I Detective della 3E
Air pollution in Rome
We live in Rome, a beautiful city that, unfortunately, as most European metropolis, is afflicted by a very high pollution rate.
What make us worry most, are all the diseases caused by air pollution and the number of affected cases increases day by day.
Unfortunately, people do not realize that the main cause of this pollution is our own behavior.
But even if it is true that man is capable of causing great damages to planet Earth, it is also true that we are the only one that can invert this trend and, eventually, make a change for the best.
We therefore decided to study the quality of the air we breathe every day in our city.
We have used data from the local Regional Agency for Environmental Protection in Rome (ARPA), to analyze the trend of Benzene (C6H6), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Particulate Matter in the last 20 years in our residential district.
Our graphs clearly show that the presence of the analyzed pollutant content had a dramatic decrease in the first ten years of this century, most probably thanks to the first ecological political choices of the town Council such as reduction of emissions of pollutants from vehicle, though not to the extent required.
Furthermore, since 2010 the polluting gas and particle content has remained practically unchanged: cutting emissions from domestic heating, including wood-burning, and from agriculture has proved more of a challenge.
Benzene (C6H6) concentration from 2000 to 2020
Carbon Monoxide (CO) concentration from 2000 to 2020
Particulate Matter concentration from 2000 to 2020
Collateral damages
Several respiratory diseases are caused by environmental pollution factors, such as exhaust gases and industrial fumes.
The most vulnerable ones are, above all, the kids and children because during childhood the absorption of such gases and metabolic processes are accelerated. Furthermore, having a shorter stature, children are constantly breathing closer to the ground, where the pollutant concentration is higher.
Fine dust, carbon and nitrogen monoxide and dioxide, methane and sulfur dioxide are the most common pollutants that can cause diseases both in children and adults.
Infections, bronchitis, ischemic heart disease, episodes of shortness of breath and premature deaths are only a few examples of the damages caused by the pollutants to the population.
Therefore, high air pollution rate must be feared, because it can harm us, but it can also damage our plants and our architectural and historical monuments.
What happened during lock-down months?
The graphs below clearly show that during the months of lock-down due to the COVID-19 pandemic sanitary emergency, between February and June 2020 the polluting gas and particle content has dramatically decreased.
Even if monthly changes are observed every year, such trends are much stronger than expected.
Therefore, even if on a global scale the effects of the lock-down have not been measurable, the car and airplane traffic reduction has had an immediate positive influence on a local scale and specifically on the quality of the air in Rome.
Benzene concentration across 2020
Carbon monoxide concentration across 2020
Particulare matter concentration across 2020
Conclusions
In these lock-down months we have seen that air quality improve as a consequence of traffic reduction.
Is it therefore important to live near a green area? How much can the presence of a green area positively affect air quality in the surroundings?
Lately man has found means to stop or at least reduce air pollution (e.g. electric cars, cleaner energy and industrial production, greener and smarter transport, sustainable farming). We know, however, that new inventions and new technologies are not enough if we do not stand up and demand solutions. Citizens are coming together to fight for a future when we can all breathe air that does not harm our planet.
Active Citizens
What can we do to improve air quality in our city?
Rome has always been one of the most polluted Italian cities and solving the problem might seem an extremely hard task. However, thanks to our observation and data analysis, we now believe that some changes in our daily habits can be successful in our fight against pollution.
We are talking about simple gestures, such as reducing the use of private cars in favor of public transportation, bicycles and our own legs.
Our ecological fight must start from the small but significant daily actions we all do. Now it is the time to take action to save our city before it's too late.
Map of "Arianne" distribution throughout Italy
The Wiseair young startup was launched in Italy, in Milan, and is rapidly expanding throughout Italy and Europe.
Having access to local air quality data is the first step in protecting clean air in our cities. That's why Wiseair has developed a fit-and-forget sensor and has installed it in flower pots named “Arianna”. The sensor monitors the air quality 24 hours a day and, with a simple application, make data accessible to everybody. Wiseair is slowly creating an open community that gathers citizens, associations and decision-makers who think that complaining is useless and who have decided to roll up their sleeves to take action, to bring measured air pollution data to each municipality and defend clean air for all citizens.
Having common ideals, we have applied and succeeded in becoming one of the 20 Wiseair ambassadors in Rome.
Our Arianna flower pot
Arianna Elisabetta.mp4Our "Arianna" unboxing
Marco and Mattia with our "Arianna"
Wiseair map showing the positions of all "Arianna" in Rome
In the beginning of April 2021 our school received the “Arianna” flower pot. Our Arianna is located close to our school, near the Caffarella park, one of the largest green area in Rome.
Thanks to Arianna in the next months and years students and teachers in our school will be able to monitor the air pollution in our neighborhood and throughout our city and our country and will hopefully be able to take concrete actions to reduce air pollution in our cities.
Sneak preview
We here show a very first graph of the data measured by our "Arianna" flower pot. The plot shows the particle matter index and the temperature trends in the last month measured near our school. The sensor also measures relative humidity, that therefore, in future analysis, will be also possible to correlate with temperature and air quality.