1: What is Air Pollution?
Overview
This section begins with an activity to engage families in
exploring their relationship to the air around them. Families
will begin by exploring approximately how much air they breathe
in during a normal-sized breath. Next, they will learn more
about the health effects of air pollution by watching a short
video and having a brief discussion. Finally, they will leave
the session prepared to collect data, during the ensuing week,
on their own exposure to ozone and on things they do that
contribute to air pollution.
Advance Preparation
- Have blank name tags and markers available so participants
can fill out their own name tags.
- Participants will need to have access to a source of running
water during the Exploring Our Breath activity.
- Make copies of the following handouts (one of each per family):
- Make copies of activity sheet, Exploring
our Breathing, one per person.
- Make copies of the handout Illustration
of Atmospheric Layers, one per person.
- Make copies of the sheet, ECO Badge Data Collection Sheet,
one per person.
- Expose ECO Badge filters to ozone, for participants to use
to practice color-matching
Handouts
- Masters of the following handouts:
Materials you need to provide
- Folders, to be used as Research Folders, one per family.
- Copies of the brochure, 25 Ways You Can Clean The Air
- Video, Race to Save the Planet: Do We Really Want to Live
This Way?
- For the Exploring Our Breath activity, for each group
of 2-3 families:
- tub
- roll of waterproof tape (electric tape)
- plastic tubing
- permanent magic marker
- plastic gallon milk/water jug with cap
- plastic drinking straws (one per person)
- ECO Badge kits, one per family. Each kit contains:
- ECO Badge holder and snap-on clip
- ECO filters
- 8" x 10" Colormetric chart
- vinyl inner pouch
- vinyl outer (zip-lock) pouch
- Video cassette player and monitor
- Clock or watch with second hand
Activities
1. How much air do we breathe?
a. Exploring our breathing
Note to Program Leader: This activity provides an
opportunity for people to realize that the amount of air we breath
in and out during a day is, in fact, considerable. With this discovery
also comes the realization that, if the air contains gaseous pollutants,
we breathe in a tremendous amount of air pollution each day.
- Distribute the activity sheet, Exploring
Our Breathing,and a research folder. Ask people to keep
their activity sheets and other handouts in the folder and to
bring the folder back to each session.
- Hold up the gallon jug and ask people what is inside it (air).
Ask participants to estimate how much air they think they breathe
in during one normal-sized breath, as compared to the
amount of air in the gallon jug (for example, one-half a jug's
worth). People might want to pay attention to their breathing
for a few seconds before making their estimate. Ask participants
to record their estimate on the space provided on the activity
sheet.
- Explain that we can use a simple set-up to measure the amount
of air we exhale with each breath.
- Review the activity sheet, Exploring Our Breathing. Point
out that this activity assumes that the amount of air you inhale
is about the same as the amount of air you then exhale.
- Have volunteers help demonstrate how to use the set-up.
- Ask families to pair up with one or two other families, and
start the activity.
b. Discussing results
- Ask people what they think about the amount of air they exhaled.
Is it more or less than they estimated?
- Ask people how many breaths they think they take in a minute.
Have people check this out by counting their breaths over the
course of a minute.
- Extend the discussion by asking people to estimate how many
breaths they take over the course of an hour and over the course
of a day. Don't worry about the fact that people's breathing
rates change while they sleep. The point is for people to realize
that over the course of a day they take many thousands of breaths
and therefore inhale a tremendous amount of air.
- Continue by discussing what happens when we breathe polluted
air. You can ask the following kinds of questions, keeping in
mind that these questions are raised at this point to pique interest
-- there is no need to press for "right" answers.
- How might you feel if you were in a closed room full of smoke
from a piece of burned toast, cigarette smoke, or a smoking fireplace?
How might it affect your breathing? Your eyes? The way you feel
overall?
- How do you think air pollution might affect you? Your breathing?
- What could you do to protect yourself from polluted air?
2. What is the Smog Watch Program about?
- Explain that the Smog Watch program focuses on ground-level
ozone, a major component of smog, and a major environmental health
risk. Over the course of the program we will work together as
scientists exploring air pollution. Explain that we will:
- measure our exposure to air pollution, collect information
on weather, and explore things we do that contribute to air pollution;
- think about what this information means;
- explore the health effects of ozone; and
- come up with ideas about what we might do based on what we
discovered.
3. What do we know about smog?
- Show the first 15 minutes of the video, Race to Save the
Planet: Do We Really Want to Live This Way?
This part of the video provides a good overview of smog, ozone
and its formation, and damage that ground level ozone can cause.
- Ask people to share any reactions they had to the film. What
intrigued, bothered, or surprised you?
Note to Program Leader: Some people may be surprised
to hear that ozone can be bad for us. When people hear the term
ozone, they often think of the ozone layer (and ozone "hole")
in the stratosphere. It is important that people understand that
this Smog Watch program is about ground level (tropospheric) ozone,
which is the major component of smog and is a hazardous air pollutant.
Hopefully, when people share their reactions to the film, they
will talk about the distinction between stratospheric ("good")
ozone and ground-level ("bad") ozone and realize that
this program is about the latter. To reinforce this understanding,
you can refer to the illustration of atmospheric layers. If no
one raises this important distinction, you may want to bring it
up.
4. How can we measure our exposure to ozone and the associated
health effects? Give each family the following: one activity
sheet, Using The ECO Badge, that explain how to
use the ECO Badge and the procedures for collecting data. Emphasize
that color matching can be difficult. Remind people to use the
one-hour rather than the eight-hour exposure. Suggest that, after
the badge-wearer compares the color of the exposed filter paper
with the color chart, he or she should have another person match
the color as well. Have participants practice matching colors,
and recording data, using the samples of exposed filter papers
supplied in the materials kit. Also have participants practice
using the Ozone Health Effects and Recommendations chart
to determine the air quality and health effects associated with
the ozone concentration.
5. Preparing for home activities
- Give each family one copy of the pamphlet, 25 Ways You
Can Clean The Air, and give each person a copy of the sheet,
Changes in Behavior.
- Explain that the pamphlet includes suggestions of things
people can do to "help win the fight against smog."
Suggest that, over the course of the next two weeks, people read
the pamphlet, and think about what changes they might be willing
to make in their behavior to help reduce smog and to reduce their
own exposure to smog.
- Ask participants to keep track, on the sheet, Changes
in Behavior, of one or two modifications in their behavior
they want to try to make. Ask the participants, "What is
it like to try to change your behavior?" Emphasize that
many behavior changes are hard to make, and that we will talk
about their experiences during the third session.
- Give each participant a copy of each of the following: Air
Pollution Fact Sheet: Ozone Air Pollution, and Warmer
Weather, Unfortunately, Produces Smog, to browse through
as they see fit over the course of the week.
- Remind people to collect data on their exposure to ozone
using the ECO Badge and to bring their ECO Badge Data Collection
Sheets and Ozone Health Effects and Recommendations charts
to the next session so that they can share their results.
- If applicable, let people know that some of the group's data
will be sent to the local TV station weather forecaster.
Tropospheric Ozone Index
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