482
W. Lefebvre
We can then ask ourselves the question: what exactly is the basic knowledge that
we want the large public to know. And in extension, what should policy makers, who
can have a large influence with their decisions on the air quality, know?
Thinking about this, I was able to compile a list of things that I would want that
people know. In order to verify if my answers were representative for the scientific
community at large, I used the last HARMO-conference to interview several air
quality scientists (of different countries, backgrounds, …) on this topic. At first, the
different answers that I received were wildly different, but in discussions with the
different interviewees several common topics were found. This paper discusses these
results.
76.2 Large Public
Two important messages were found for the public at large. The first one is that
every citizen should know that air pollution has an adverse effect on their and their
neighbors’ health. The health effects of air pollution, in particulate particulate matter,
are well-documented and are large. It is estimated that globally more people die due
to ambient air pollution than due to transport accidents (by a factor of more than 4).
The number of life years lost is also much larger for air pollution (by a factor of more
than 2) than for transport injuries [1]. Nevertheless, the air pollution deaths are much
less visible as air pollution is not a direct cause but a risk that increases a number
of incidences of death causes. As a result, the health damage due to air pollution
is not visible, but in order to create support for measures against air pollution, the
knowledge of this existence is necessary (but not sufficient).
Secondly, people should acknowledge that every action they take can have an
influence on air quality both close to them as far away. For instance, eating meat will
increase ammonia emissions at the locations where the meat is produced, transport
emissions in order to get the meat at the location, … Some of the emissions are
unavoidable in the current system (food will have to be transported in many cases,
leading to transport emissions). However, the realization of these linkages in the
system are important.
When human beings are confronted with a complex system, they tend to apply
simple and clear-cut rules in order to make decisions. However, this creates problems
when these simple rules are incomplete or flat-out wrong. For instance, many people
will consider that what is natural will be good for the air quality. When applied to for
instance wood burning, this rule is wrong. A significant percentage of the particulate
matter emissions, and thus concentrations, exposure and health effects is created by
the combustion of wood.
W. Lefebvre
We can then ask ourselves the question: what exactly is the basic knowledge that
we want the large public to know. And in extension, what should policy makers, who
can have a large influence with their decisions on the air quality, know?
Thinking about this, I was able to compile a list of things that I would want that
people know. In order to verify if my answers were representative for the scientific
community at large, I used the last HARMO-conference to interview several air
quality scientists (of different countries, backgrounds, …) on this topic. At first, the
different answers that I received were wildly different, but in discussions with the
different interviewees several common topics were found. This paper discusses these
results.
76.2 Large Public
Two important messages were found for the public at large. The first one is that
every citizen should know that air pollution has an adverse effect on their and their
neighbors’ health. The health effects of air pollution, in particulate particulate matter,
are well-documented and are large. It is estimated that globally more people die due
to ambient air pollution than due to transport accidents (by a factor of more than 4).
The number of life years lost is also much larger for air pollution (by a factor of more
than 2) than for transport injuries [1]. Nevertheless, the air pollution deaths are much
less visible as air pollution is not a direct cause but a risk that increases a number
of incidences of death causes. As a result, the health damage due to air pollution
is not visible, but in order to create support for measures against air pollution, the
knowledge of this existence is necessary (but not sufficient).
Secondly, people should acknowledge that every action they take can have an
influence on air quality both close to them as far away. For instance, eating meat will
increase ammonia emissions at the locations where the meat is produced, transport
emissions in order to get the meat at the location, … Some of the emissions are
unavoidable in the current system (food will have to be transported in many cases,
leading to transport emissions). However, the realization of these linkages in the
system are important.
When human beings are confronted with a complex system, they tend to apply
simple and clear-cut rules in order to make decisions. However, this creates problems
when these simple rules are incomplete or flat-out wrong. For instance, many people
will consider that what is natural will be good for the air quality. When applied to for
instance wood burning, this rule is wrong. A significant percentage of the particulate
matter emissions, and thus concentrations, exposure and health effects is created by
the combustion of wood.