Abstract
Environmental protection agencies around the globe are establishing different methods for measuring particulates, and then integrating those measurements into a single air quality index with other pollutants. At the same time, scientific inquiry has also shifted to a theory of measurement that incorporates discrete and continuous measurement. This article reviews the relationship between discrete measurements and indices, while also speculating on the way that the continuous measurement of air pollution could stimulate awareness and action. The paper argues that continuous measurement must include the way people of different backgrounds perceive air pollution in their lives. After reviewing the methods of measuring particulates and their inclusion into various indices, the article argues that in order to take action to mitigate the health impacts of air pollution, we must allow for the social perception of air pollution to become entangled within our scientific measurements.
Highlights
When the leader of a superpower references the weather during a prominent speech given at a gathering of world leaders, we assume it is nothing more than nervous pleasantry.When President Xi Jinping referenced the blue skies that emerged during the Asia-Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC) 2014 forum hosted in Beijing, he was communicating a great deal of information.By shutting down factories two weeks before the forum began and enforcing automobile restrictions, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was able to ensure that the gray, polluted skies that had become commonplace for Beijing residents would give way to blue skies, what online commentators described as Asia-Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC) Blue
By shutting down factories two weeks before the forum began and enforcing automobile restrictions, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was able to ensure that the gray, polluted skies that had become commonplace for Beijing residents would give way to blue skies, what online commentators described as APEC Blue
As we will see, there is a general shift towards incorporating continuous measurements using optical technologies with discrete measurements that use filter-based gravimetric methods for determining concentration, which is a result of air pollution research becoming more embedded within participatory science frameworks, and could come to influence the way standards are determined at institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO)
Summary
When the leader of a superpower references the weather during a prominent speech given at a gathering of world leaders, we assume it is nothing more than nervous pleasantry. Beijing residents made the determination that APEC Blue was a clean environment and Airpocalypse a polluted environment, based on their visual perception of the atmosphere, and on tactile sensory perception, such as through breathing the air or feeling the layers of dust that accumulated in one’s home. These two events provided atmospheric scientists, armed with the latest technological instruments, an opportunity to refine the way we measure and calculate air pollution, with a particular concern for public health. I will conclude by arguing that an entanglement of discrete and continuous measurements with social perception within a kind of participatory science is necessary for moving us beyond awareness towards changing everyday practices that could reduce air pollution
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