Despite the widespread impact of bad air quality on local communities’ health and wellbeing, official monitoring is often lacking and both public authorities and companies struggle or are reluctant to take concrete measures to limit it. This is where citizen science steps in.
This cross-border project sheds light on grassroot monitoring initiatives across Europe where local communities are independently measuring and observing air pollution in port areas and using the data gathered to demand transparency, accountability, and systemic change. In Durrës (Albania), local activists and volunteers monitored real-time air quality using portable devices. In Genoa (Italy), several local organisations teamed up to measure air pollution with low-cost sensors and document emissions from large ships with photographs, pushing local authorities to improve their enforcement and prevention measures. In IJmuiden (Netherlands), the local citizen initiative Frisse Wind (‘Fresh Wind’) tries to hold steel manufacturer Tata Steel accountable for its harmful and sometimes even illegal emissions by documenting them using surveillance cameras.
This project combines investigative and solutions journalism by exploring the flaws in pollution monitoring, prevention, and reduction by public authorities, and shedding light on citizen science initiatives through on-the-ground reporting, including visuals.
Image by Media Koncept
