Clean Air Day 2024 - what do you breathe every day?

Ah, autumn and winter... It will soon be white outside. But it won't be a snowy white, but rather a kind of sino-brown. And it won't be falling from the sky at all, but will be floating in it.

For smog, there is no escaping it. It insidiously invades our homes and... lungs, destroying our health. What's worse is that we are responsible for the enormity of this pollution ourselves. The small, everyday choices we make have an impact on air quality.

See also:

• World Food Day
• World No Smoking Day
• Lung health after a pandemic
• Great Bee Day
• Bone Marrow Donor Day
• Fish Day
• Day of Blood Donation
• National Kindergarten Day
• Hug Day
• Of singles on Valentine's Day

When is Clean Air Day?

Clean air is so important that as many as two days a year are dedicated to it. Clean Air Day is celebrated on 14 November. However, at the initiative of the United Nations, International Clean Air Day was also established, which falls on 7 September.

What we breathe every day...

Breathing is a symbol of life for many - no wonder. The oxygen circulating in your veins is the basis of all life processes taking place in the body. But can we put an equal sign between oxygen and air? No. Oxygen is not even its main component.

Composition of air

Air (the pure kind) is made up of four main compounds:

• nitrogen (78%),
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• oxygen (20.9%),
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• argon (0.93%),
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• carbon dioxide (0.03%),
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If you have just calculated this, you already know that adding up the percentages will give not 100%, but 99.86%. The remaining hundredths of a percent is a mixture of other noble gasesand.

And yes, carbon dioxide occurs naturally in the composition of the air. We exhale it into the atmosphere every day. It is also produced by decaying plants, for example. However, as you can see, its contribution to the composition of clean air should be minimal.

It is not a problem.

The problem arises when there is too much carbon dioxide in the air. Then, from an ordinary, "residual" component of the air, this compound becomes one of the greenhouse gases. And these are responsible, among other things, for climate change and related disasters and weather anomaliesand. Unfortunately, carbon dioxide is not the only problem.

The most dangerous air pollutants

Every day we emit many compounds into the atmosphere that pollute the air. Some of the most dangerous (and emitted in the highest quantities) includeand:

• suspended particulate matter,
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• nitrogen oxide,
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• carbon monoxide,
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• sulfur dioxide,
• sulfur dioxide.

Suspended particulate matter

Suspended particulates are microscopic particles of minerals and metals that have entered the air and then combined with water. They are classified by size, and measured in micrometres. If you have ever checked your air quality on an app or dedicated website, you will no doubt have come across the designation PM2.5 and PM10. What do these mean?

PM is an acronym for Particulate Matter, which simply means 'particulate matter'. The number next to PM is the size of the dust particle. PM2.5 is dust with a particle diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less, and PM10 is dust with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less. To give you an idea of the scale of this size, let me suggest that a human hair has a diameter of 50-70 micrometresand.

The smaller the dust particles, the greater the danger they pose to your health. This is because smaller particles find it easier to overcome the natural protective barriers in the respiratory tract and enter the bloodstream .

Particulate matter can contain, among other things, poisonous dioxins, heavy metals and other compounds from, for example, the burning of fossil fuels. When they enter the body, they can build up in the body and consequently lead to the development of cancer, lung disease, increased asthma and allergy symptoms, or recurrent respiratory infections .

Nitric oxide

Nitric oxide is a representative of a group of notorious free radicals that contribute to oxidative stress in the body. As if that wasn't enough, nitric oxide oxidises on contact with oxygen to form nitrogen dioxideand.

Breathing nitrogen dioxide puts you at risk of damaging the immune cells populating your lungs. This can result in more frequent upper respiratory illness and increased asthma symptoms .

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide, or Chad, is a highly poisonous compound that reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood and can cause cardiovascular disease. It is formed by incomplete combustion of fuels, such as coal, wood, oil or petrol. When there is a lack of oxygen in the combustion process, the reaction does not fully take place (the fuel does not burn) and instead of carbon dioxide, it is Chadand.

Of course, you are not at risk of such dire consequences from being outdoors, even if you live in an extremely polluted city.

Sulphur dioxide

Sulphur dioxide is a gas that can damage the epithelium lining the nose, throat and lungs. In addition, it can cause narrowing of the airways. It increases the risk of infection and inflammation. It is particularly dangerous for asthmatics and people with cardiovascular conditionsand.

How is smog formed?

The poisonous compounds described above (and a few other 'nice-to-haves'), mixed together, can create smog. However, the pollutants in the air alone are not enough for a neighbourhood to become covered in a grey-yellow, suffocating vapour.

For smog to form, three conditions must be metand:

• lots of pollutants in the air (with particulate matter predominating),
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• high humidity (smog is most often formed together with fog),
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• windless weather persisting for a long period of time,
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It is because of this last point that residents of coastal cities, where gusty winds blow in from the sea, can enjoy the best air quality in Poland. Simply put - smog needs to be ventilated.

Today, therefore, one of the greatest urban planning challenges is to provide air corridors in cities that would allow air masses to move naturally. It is a question of planning urban development in such a way and incorporating green areas that would allow for the free exchange of air.

Air quality in statistics

Nothing speaks to us more clearly and emphatically than numbers. So let's look at the scale of the problem through the prism of statistics. Spoiler: it's not cheerful. But before we jump into the world of graphs and percentages, let's take another look at the standards set by the WHO.

WHO recommendations

In 2021, the WHO issued new recommendations for acceptable concentrations of the most harmful substances in the air. Compared to the previous document (dated 2005), for most substances the standards for their concentrations have been tightened several timesand.

The WHO gives standards for recommended concentrations in two time frames: annual and daily (except for recommendations for ozone levels).

Slightly different are the standards for ozone (O3) - here the recommendations for concentrations have been set for different time intervals: 

• 8 hours - recommendation is 100 µg/m³,
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• the daily average of the maximum 8-hourly concentration during the 6 consecutive months with the highest ozone concentrations, referred to as the "peak season"-recommendation is 60 µg/m³,
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Air quality in Poland

At the outset, I must mention that most of the statistical data available from the Central Statistical Office (CSO) and the General Inspectorate for Environmental Protection (GIOŚ) are for the years 2020-2021. On the GIOŚ website, we can only see the annual average distributions of pollutant concentrations for 2022 in the form of an illustrative map - these are not compiled dataand.

I would also add that the concentration standards of individual pollutants are assessed on the basis of the Regulation of the Minister of Climate and Environment of 11 December 2020 on the assessment of levels of substances in the air . It is therefore, for obvious reasons, not aligned with the latest WHO recommendations.

This is why, despite the fact that the map of average annual concentrations on the GIOŚ website sparkles with various shades of green, confronting it with the WHO recommendations, it turns out that even in those "green" areas, standards may be exceeded two or three timesand.

Despite the fact that the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection (GIOŚ) relies on standards that are not aligned with the latest standards, in 2021 there were still exceedances of permissible concentrations of pollutants in the air in as many as 14 out of 16 provinces .

The worst air quality was recorded in the provinces:

• Silesian,
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• Malopolskie,
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• Łódzkie,
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The inhabitants of the following provinces have the cleanest air:

• Pomorskie,
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• Western Pomeranian,
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Not only state institutions study air quality. Both in Poland and worldwide, there are many organisations monitoring pollution levels. One of them - IQAir - publishes a ranking of the most polluted cities in real time and historically (2017-2022). At the time of writing this article the most polluted city in Poland is Orzesze (Silesian Voivodeship) - based on the annual average PM2.5 concentrationand.

Interestingly, in IQAir's 2017-2022 comparison, Kraków was ranked 15th and Warsaw 24th .

And yet, in the smog greys there is a glimmer of hope. According to the CSO report "Environmental Protection 2022" Poland is producing less and less pollution. The document compares emissions of health-threatening substances between 2000 and 2020. Taking into account dust, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide, over two decades we have managed to reduce their annual total production by 37.7%and.

See how many thousands of tonnes of each pollutant Poland produced in 2000 and 2020.

Another issue is the production of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas with a huge impact on climate change. In 2000, Poland emitted 317,719,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, while in 2020 it will emit 303,523,000 tonnes. Given the pro-climate policies we should be pursuing, the decrease does not seem so impressive and is only 4.5%and.

Who poisons us the most?

In terms of sources of air pollution emissions the CSO has distinguished the following groups :

• energy industry,
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• industrial combustion of fuels,
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• transportation,
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• households,
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• industrial processes,
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• other sources such as agriculture, waste management or fugitive emissions.
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The Environmental Protection 2022 report examined the largest emitters of three pollutants: particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide. Thus, there are three winners in this infamous ranking: The energy industry, transport and... householdsand.

The smoke emitted from the chimneys of our homes is responsible for 43.3% of all particulate emissions in the country . In terms of the production of particularly harmful and smogogenic dust, households, heated with so-called fossils, i.e. outdated cookers into which low-quality fuel is often put, lead the way. In addition, the practice of throwing rubbish into the cookers is still alive and, appallingly, practised.

The impact of what we burn in our cookers on air quality is perfectly illustrated by the example of the so-called cracker's brew. Unfortunately, this is not a famous regional bakery product, but an area of single-family houses (villages and smaller towns with a predominance of this type of housing) located around the city of Krakow.

According to Airly, following the introduction of the solid fuel smoking ban in Krakow (as the first city in Poland), air quality in the city itself has improved. Unfortunately, it still indicated critically poor measurements in the surrounding areasand.

When it comes to transport, it is by far the winner in nitrogen oxide emissions. Indeed, it is responsible for 35.5% of the totaland.

Sulphur dioxide production, on the other hand, is the domain of the energy industry. In 2020, it emitted as much as 42.3% of this poisonous gas. However, even here, it was immediately followed by households with an equally 'impressive' figure of 29.2%and.

So who can be called the biggest polluter in Poland? Ourselves. Households emitted 29.7% of the three main air pollutants into the atmosphere, overtaking even the energy industry responsible for just over 25% of the toxins and leaving other sources .

World air quality

The air (and, by extension, the pollutants in it) can travel vast distances. It does not care about the boundaries of cities (as the example of Krakow has shown), countries or even continents.

It is for this reason that the authorities of the world are not able to determine the quality of air.

This is why the European Union authorities look unfavourably on member states that do not meet the adopted pollution targets. And they include them in infringement procedures - against Poland such a procedure has been underway since May 2020and.

Are we the worst in Europe? According to IQAir's 'World Air Quality 2022' report, the old continent has the most pollutants in the air:

1. Bosnia and Herzegovina
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2. Northern Macedonia
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3. Serbia
4. Croatia
5. Moldova
6. Greece
7. Italy
8. Bulgaria
9. Romania
10. Georgia

Two important points: the report only measured PM2.5 concentrations, and I have not included countries that are only partly in Europe (e.g. Kazakhstan or Turkey) in the above comparison.

Poland is not included.

Poland may not be in the top ten, but this does not mean that we can breathe be relieved - we ranked 11th. And if only the countries belonging to the European Union were taken into account, then we would rank 6. positionand.

And what does the 10 most polluted countries in the world in 2022 look like? Here Asia and Africa lead the way:

1. Cad
2. Iraq
3. Pakistan
4. Bahrain
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5. Bangladesh
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6. Burkina Faso
7. Kuwait
8. India
9. Egypt
10. Tajikistan
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Are we missing someone here...? If you're reflexively looking for China - no wonder - it's been at the top of this infamous pile for years. But since 2013, the country has introduced restrictive policies to improve air quality and has now dropped to 25th place in the ranking. Has this paid off? And how: thanks to the changes introduced over the past decade, it is estimated that the life expectancy of the population has increased by more than two years. So - it can be done.

Pollution producers

When talking about pollutant emissions, experts most often look at carbon dioxide, as it has a direct impact not only on health, but also on climate change. Who produces the most of it?

Most CO2 is released into the atmosphere byand:

1. China
2. USA
3. India
4. Russia
5. Japan

Interestingly, if food waste were treated as a country, it would push India off the podiumand. A bit scary.

In addition to carbon dioxide, Green Peace also examined global sulphur dioxide emissions in 2018. Here are 5 countries that produced the most SO2and:

1. India
2. Russia
3. China
4. Mexico
5. Iran

To paraphrase Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter: China, India and Russia - why is it that whenever pollution is mentioned, the three of you are there?

What affects air pollution?

Looking at the problem of air pollution through the prism of the world, one of the main factors is industry. Factories, power plants, refineries - all these places emit huge amounts of pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter into the atmosphere. Sites burning coal and using chemicals for industrial processesand are particularly problematic.

Another major source of pollution is transport. Cars, trucks, planes, ships - all these vehicles emit exhaust fumes that contain a range of harmful compounds. Carbon dioxide is often cited as the main culprit of climate change, but exhaust also contains other pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and particulatesand.

We must also not forget about agriculture. Fertilisers, pesticides and greenhouse gases emitted by livestock, such as cows, are also an important source of air pollutionand.

A last, but not least (especially in Poland), factor is the burning of solid fuels in homes. Many people still use low-quality coal or wood to heat their homes, leading to the emission of harmful pollutants into the atmosphereand.

How to protect yourself from polluted air

Polluted air is a problem that affects us all. However, the right action can help minimise its negative effects. Here are some proven ways to help you protect yourself from polluted air.

To know when to take the necessary action, it is worth monitoring the state of the air in your area on an ongoing basis. Various apps and websites provide information about the current air quality. Tracking this data will let you know when the air is most polluted. What to do then? 

There 10 ways to protect yourself from smog:

1. Wear an anti-smog mask

Smog masks are not very comfortable, but they are effective. When air quality indicators are sounding the alarm and you need to go outside, they will help protect you from inhaling harmful particles. Remember to choose models that filter out the smallest PM2.5 particles.

2. Take care of the quality of your heating systems

If you live in a house, regularly check the condition of your heating system and ventilation. Choose good quality fuels as fuel. Remember also that a decently insulated house means lower heating costs. If your home could use some thermo-modernisation, read more about the Clean Air grant programme later in this article.

3.

3. Limit outdoor activities

During days when pollution levels are high, it is best to limit the time you spend outside. This is especially important during intense exercise, when we naturally breathe deeper and faster.

4.

4. Use an air purifier

Air purifiers can help keep the air in your home clean. Choose units with HEPA filters, which are able to catch the finest particles of pollutants.

5. Humidify the air

Keeping the air in your home sufficiently humid makes pollutants (especially dust) fall to the ground faster. It is then easier to clean them up - just mop the floor wet.

6.

6. Let some greenery into your home

Some houseplants have the ability to clean the air naturally. Flowers such as Dutch fern, orchid, sansevieria and aloe vera can help remove harmful substances from the air.

6.

7. How about a tram...?

Using public transport is one way to help improve the air in your area. You can also cover shorter distances by bicycle. It will be both environmentally friendly and good for your health.

8.

8. Vote in the civic budget

The last parliamentary elections showed that your vote matters. Vote in the civic budget for tree planting and green space protection initiatives in your city.

9.

9. Segregate your waste

Segregating your rubbish not only contributes to making landfill heaps smaller. By doing so, you are also protecting the air.

10.

10. buy consciously

Thousands of tonnes of waste end up in landfills, and there ... emitting greenhouse gases. What's more, most of this stuff is usable. Clothing brands operating in the spirit of fast fashion are a good example of this problem. 

Every year they produce tons of clothes to keep up with the latest trends and throw away the surplus produced. Yes, that's right - they throw away new clothes that haven't sold. And all the pollution put into the atmosphere, used in their production, goes to waste.

It is worth choosing brands (not just clothing brands) that feature more sustainable production and, for example, have implemented a CO2 reduction policy. Protecting against polluted air is a process that requires regular action. By taking care of your air quality, you take care of your health.

Clean Air Programme

Burning rubbish, old, inefficient cookers and poorly insulated houses (which thus require stronger heating). If it were not for these things in Poland, we would breathe much more freely during the autumn and winter seasons. Can anything at all be done about the problem of throat-biting smoke from the neighbour's chimney?

One answer to this question is the Clean Air Programme. This programme is a government initiative that aims to improve air quality throughout the country. It is aimed at owners of detached houses and offers funding to replace old, inefficient heating systems with new, greener solutions .

The principles of the scheme are simple. Homeowners who wish to take advantage of the funding should submit an application. This application must include information about the house, the heating system they wish to replace and the one they wish to install. The application is also accompanied by documents proving ownership of the homeand.

The amount of the subsidy depends on several factors. First of all, the greener the new heating system is, the higher the grant you can receive. In addition, the subsidy is higher for people who have lower incomes. The maximum amount of funding is 90% of the investment costsand.

When an application is submitted, it is assessed by specialists. If the application complies with the requirements of the programme, the applicant gets a decision on the grant. Once the decision is received, the homeowner can proceed with the investment. Once the work is completed, documents must be submitted to prove that the work has been carried out, and then the grant is receivedand.

It is important that the Clean Air programme not only helps to improve air quality, but also saves on heating costs. New, more efficient heating systems use less energy, which translates into lower heating bills. This makes the investment in thermal modernisation pay off quicklyand.

In addition, the programme not only allows for the replacement of the cooker, but can also cover the insulation of the house.

Clean Air Day at nursery and school

In order to start taking action, it is first necessary to understand the problem at hand. Alongside topics such as healthy lifestyles, diet and the environment, air quality issues are things you should be familiar with from a very young age.

Check out if you can't take action.

Check if your child's nursery or school has a Clean Air Day. If not, nothing lost - you can play teacher yourself if you feel like it. The whole package of educational material, along with simple experiments, is available at Eccalendar ← a click will take you straight to the pdf file.

Summary