The Use of a Simple Air Quality Index in the Helsinki Area, Finland

2 (1 and 24 h), SO₂ (1 and 24 h), O₃ (1 h) and PM₁₀ (24 h). The AQI is linked to the new air quality guidelines in Finland. The AQI is based on acute health effects, but long-term effects on nature and materials are also taken into consideration. Subindices are calculated hourly for all pollutants and for a given hour the highest subindex becomes the AQI. AQI values are currently calculated for the center of Helsinki and for typical suburban areas.     

Butyltin compounds in sediment and fish from the Polish Coast of the Baltic Sea

Concentrations of mono- (MBT), di- (DBT), and tri-(TBT) butyltin compounds were measured in eggs, liver, and muscle of nine species of fish from four regions of the Baltic Sea - the Firth of Vistula, the Gulf of Gdańsk, Puck Bay, and the mouth of the Vistula River. The overall concentration ranges among all the fish sampled from the four sites were: < 7 to 79 ng/g for MBT, 6 to 1100 ng/g for DBT, 7 to 3600 ng/g for TBT, and 16 to 4800 ng/g for total BTs, on a wet wt basis. The highest concentration of total BTs was found in herring liver from the Firth of Vistula (4800 ng/g, wet wt) and in roach muscle from Puck Bay (3300 ng/g, wet wt), while the least concentration was found in burbot eggs and liver from the Vistula River (39 and 32 ng/g, wet wt, respectively). TBT was the major form of BTs present in most samples analyzed. Sediment samples collected from shipyards in the Gulf of Gdańsk contained butyltin concentrations ranging from 1.2 to 46 μg/g (dry wt) for MBT, 2.0 to 42 μg/g for DBT, and 2.6 to 40 μg/g for TBT. As with the fish, the majority of the BTs in sediment were present as TBT, which suggested recent exposure of the aquatic environment of the region to TBT.     

Historical paths of environmental injustice: a century of placing industrial facilities in Helsinki,Finland

The article explores the historical process of creating unjust environmental conditions in one geographical area in the Finnish capital, Helsinki. The study traces back the decision-making processes about placing environmentally burdensome, communal facilities, such as power plants, waste disposal and other infrastructural facilities. Also the lack of environmental amenities is investigated. The study covers a time period from the latter half of the nineteenth century to the 1980s. The historical analysis of the development of land-use decisions in the city is based on documentary and archival sources about the decision-making processes and it is conducted in the framework of distributive and procedural environmental justice. Four different periods of siting policies are identified. The motives for land-use decisions at each phase reflect geographical, political and historical reasoning. The concept of path dependency is introduced to explain, how environmental injustices were reproduced because of past paths of siting policies locked in subsequent decisions and created a negative twist of accumulating environmental burden.