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Week 12 [16.01-22.01] Smog in Poland

In recent days media says a lot about smog. What is it? Smog is a type of air pollution. Smog can form in any climate where there is a lot of air pollution especiallly in cities where this is substantial amount of transport and factory pollution.

There are several reasons:
  • volcano eruption emits
  • burning of fossil fuels
  • pollution from vehicles and industries
  • manufacturing of chemicals
sourrce: http://warszawa.onet.pl/smog-w-warszawie-tak-zle-nie-bylo-od-wielu-lat/qestdys


In Poland the situation has been worsening over the past days. Warnings were issued in several regions of Poland. Citizens are asked to not to stay outdoors if it’s possible. In many towns and cities authorities have introduced free transport to minimize the threat.

In Warsaw  equipment for measuring pollution recorded at Aleja Niepodległości high concentrations of dust, it was 2-3 times higher than normal. On the website of the Regional Inspectorate for Environmental Protection, you can keep track of how is the level of pollutants in the air - the highest concentration of pollution  are recorded in the morning rush.

The problem of Warsaw is the traffic. We have registered 600 cars per 1 thousand. residents - twice as many as in Berlin, more than in Vienna and Frankfurt.

33 Polish cities are among the 50 most polluted cities in the EU.

sourrce: http://www.newsweek.pl/g/i.aspx/680/0/newsweek/635845947644916316.png
Smog is a serious problem in many cities and continues to harm human health.  It can inflame breathing passages, cause allergy and asthma attacks. If it’s inhaled over a long time may cause lung, pharynx and larynx cancer.

What do you think about the actions undertaken by the authorities?

 Do you have any ideas for the fight against smog?




Comments

Unknown said…
With our energy coming mostly from burning coal it's a suprise it happened so late. The only upside are the few free public communication days we got. Hopefully Poland will invest in a better and cleaner technology (nuclear, perhaps?) to make the situation better, but no government wants to deal with angry mob of unemployed miners.
Unknown said…
I don't know why media started talking about smog. I don't think the amount of smog can change so suddenly. I think somebody makes money in this situation. Maybe the person who sells masks. What can I do? Nothing. Should I stop using my car? In general global warming is a problem but it isn't as big as they say. Somebody benefits from this situation.
Unknown said…
I don't know why media started talking about smog. I don't think the amount of smog can change so suddenly. I think somebody makes money in this situation. Maybe the person who sells masks. What can I do? Nothing. Should I stop using my car? In general global warming is a problem but it isn't as big as they say. Somebody benefits from this situation.
Sylwia Pechcin said…
I thing that actions like cancelling lessons at schools are just silly.
Will it help anyone? I don't think so.

My only idea is to install some kind of filters which could minimize the amount of pollution produced by our cars or our houses.
Unknown said…
In recent days problem with smog was the result of bad weather conditions. Media started taking about because we had smog alert. In Poland it's big problem but before that nobody was saying about it probably beacuse some people do this for their own benefits for example mines or companies that exceed carbon emissions standards, they want to cover up this fact.
Ihor Ahnianikov said…
I think that the idea of fighting against smog is obvious - reducing it's sources. Since it seem to be a result of a huge number of cars and coal power plants, electric cars and renewable energy will resolve this issue. Weather is also an important factor, but it can't be changed - as far as I know Gdansk is the cleanest city in Poland, they're lucky to have the sea nearby because the breeze blows polluted air away.
Unknown said…
I haven't taken this problem seriously until I have watched a video where a man takes a vacum, put on it white piece of cotton and after few minutes it becomes completely dark.
I think one of the metods to prevent smog phenomenon might be to introduce restriction areas for cars in city centers based on CO2 emission and people should stop burning trash!
Unknown said…
Actions undertaken by "authorities" is some kind of joke. Poland downplays smog as "people are smoking anyway". This is a serious problem - while smoking is a chice, breathing with dirty air is a necessity. In Poland we have got one of the highest norms of a smog and still they're exceeded.I don't know how to solve problem - maybe step by stepm at first people should stop burning trash.
Unknown said…
You have right, Poland should invest in alternative and renewable sources of energy but I'm afraid that the protests against nuclear energy due to the weak education of society.
Unknown said…
I agree with you cancelling lessons isn't helpful and it doesn't protect anyone because people still staying outside.
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
Absolutely I agree with you and I think your ideas are the best option to reduce the amount of smog in Poland :)
Unknown said…
I didn't attach importance to this earlier, but I did a little research and the problem is really serious in our country. Recently I read a book by Nicholas Mirzoeff "How to see the world" and he writes a lot about the impact of smog on the environment. It's a big global problem.
Unknown said…
I think that burning trash is just one of the causes of smog but I agree people shoud stop do it! The authorities should make large fine for doing that, maybe then the problem could be decreased.
Unknown said…
I believe that our government should look for the cause of smog, especially when it comes to the process of heating homes by people. As Paulina said “people are smoking anyway”. It is the main problem in our country. In my opinion government should allocate funds in the modernization of old chimneys in many cities. Probably it is the best solution for this moment.
Unknown said…
According to me the greatest smog isolated by factory. Cars have very little impact on smog because in large cities don't go already so old cars. Now these are newer and newer cars. I know that smog has a big effect on human. I visited my parents in small town. I was there for two weeks and and when I returned to Warsaw where was a big smog I immediately started a headache.

I believe that government should take some actions, and make a better effort to inform people about the quality of air they breathe.
In my opinion free public transport doesn’t have much impact on the air quality because people who have to travel to work by car, won’t switch to bus just because it’s free.
Another aspect of it is that cars aren’t the biggest source of pollution, but people who try to warm their houses by burning trash.
The most of pollution come from our houses not from cars. I emphasized this at every step because some people think if everyone has electric car smog will be destroyed. It is not true, of course it will be reduced but only by a few percentage. We have to introduce EURO 4 standard for cars as a minimum and and promote LPG as better fuel than diesel to towns. In Krakow there is bad regional planning and wind is blocked by high-rise buildings and apartment blocks and we also should focus on that - green friendly planning.
Unknown said…
I think that the problem does not lie in our sources of energy or cars. Of course it would be nice to have some atomic power plant, and free communcation, but the most important, in my opinion is to educate about benefits of heating homes with natural gas or wood, and severly punish those who keep burning thrash.
Unknown said…
I don't think that introducing free transport for one day is a good solution to the problem. Firstly, it would be only free for people who use cars on every day basis and create the pollution. I think that people who use public transport should be rewarded.
Secondly, I think that there should be high fines for people who use garbage to smoke in a fireplace because that is actually the vast part of the pollution problem in Warsaw.
Wojtek Kania said…
I was in China and I've seen what the REAL smog is. The air was awful, but China grows very fast. So the question is what is more important for country? A fresh air or developed economy?
Unknown said…
In my opinion mostly the government is to blame for the situation. Why they still cut down nearly all the trees, not only in the city centre but also in the suburbs? Why we have a really poor inner-city and city commuting transport? This two items seems to be crucial in finding the way to less filled in smog country.
Secondly, they should prescribe high penalties on people smoking garbage in their fireplaces.
Unknown said…
I think it was a great action to make free subway. I was amazed by this because I haven't seen something like this before in other cities. Also, I'm shocked because I didn't know that smog is such a huge problem in Poland. I hope authorities will take some more action to prevent such air pollution. Also, there should be a law which restricts people from burning garbage.
Adam Nowak said…
That's funny when someone who doesn't care about his/her health are appalled because of the air pollution in their living place. I think that this sudden "smog affair" that came in the recent days are made by western companies and goverments, in aim to put pressure on our country to change our sources of electrical power to different ones, like wind turbines that are produced mostly by German companies.
Unknown said…
I was born in a big industrial city in Ukraine, the air there is awful. But I have never seen this smog there. Maybe we had less cars, not sure. When I first saw smog in Katowice, I decided that it looks so beautiful but sad. I did't think about the harm, just thought that was a special Polish climate:) Now that I know what it really is, I try not to leave home without the reason.
I think it would be fine to minimize the use of cars. Not only for Warsaw, but for the whole planet. Many countries fight against air pollution, and other countries could adopt their experience.
Unknown said…
Smog is actually a serious problem in today's world and, unfortunately, also in Poland. Smog in Poland is the issue for a long time. It has been present in cities such as Krakow where this kind of problems has taken place in the 70s. Now, the time has come for Warsaw where a lot of people are still burning garbages in furnaces and itd is definitely too much cars here. The problem wont be solved with such an actions like car-free day or day of free public transport because, people do not pay attention for this and nothing really changes. Goverment really need to treat the situation seriously and firstly they must increase the penalties for smoking garbages in furnaces, because they are way too small and are less than the cost of the analysis of the ash that is end up unprofitable and they need to invest in filters for mines, factories etc. They could also fund people who would like to install such filters at their houses.
KamilG said…

I'm really afraid about smog in Warsaw, because I live here, additionally very close to places where is the biggest concentration of pollution. I saw public campaign about reduction of using cars, resignation from burning plastic things, subsidies to change stoves for newer models and other advises. In my opinion Warsaw should follow other European cities which restrict entrance to their centres and take additional taxes from old cars' owners. Cheaper tickets for public transport would contribute to solving this problem.
kondrat said…
I can feel the difference in air every day, when I'm driving to school/ work. On the suburbs air is much cleaner, than in the city center and you can feel it easily.
Bartosz Łyżwa said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bartosz Łyżwa said…
It's sad we have to breathe in polluted air. Many people take a voice about it but really small amout of people started to do something to avoid this situation in future. Actually Poland is one of the most polluted country in EU...

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