Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization: a pilot from an Indian megacity

<p>Air pollution has become a serious matter of concern in the global south, and a significant amount of funding has been used to create awareness of air pollution. The conventional method of sensitization relies on workshops where slide-based presentations, images, plots and graphs are shown...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geoscience Communication
Main Authors: D. Bej, S. S. Ghosh, S. Haldar, A. Roy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2024-07-01
Online Access:https://gc.copernicus.org/articles/7/151/2024/gc-7-151-2024.pdf
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Summary:<p>Air pollution has become a serious matter of concern in the global south, and a significant amount of funding has been used to create awareness of air pollution. The conventional method of sensitization relies on workshops where slide-based presentations, images, plots and graphs are shown to participants. However, sensitization about air quality using such an audio-visual format might not be sufficient to create adequate impact. Here, in this study, we propose a new sensitization technique, the pollution walk, where participants and a subject matter expert will walk through different urban micro-environments with a live air quality monitor. A pilot involving three such pollution walks with 24 participants was conducted in a South Asian megacity, and pre- and post-walk surveys were conducted. The results indicate a greater sense of understanding among the participants, and the multi-disciplinary nature of the air pollution problem has been communicated well. To understand the long-term impact, a survey after 1 year was conducted which clearly indicates high levels of awareness and behavioural changes among the participants.</p>
ISSN:2569-7110