Plant a Tree – Make Yourself Air

You will take on the role of air quality analysts and experts. You will compare air pollution in Bulgaria, Greece and Slovakia.

There are several sources of air pollution that are specific to the region. The main outdoor sources of pollution are household cooking and heating, vehicles, electricity generation, fossil fuel use, agriculture/waste burning and industry.

1. Click on the link Emissions of air pollutants, 1922 to 2022 (ourworldindata.org) to open a web page showing a graphical representation of air pollution in three countries – Bulgaria, Greece and Slovakia. There are 6 graphs. Each shows the amount of a different pollutant in the air. Analyse them by following the steps:

• Which six pollutants are shown on each graph? Write their name or chemical formula.
• Which three countries can be compared using the graphs?
• Focus on the nitrogen oxides (NO) graph. Estimate the year that had the most nitrogen oxides in the air of each country. Which country has had the most nitrogen oxide pollution in recent years?
• Focus on the carbon monoxide (CO) graph. What can you say about the level of pollution in all countries over the last 20 years?

2. Discuss the following topics:

• During which period does air pollution begin to increase significantly? What could have caused it?
• Which gases pollute the air most in each country today and which polluted the air in each country in the second half of the last century?
• Which type of pollution has been significantly reduced in recent years in each country?

3. Write down five effective measures that can improve air quality.