Abstract
Air pollution is a serious problem that is causing increasing concern among European citizens. It is responsible for more than 400,000 premature deaths in Europe each year and considerably damages human health, agriculture, and the natural environment. Despite these facts, the readiness and power of citizens to take actions is limited. To address this challenge, the citizen science project CAPTOR was launched in 2016. Using low-cost measurement devices, citizens in three European testbeds supported the monitoring of tropospheric ozone. This paper presents the results from 53 interviews with involved residents and shows that the active involvement of individuals in a complex process such as measuring tropospheric ozone can have important impacts on their knowledge and attitudes. In an attempt to expand the benefits of low-cost air quality sensors from an individual to a regional level, certain preconditions are key. Strong support in assuring data quality, visibility of the collected data in online and offline media, broad dissemination of results, and intensified communication with political decision-makers are needed.
Highlights
Air pollution is a global danger leading to large impacts on human health and worldwide ecosystems
Direct contacts were established with local air quality monitoring network representatives, and permission to install the nodes at selected stations was requested and granted
There is an industrial company not too far from where we live and the wind comes from that direction and we can smell some type of contamination
Summary
Air pollution is a global danger leading to large impacts on human health and worldwide ecosystems. Air pollution has significant impacts on the health of the population, vegetation, and economy, cutting lives short, increasing medical costs, and reducing productivity through lost working days. To respond to this major public health threat, in 2016 the WHO Member States agreed on a road map for “an enhanced global response to the adverse health effects of air pollution.”. Low-cost sensors are deployed to measure and map air quality together with citizens, thereby supporting well-informed actions and bringing the topic to a wider audience, including policy makers
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