Determinants of the Willingness-to-Participate in an Environmental Intervention in a Beirut Neighborhood

Participatory environmental management can empower communities and enhance the sustainability of environmental interventions. However, existing power structures and inequalities along class, gender, or ethnic lines could prevent part of the community from accessing the full benefits of the intervention. An analysis of determinants of the willingness-to-participate in an environmental intervention in a Beirut neighborhood is conducted. Socioeconomic, health-risk distribution, and perception of community efficacy are used as predictors. A randomly selected sample of residents was surveyed. Respondents were asked to specify the frequency with which they were willing to be involved in an intervention to address priority environmental problems in the neighborhood. Bivariate and multivariate ordinal regression analyses were conducted. Tests of significance were based on the 95% confidence intervals (CI) of the odds ratio (OR). Males versus females (OR = 4.89, P < 0.001), respiratory patients versus nonsufferers (OR = 5.65, P < 0.001), tenants versus house owners (OR = 2.98, P < 0.01), and the less educated versus the more educated (OR = 2.42, P < 0.05) were significantly more likely to be willing to participate. The reluctance of female community members to participate might be a major hindrance to community-based environmental protection and special strategies must be devised to overcome it. On the other hand, respondents suffering from an illness perceived to be related to environmental toxins are likely to be strong participants in environmental conservation efforts. Finally, the study yielded no evidence that belief or lack of it in the efficacy of community action is a good predictor of the willingness-to-participate in such action.     

长三角区域典型城市大气污染特征及防治建议

长三角区域是工业集聚程度高、大气环境污染形势较为严峻的区域。本文以长三角区域的典型城市南京市作为分析对象,研究其大气污染特征,分析主要污染物的组成和来源,从而深入了解长三角地区大气污染问题的影响因素,并有针对性地提出有效的防治建议。     

谈如何提高大气污染治理的有效性

人们赖以生存的环境,是维持人类及自然界生物健康长存的基础。如今的环境污染形势非常严峻,越来越多的人呼吁保护环境,并渴望全球人员共同参与到环境保护中。对此,本文从大气污染这一角度,分析了大气污染的特点及造成大气污染的主要原因。同时认为大气污染治理应找出大气污染的根源,从预防与治理两个角度做起。具体来说,可从四点做起:一是着眼于法律法规的完善,强化责任落实力度;二是从预防做起,不断地调整产业结构;三是宣传绿色消费,积极地升级企业技术;四是运用现代化技术,建立大气污染监测与应急体系。     

沈阳市大气中PM2.5来源解析研究

通过2015年在沈阳市采集PM2.5样品及源类样品,分析样品的质量浓度和化学组成,用化学质量平衡(CMB)模型对该市PM2.5来源进行解析。结果表明:沈阳市大气中PM2.5浓度时空变化特征明显;各主要源类对沈阳市PM2.5的分担率依次为煤烟尘(28.03%)、二次无机离子(22.63%)、机动车尾气尘(17.27%)、城市扬尘(13.28%)、建筑尘(5.94%)、土壤风沙尘(5.82%)、道路尘(3.04%)、生物质燃烧尘(2.74%)和冶金尘(1.25%)。燃煤和机动车的有效控制既能降低本类源的贡献,也能降低二次无机离子,体现了多源类综合治理原则。     

空气扰动对净化器去除香烟源颗粒物性能的影响

空气净化器可有效改善雾霾天气下室内空气质量,颗粒物去除效果与洁净空气量(CADR)是衡量其性能的主要参数。在典型室内环境下,以香烟源颗粒物为目标,开展空气扰动对净化器去除颗粒物效果和CADR的影响实验与评价分析。结果显示,在室内空气扰动下,净化器对粒径≥5μm的颗粒物去除率为75.6%,在无空气扰动情况下的去除率为46.6%。空气净化器对粒径0.3μm^5μm的颗粒物有较好的去除效果,而对于粒径10μm的较大颗粒物,空气扰动造成CADR增加。空气扰动在一定程度上提升了空气净化器的净化能力,同时在性能方面也存在影响。     

Lichens as an integrating tool for monitoring PAH atmospheric deposition: A comparison with soil, air and pine needles

The aim of this study was to validate lichens as biomonitors of PAH atmospheric deposition; for that, an inter-comparison between the PAH profile and concentrations intercepted in lichens with those of air, soil and pine needles was performed. The study was conducted in a petro-industrial area and the results showed that PAH profiles in lichens were similar to those of the air and pine needles, but completely different from those of soils. Lichens accumulated higher PAH concentrations when compared to the other environmental compartments and its concentrations were significantly and linearly correlated with concentrations of PAHs in soil; we showed that a translation of the lichen PAHs concentrations into regulatory standards is possible, fulfilling one of the most important requirements of using lichens as biomonitors. With lichens we were then able to characterize the air PAHs profile of urban, petro-industrial and background areas.     

Xanthoria parietina as a monitor of ground-level ambient ammonia concentrations

Total nitrogen in transplanted and in situ lichen thalli of Xanthoria parietina were related to ambient ammonia air concentrations measured with passive ALPHA (Adapted Low-cost Passive High Absorption) diffusion samplers in Denmark. Transplants and ALPHA samplers were exposed four months in a transect on heathland close to a pig farm. Monthly mean ammonia concentrations declined exponentially approaching background levels after 300 m. Nitrogen content of the lichen transplants tended to decline with distance, though only a few stations were significantly different from each other. Where ammonia concentrations were high, maximum content of nitrogen was reached after one month of exposure. Conversely, at sites with background concentrations, it took several months to reach a statistically significant uptake. The correlation between ammonia concentration in the air and in situ X. parietina was significant.     

Advances of air pollution science: From forest decline to multiple-stress effects on forest ecosystem services

Over the past 20 years, the focus of forest science on air pollution has moved from forest decline to a holistic framework of forest health, and from the effects on forest production to the ecosystem services provided by forest ecosystems. Hence, future research should focus on the interacting factorial impacts and resulting antagonistic and synergistic responses of forest trees and ecosystems. The synergistic effects of air pollution and climatic changes, in particular elevated ozone, altered nitrogen, carbon and water availability, must be key issues for research. Present evidence suggests air pollution will become increasingly harmful to forests under climate change, which requires integration amongst various stressors (abiotic and biotic factors, including competition, parasites and fire), effects on forest services (production, biodiversity protection, soil protection, sustained water balance, socio-economical relevance) and assessment approaches (research, monitoring, modeling) to be fostered.     

Estimating contribution of wildland fires to ambient ozone levels in National Parks in the Sierra Nevada, California

Data from four continuous ozone and weather monitoring sites operated by the National Park Service in Sierra Nevada, California, are used to develop an ozone forecasting model and to estimate the contribution of wildland fires on ambient ozone levels. The analyses of weather and ozone data pointed to the transport of ozone precursors from the Central Valley as an important source of pollution in these National Parks. Comparisons of forecasted and observed values demonstrated that accurate forecasts of next-day hourly ozone levels may be achieved by using a time series model with historic averages, expected local weather and modeled PM values as explanatory variables. Results on fire smoke influence indicated occurrence of significant increases in average ozone levels with increasing fire activity. The overall effect on diurnal ozone values, however, was small when compared with the amount of variability attributed to sources other than fire.     

Levels and speciation of arsenic in the atmosphere in Beijing, China

Arsenic levels and speciation in the total suspended particles (TSPs) were quantitatively determined by high performance liquid chromatography on-line coupled with hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry in Beijing, China from February 2009 to March 2011. The high TSP levels fluctuated between 0.07 and 0.79 mg m⁻³, with a mean level of 0.32 ± 0.17 mg m⁻³. The total arsenic concentrations ranged from 0.03 to 0.31 μg m⁻³ (mean: 0.13 ± 0.06 μg m⁻³) in Beijing‘s air. The concentrations of As(III) and As(V) ranged from 0.73 to 20 ng m⁻³ (mean: 4.7 ± 3.6 ng m⁻³) and from 14 to 2.5 × 10² ng m⁻³ (mean: 67 ± 35 ng m⁻³), respectively. As levels and speciation demonstrated relative higher levels in spring and autumn and lower values in summer and winter. As(V) accounted for 81-99% of the extractable species in the TSP samples which showed that As(V) was the major fraction of the extractable As. Organoarsenic species, monomethylarsonate (MMA) and dimethylarsinate (DMA) were not found in all samples. Higher values of enrichment factors demonstrated that arsenic in TSP mainly come from anthropogenic sources. High As and its species levels in air and respiratory exposure (0.30-0.84 μg d⁻¹) attributed to higher excess cancer risk ((4.2 ± 2.0) × 10⁻⁴) for people in Beijing.