The animated image below was created by Mark Parrington and was originally publish on his Twitter account on June 6th, 2023.
I believe it is an eye opening animation as it reveals how easy air pollution travels across states and countries. We call this pollution Cross-Border Air Pollution.
It was brought to my attention by Dr. Howook Chang that most media are talking about wildfires, what the color of the sunset looks like, and that people shouldn’t go outside. However, no one is talking about the fact that smoke can infiltrate houses quite easily. Wildfire smoke can join you during dinner or while you are sleeping.
Air quality matters more indoors where we spend most of our time. So here is a series of things to keep in mind in order to breathe healthy air.
First of all, measure the air quality indoors and outdoors. The reason we need to measure both environments is that we need to benchmark the conditions and take decisions based on the data we have collected. Pollutants can easily come inside the house during ambient pollution events, whether is a wildfire, traffic, or a dust storm (e.g. Sahara Dust). Windows, doors, HVAC systems, or simply not good insulation are some of the main entrances of pollution indoors.
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In August 2021 (summer in Northern Hemisphere), I travelled from Spain to Greece in order to visit my parents as I hadn’t see them for a long time due to the pandemic. I visited 10 countries and I evaluated the air quality with a portable air quality monitor (Atmotube PRO) but as well as the behavior of the people in these countries as they tend to have different customs when it comes to cooking or transporting around the cities.
This evaluation is very narrow because of the fact that I didn’t stay longer than a day or two in each city so take it with a pinch of salt. Also, the climatological conditions were entangled to the summer month of August and high temperatures were expected in the Mediterranean coastline. Wildfires are more likely to occur during the dry month of August and indeed I witnessed a few in the Balkans.
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Autumn and Winter are almost here for the Northern Hemisphere which means a vast majority of the population is going to leave terraces and other open outdoor spaces for indoor spaces (offices, classrooms, homes, indoor restaurants, etc). Covid-19 is still present, but most importantly, we are going to breathe lots of indoor air. We need to take control of the air we breathe as indoors is much easier to diminish the quantity of pollutants we inhale than been outside.
Covid-19 has ruined the lives of many people, personally, I believe that it is very easy to combat the spread of the virus in enclosed spaces, but we need to follow the rules of proper ventilation and purification combined. Scientists have developed various kinds of technologies that can capture pollutants and pathogens. I don’t want to focus very much on the pandemic rather than how important is to breathe clean and fresh air indoors for so many other reasons.
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See The Air 