Stories

An air quality monitoring project in Warsaw and the Masovian region revealed that school children in areas with heavy traffic are exposed to extreme levels of harmful pollutants. The School Streets project combined this data with community-focused urban planning to propose solutions to protect children from traffic related air pollution.

The City of Rybnik cut its smog days from 130 to 16 days a year. The combined efforts of Polish Smog Alert, Forum Energii and Rybnik’s local authorities turned the “smog capital of Poland” into a pioneer for clean air in Poland and beyond. 

Mums for Lungs is a parent-led campaign group fighting for children’s right to breathe clean air. The community-led activists have raised public awareness of air pollution and influenced policy change to improve air quality in the UK.

Investigative reporting is crucial to raising public awareness and influencing policymakers to take action on clean air. Through the New Narratives programme, journalists like Albert Oppong-Ansah have produced people-centred and fact-based stories on air quality in Ghana. 

Breathe Mongolia - Clean Air Coalition empowers communities with knowledge and makes the case for air quality action in Mongolia. As an OpenAQ Community Ambassador, founder Azjargal Tsogtsaikhan promotes open air quality data as the foundation of the organisation’s advocacy and public engagement.

High air pollution emitted from millions of old cars expected to be curbed by amended vehicle regulations advocated by Electric Vehicles Promotion Foundation.

CanAIRy Alert equips urban air quality practitioners from the global south with forecasting and analytical tools to better understand sources of local air pollution. By adapting the tools to their context, practitioners can provide warnings to the public ahead of peak pollution events.

Bulgarian Fund for Women’s micro-granting scheme helped bridge the gap between women’s rights and the fight against air pollution.

Collecting and visualising data on air pollution is an essential first step for clean air campaigns. HabitatMap has revolutionised air quality data collection through their low-cost, wearable sensors. Campaigners worldwide use these sensors to advocate for environmental justice.

Poland is one of the most polluted countries in Europe. Grassroots initiative Polish Smog Alert actively reformed national interventions for sustainable heating and grew public awareness to help people breathe cleaner air.