ◽

Jiawei Wang ◽

Xiaoyun Zheng

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Deep Learning ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Control Policies ◽

Research Period

Air pollution is a common problem for many countries around the world in the process of industrialization as well as a challenge to sustainable development. This paper has selected Chengdu-Chongqing region of China as the research object, which suffers from severe air pollution and has been actively involved in air pollution control in recent years to achieve sustainable development. Based on the historical data of 16 cities in this region from January 2015 to November 2019 on six major air pollutants, this paper has first conducted evaluation on the monthly air quality of these cities within the research period by using Principal Component Analysis and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution. Based on that, this paper has adopted the Long Short-Term Memory neural network model in deep learning to forecast the monthly air quality of various cities from December 2019 to November 2020. The aims of this paper are to enrich existing literature on air pollution control, and provide a novel scientific tool for design and formulation of air pollution control policies by innovatively integrating commonly used evaluation models and deep learning forecast methods. According to the research results, in terms of historical evaluation, the air quality of cities in the Chengdu-Chongqing region was generally moving in the same trend in the research period, with distinct characteristics of cyclicity and convergence. Year- on-year speaking, the effectiveness of air pollution control in various cities has shown a visible improvement trend. For example, Ya’an’s lowest air quality evaluation score has improved from 0.3494 in 2015 to 0.4504 in 2019; Zigong’s lowest air quality score has also risen from 0.4160 in 2015 to 0.6429 in 2019. Based on the above historical evaluation and deep learning forecast results, this paper has proposed relevant policy recommendations for air pollution control in the Chengdu-Chongqing region.

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Application of Fuzzy Optimization Model Based on Entropy Weight Method in Atmospheric Quality Evaluation: A Case Study of Zhejiang Province, China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11072143 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 2143 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Xiaodan Wang ◽

Zhengyu Yang

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Industrial Structure ◽

Fuzzy Optimization ◽

Zhejiang Province ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Entropy Weight ◽

Entropy Weight Method ◽

Weight Method

A fuzzy optimization model based on the entropy weight method for investigating air pollution problems in various cities of Zhejiang Province, China has been proposed in this paper. Meanwhile, the air quality comprehensive evaluation system has been constructed based on the six major pollutants (SO2, NO2, CO, PM10, PM2.5 and O3) involved in China’s current air quality national standards. After analyzing the monthly data of six pollutants in 11 cities of Zhejiang Province from January 2015 to April 2018 by the above method, the authors found that, although the air quality of cities in Zhejiang Province did not reach the long-term serious pollution of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, the air quality changes in the northern cities of Zhejiang were worse than those in southern Zhejiang. For example, the air quality of Shaoxing in northern Zhejiang has dropped by 14.85% in the last study period when compared with that of the beginning period, and Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang, has also seen a decrease of 6.69% in air quality. The air quality of Lishui, Zhoushan and Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang has improved by 8.04%, 4.67% and 4.22% respectively. Apart from the geographical influence, the industrial structure of these cities is also an important cause for worse air quality. From the local areas in southern Zhejiang, cities have developed targeted air pollution control measures according to their own characteristics, including adjusting the industrial structure, changing the current energy consumption structure that heavily relies on coal, and improving laws and regulations on air pollution control, etc. In the four cities in central Zhejiang, the air quality at the end of the period (April 2018) has decreased from the beginning of the period (January 2015), given that there were no fundamental changes in their industrial structure and energy pattern.

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How Can We Improve Air Pollution?: Try Increasing Trust First

10.18235/0003453 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Fernando G. Cafferata ◽

Bridget Lynn Hoffmann ◽

Carlos Scartascini

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Survey Data ◽

Mexico City ◽

Environmental Policies ◽

Short Term ◽

The Government ◽

Polluting Firms

Environmental policies are characterized by salient short-term costs and long-term benefits that are difficult to observe and to attribute to the government's efforts. These characteristics imply that citizens' support for environmental policies is highly dependent on their trust in the government's capability to implement solutions and commitment to investments in those policies. Using novel survey data from Mexico City, we show that trust in the government is positively correlated with citizens' willingness to support an additional tax approximately equal to a days minimum wage to improve air quality and greater preference for government retention of revenues from fees collected from polluting firms. We find similar correlations using the perceived quality of public goods as a measure of government competence. These results provide evidence that mistrust can be an obstacle to better environmental outcomes.

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Evaluating the Efficacy of Government Spending on Air Pollution Control: A Case Study from Beijing

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16010045 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 45 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Xiaoyao Xie ◽

Yuhong Wang

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Environmental Protection ◽

Urban Air Pollution ◽

First Grade ◽

Chinese Economy ◽

Rapid Expansion ◽

Urban Air ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

The Government

The reform and opening up of the Chinese economy over the last 40 years has led to rapid economic development. However, with the rapid expansion of the economy, increasingly serious air pollution is apparent. In order to control urban air pollution effectively, Chinese governments at all levels have invested large sums every year. However, it has become a difficult issue which influences public government decisions with respect to how and according to what standard to distribute financial funds so as to improve air quality while saving money at the same time. Taking Beijing as an example, this paper investigates the ten-year change in the annual daily mean of inhalable particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from the year of 2006 to 2015, researches the invested funds in environmental protection in Beijing, and establishes a relationship between the atmospheric indexes of the above three parameters and government-invested funds in environmental protection. According to model analysis, government financial input has an obvious influence on the improvement of air quality. However, during the long period of financial input, the degree of air quality improvement will reduce gradually as time goes by. There exists a direct link between the effectiveness of government financial input to promote air quality and the air quality index, which means when the pollutant standards index is poor (i.e., the corresponding pollutant concentration is higher), the effectiveness will be more apparent. On the contrary, when the index is at a good level, the effectiveness of government financial input is very small. To achieve the best air quality conditions, the government should set the detailed financial input at or over the first-grade standard according to urban air quality standards.

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