If you would like to do your part in monitoring the quality of air around you, then perhaps you might be interested to know that you can contribute by attaching sensors to your bicycle or even baby stroller. Imagine if enough cyclists and parents do that, the amount of data sent back to a centralized department will be able to perform a compilation of the statistics, and then better understand the problem and perhaps, find permanent solutions to improve the overall air quality in the area.
This Canadian project that is happening in the vicinity of Toronto and Hamilton points out just how ‘citizen science’, when it works with modern technology, are able to make a difference. INHALE – an acronym for “Initiative for Healthy Air & Local Economies”, is also run by Environment Hamilton and Toronto Environmental Alliance, will allow regular folks to participate in air quality monitoring in their local area:
You basically move around with a provided device that measures particulate matter in the air, which will also have an integrated GPS chipset. All data will be uploaded to an online heat map, where other folks can then check out just which are the polluted air hotspots, and where are the green lungs in the area in which one is able t escape to during times of stress. Pretty neat, eh? Far better than having to install stationary air monitoring stations.