Precious air

Air quality is a complex issue, as our interlocutors confirmed. At Gentenair, Leuvenair and Truienair, citizens focused on the values of particulate matter, the biggest culprit in terms of health effects. The air we breathe is precious, it is our lifeline, it contains particles and gases. These are gases such as nitrogen and oxygen, but also small quantities of other gases that (together with particulate matter) determine air quality. The smallest particles in our air are called particulate matter, a collective term for very minuscule particles floating in the air.

The direct emission of particulate matter is mainly caused by wood combustion, traffic and industry, but gases emitted by agriculture also cause particulate matter after reacting in the air. Particulate matter penetrates deep into our lungs and enters other organs through our blood. Too much particulate matter in your body increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, asthma and some forms of cancer. Enough reasons for concerned citizens to get to work and measure the air quality.

Bottom-up

Both Leuvenair, Gentenair and Truienair have focused on measuring particulate matter as citizen science projects, to what extent was your initial approach similar?

Maarten Reyniers (Leuvenair): ‘At the end of 2017, fascinated by air quality and with my background as an employee of the KMI (Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium), I built myself a sensor and started measuring. In the spring of 2018, with the help of ‘Straten Vol Leuven’, a collective of active citizens in the field of mobility and liveability, together with the city and the province, I was able to buy the material for 100 sensors. Immediately, 100 Leuven residents assembled the self-build kits with sensors in two construction evenings. The 'self-build' aspect is actually limited, as we use identical sensors within our three projects. Particulate meters used within the project Sensor.Community, the former Luftdaten. In the project ‘Luchtpijp’ of ‘beweging.net’, you also see the same sensors.’

Jeroen Staelens (Gentenair): ‘The self-build kits have a low “nerd” level, you can easily build and handle them. Gentenair originated from volunteers, supported by the existing action group Gents MilieuFront. My professional experience with measuring air quality at the VMM (Flanders Environment Agency) also played a role. Gentenair is also connected to the Sensor.community network. The beauty of it is that it is a worldwide network of citizens who measure air quality themselves. In combination with the official measuring points of VMM you get an impressive real time map of air data for Flanders, you can consult them at samenvoorzuiverelucht.eu.’

Wim Aerts (Truienair): ‘Truienair saw an example in Leuvenair and was started by myself from my commitment as a member of the environmental council of Sint-Truiden. Our citizen scientists paid for their particulate matter meter themselves; subsidies were out of the question. We did receive support and technical assistance from the 'Luchtpijp' project and the PXL University College. An information evening about fine dust measurements and the impact of fine dust on our health was followed by 2 workshops for 30 citizens. Of course, our measurements are also part of the Sensor.community network.’

Air pollution is complex 

What were the results that most amazed the participating citizen scientists?

Wim Aerts (Truienair): ‘Our measurement results mainly showed that, contrary to what the participants thought, even in a small town and in the countryside, there is quite a lot of particulate matter present. The highest values were measured in Sint-Truiden in streets with wood-burning stoves.’

Maarten Reyniers (Leuvenair): ‘Indeed, an important and often underestimated cause of fine dust is the burning of wood. A wood stove, a fire, a wood basket, a Christmas tree burning ... They quickly double or triple the amount of fine dust in the air. For example, in the Leuven region we clearly saw the effect of the large Easter bonfires in the Netherlands and Germany. Industry also determines air quality. If the wind comes from the east, from over the German Ruhr area or Poland, there is more particulate matter in the air in our region. For many participants, this is a surprising conclusion because they assume that traffic is the main cause of particulate matter.’

Jeroen Staelens (Gentenair): ‘In Ghent, our participants also noted the effect of fireworks during the ‘Gentse Feesten’. We sometimes speak of a blanket of fine dust over Flanders. Wood burning, traffic, agriculture and industry, they all play a role, of course. The European level is of great importance for the regulation of air pollution because air pollution does not stop at the borders. Moreover, air measurements are complex and often difficult to interpret. It is best to tell the participants about this beforehand.’

Signal function

To what extent do the citizen scientists of Gentenair, Leuvenair and Truienair want to take concrete action to reduce particulate matter emissions?

Wim Aerts (Truienair): ‘Participants ask us explicitly what they can do when peak values are measured. They find it frustrating that, after their efforts to measure particulate matter, they can do little to improve the situation. The fact is that you cannot legally prohibit the burning of wood.’

Jeroen Staelens (Gentenair): ‘In fact, it is crucial to do expectation management beforehand and to temper the expectations of citizen scientists. On the other hand, you cannot deny that citizen measurements have an important added value. They add a dimension to the measurements by official bodies. Policymakers and cities notice the data but are also not insensitive to citizen engagement. You can definitely say that the results and the commitment of the citizens themselves, as members of a global measuring concern, have a signal function.’

Maarten Reyniers (Leuvenair): ‘That's right, a signal to people to move sustainably and heat wisely but also to scientists and governments to get to work with our data. That's it in a nutshell.’

Planting a seed

Are you planning follow-up projects or new initiatives?

Maarten Reyniers (Leuvenair): ‘Our sensors have a limited lifetime so the project itself has been stopped. All results have been published as open data. Meanwhile, KU Leuven has realized a network of weather stations with almost the same volunteers, the Leuven.cool project, in collaboration with the city of Leuven, climate non-profit organization Leuven2030 and KMI. With 100 local weather stations they are mapping the heat island effect, the temperature differences between city and countryside.’

Wim Aerts (Truienair): ‘With Truienair, we are focusing on teaching packages in schools, together with PXL University College, at this stage of the project. We want to roll out these teaching packages as part of the focus on STEM-education. We are also active in the VLINDER and Telraam projects, so you could say that an awareness has been created and that there is a spill-over of civic engagement into other projects.’

Jeroen Staelens (Gentenair): ‘We will organize some more workshops with Gentenair and re-activate our participants to take measurements. We want to further nurture the seed we planted: the awareness of our participants around air quality. We are also looking forward to a new generation of professional sensors that are more complete and sensitive, so that our data quality can increase. Of course, it is and remains a challenge to keep citizens engaged in a citizen science project.’

Maarten Reyniers (Leuvenair): ‘A time-intensive, but nice challenge, though.’