Air pollution

What are the most effective ways to solve the problem of air pollution caused by cars in small
cities? The case of Aktobe, Kazakhstan.

Number of words:3485

Introduction

Today air pollution is a global issue, which affects the environment, ecosystem, and quality of
life. With the development of industry, the condition of world worsens day by day. For example,
the number of people with diseases has increased, and transports destroy parts of the
environment. According to the statistics number of commercial vehicles in the worldwide
reached approximately 329.25 million in 2014, but a number of passenger cars are around 907.05
million (“Number of passenger cars and commercial vehicles in use worldwide from 2006 to
2014 in (1,000 units)”, n.d.). As we know in developed countries, such as the China, the United
States America the sum of transports is more than in other countries because every family has
two cars or more in rich countries. That is why a half billion cars on the road today pollute our
world faster. Therefore, all of them burn petroleum to release energy, so our atmosphere reacts
with the carbon dioxide, and in the sequences, this process can poison the air. In fact, that car can
be the cause of global problems, such as global warming, damaging of the ozone layer and other
issues, which will affect to all people. Nowadays there are many people, who are suffering from
cancer and have other problems with health, because of air pollution. In 2010, more than 2.1
million people in Asia died prematurely from air pollution, mostly from the gasses emitted from
cars and lorries (Vidal, 2012). For example, the China has smog, which is increased in the past
50 years (“2013 Eastern China smog”, 2016). 1.6 million people died from the dirty air in China,
1.4 million in India by 2013, in 2012 over 140,000 people died in Russia (Yuhas,2016).The
problem of air pollution is a significant environmental problem in Kazakhstan too. Smog is
covered Kazakhstan’s city such as Almaty. Today to trying to solve this problem the government
checks cars for toxicity in Almaty, where smog (“На экопостах Алматы машины,
въезжающие в город, проверяют на токсичность выхлопных газов”, 2014).

The resolution of this issue is meaningful for the whole world because air plays an
important role in the life of every person. If the atmosphere will proceed, life on the earth will
stop. For example, children and newborns take more air than adults, and they are more sensitive,
that is why they can easily accept all negative things from the environment, so their health will
damage. In Almaty, most of the people have asthma and allergies caused by the polluted air. All
people in the world depend directly on the air for life.
 One of the motivation factors that influenced the choice this topic is the traffic jam,
which I see every day, as it initially created my concern for environmental issues. Besides, on
my point of view it is initial to keep our nature, and in such way, I believe that we have a
responsibility to care for the environment. Moreover, a group of students, including myself,
wanted to make modern technologies, and start activities, which will help to find out the
decision. Our further depends on the air that is why we must save our environment.

Aims
The main aim of the research is to identify the effects of air pollution and recommend methods
of solving this problem to citizens of Aktobe. This project work can give suggestions on how to
solve aforementioned environmental problems. Three questions that will guide this research are:
 What are the harmful impacts of air pollution on human health?
 What consequence of air pollution on the environment?
 How can government help to solve the issue of air pollution in our city?
 What are the individual actions that people can take to solve this problem?
The answers to the listed above questions will help me to investigate the issue of air pollution in
Aktobe, to prove the significance of this issue and to find the best ways to resolve it.
The outcomes of this research will intend to improve the health of people and state of nature in
our region.
Methods

The project work included different methods such as primary and secondary. In addition, the
research design the mixed, like qualitative and quantitative. The first qualitative research was used
to get necessary information about air pollution and with the help of second quantitative research,
it has been to gather statistics. It was helpful to understand the significance of the issue, make
relevant research work, and increase the quality of credibility.

For recognizing more deeply was used the primary research, which conducted personal interview
and survey. This way was useful. Firstly, the survey did not take a lot of time. In addition, people
could give exact and clear answer questions that helped to make the analysis. Secondly, the
complete answers to questions were received by an interview. It helped to concentrate on the topic
and take full answers. However, to identifying the good statistics about the issue was used by
secondary research. The main sources, which used for background research, are internet, libraries,
and mass-media.

These instruments were helpful to find general information about the problem. As for the target
population for a survey, which conducted ecologists and teachers of a geography, a biology, a
chemistry of Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Aktobe. The reasons of selecting this group in
school were:

• Geographers knows influence of the person on the environment because they study the
relation between the phenomena in nature and the person, so they know quality of air too
• Ecologists trace quality of air, measure the level of harmful substances in atmosphere, then
they make the analysis, that is why they can help to this research
• Chemists and biologists very well know about the structure of atmosphere and harmful
substances
• 11th-grade students are more likely be aware of the air pollution because they study subjects
profoundly
• These people have several years in a row worked at this sphere. Moreover, they have
enough knowledge and qualification;
To make the sample representative all nine 11th grade classes and 24 teachers were chosen, five of
which is Kazakh and four is Russian groups, so the sample size was 384 with the 5% of margin
error, and this number of questionnaires was enough to get information.
The first section was make to get information about a questionnaire. The questions about possible
ways to tackle the issue were provided. The survey took 5 minutes for every person.
It was required to interview two school teachers of geography about air pollution. They
know the quality of atmosphere and harmful substances in the air. The reason of this that they
trace the quality of the environment.

There were several limitations during the primary and secondary research, such as the sources
without verified authorships and instead of 384 people only 302 responses were obtained from
the survey.

Context

Air pollution is a mixture of natural and “man-made substances in the air”, that fills the
atmosphere with gases, and in consequences it damages the health of people and other animals,
kills plants or stops them growing properly, disrupts some other aspects of the environment
(National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), n.d., para 1). As we know
atmosphere plays a significant role in our life, it is the source of our lives; also it is the main part
of the ecosystem. Despite that, scientists are worried about air pollution and burning fossil fuels
by vehicles has a crucial effect on the air quality.
 This global problem is affecting Kazakhstan as well. For example, in 1992 the birth rate
was 19.9, however, after 5 years this indicator declined to 14.9 because of gasses (Amrenova,
2011). According to the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2013, 23575 people
had problems with respiratory organs, and this makes 41.4 % of the population of Kazakhstan
(Konurkulzhayeva, 2014). It is evident that all those health problems are occurring because of
the problem of air pollution in the country. As a result, this issue needs specialists’ attention and
urgent actions to be taken.

Moreover, cars influences to deterioration of public health. Likewise, transports

considered as the main cause of air pollution.

Last years the role of automobile transport in air pollution with lead, benzopyrene, and
formaldehyde has increased. Automobile transport emits dozens of polluting substances
together with exhausted gas, the total volume of which is more than 2 million tons. In
most of the large cities the contribution of automobile transport to the air basin pollution
has reached in the recent years more than 60%, and in the city of Almaty - 90 % of the
total emissions (Air Pollution Level, n.d.).

The pollution index was equal to 68.97 in Aktobe, that is more than in the capital city, Astana
(Pollution Comparison Between Astana and Aktobe, 2014).

This question can be considered from various points of view. The first perspective is
governmental. The increase of air quality is a priority for many countries’ governments. For
example, UK government claims that they “enclosed huge investments into “green transport
initiatives” and plans to enter net air areas over the whole country will help to deal with this
problem” (Carrington, 2016).

On the other side of this issue, there is a socio-economic perspective, which consists of
deterioration of public health. Annually 7 million of people become the victims of the air
pollution in the whole world. Therefore it has substantial economic and societal impact. As for
the results of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), the cost to the UK
economy for the deaths because of the air pollution was about £27.5 billion (Carrington, 2016).

Having considered different aspects of the problem it can be stated that the air pollution is
a major issue today, which needs to be solved. Polluted air can become the reason of awful
consequences which can affect the whole world. From discussed literature, it can be concluded
the air pollution affects us in different ways, such as:
  climate change
 diseases
 declining of biodiversity
 damaging of the ecosystem(nature)
 acid rains
 global warming
 destruction of the ozone layer
 smog

This global issue can be solved by international, national, local and even individual efforts.

Nowadays there are many organizations that want to save the life on our planet.
Organizations such as Environmental Protection Agency, Clean Air World, and others are
trying to tackle this problem by helping poor and developing countries to overcome the
difficulty of air pollution (Kei ren , 2016). However, more developed countries are solving
this issue as well. For example,

In March, the French government ordered 700 police onto the streets from dawn to ensure
that only cars and motorbikes with odd-numbered plates were being driven. By the afternoon,
3,859 drivers with even-numbered plates had been issued with a €22 (£18) fine. The ban was
stopped after 24 hours when pollution levels were said to have returned to a safe level
(Gould, 2014, para 7).

On the local level, there are two ecological services in Aktobe called “KЭСО ОТАН” and
“Asia Consult” that regularly check the condition of air in the city and a number of gasses in the
atmosphere (“Экологические службы, центры и организации в Актобе”,n.d.). It shows that
our local government is also aware of the problem and tries to solve it. However, we cannot rely
on the governments only. Every citizen should take a personal responsibility for protecting the
environment such as limit the use of transport, not to litter, and others.

The research will give opportunities to inform people, especially the citizens of Aktobe,
about the harm from cars that we use every day. By giving possible solutions, this work will be
useful to improve the current condition of air quality.

Results
 The decision to conduct interviews was the good choice to compare opinions of ecologists
and biologists with the information from the internet, so there weren’t such big differences
between these sources. This way has helped to answer the research questions, giving exact
advice to solve this issue.

From the collected data it was noticed that all of the specialists are aware of the problem
of air pollution in Aktobe because of cars and the majority consider that this problem affects the
environment more. Another important point is that they think gardening along the road is useful
and they should not be stopped.
According to the results of the interview, it was found that the opinions of ecologists and
biologists are similar. Their views on this issue were very useful and the main findings are:

 The answers to the first and second questions fully have shown that the specialist
acknowledged the main factor of air pollution in Aktobe is car fumes and it mostly
affects the environment. In their point of view, there is minimum one car in each family
today and number of cars increases as the population from day to day. In addition, the
CO2 gas, which is allocated by cars damages the health of people, also poisons the
environment.
 The next question was about impacts of air pollution on human health, which is the most
meaningful. All of the interviewees regarded that today in Aktobe nearly 20 000 people
on 100 000 population get sick with diseases of respiratory organs, and we have more
than 400 000 people. This fact proves that because of air pollution the respiratory organs
of most people are damaged. Despite that, they are ruining their life.
 The answers to the last question about tackling the problem were similar. They offer
some ways, which will be helpful to solve the issue. Firstly, planting; secondly, reducing
the number of cars or ride a bicycle; thirdly, to establish the filters for factories; the
fourth way is to use an alternative energy.

The main findings from the questionnaire can be summarized as:

● The data from Question 2 and 3 show that 95.2 percent of respondents are aware of the
problem and 76.5 of them think that the air in Aktobe mostly polluted because of cars,
but other 18.7 per cent don’t know.
● 65 percent of local people think that this problem affects the environment, while others
predict that the ecology mostly damaged than the environment. Despite the harmful
effects of this issue, 78.57 percent of people did nothing to solve this problem, 25.5 of
 people are too busy, they had no time to save our nature, whereas 31.5 percent of people
try to use a bike, plant trees and do project works to help citizens of Aktobe city.
● 97.4 per cent of respondents suggested some ways of solving this issue. It proves that for
citizens of Aktobe the air is significant. Most of them gave advice such as planting, using
alternative sources of energy and bicycle.
Eventually, all information from interviews and survey were significant, because of questions in
aims, which were included in the survey and interview. Analyzing these data by primary
research methods, it can be said that the quality of life depends on the quality of air.
Overall, the analysis of the data shows that almost all people are generally aware of the issue
of air pollution in Aktobe. However, the problem is that the level of air pollution in this city is
mostly caused by cars’ fume.

Conclusion

RQ: What are the most effective ways to solve the problem of air pollution caused by cars in
small cities? The case of Aktobe, Kazakhstan.
In response to each of the research questions, it is possible to make the following conclusions.

 What are the harmful impacts of air pollution on human health?

The majority of people in the research are aware of the problem, and according to the results of
methods today in Aktobe nearly 80 000 people on 400 000 population get sick with diseases of
respiratory organs, and we have more than 400 000 people. Hydrogen sulfide exceeds limits of
admissible concentration from 10 to 20,15 times and because of an excess of hydrogen sulfide in
the air today air pollution have a serious impact on human health affecting the lungs and the
respiratory system, also taken up by the blood and pumped all around the body.

 What consequence of air pollution on the environment?

As a result of the interviews by ecologists and biologists, these are main
consequences on the environment:
 climate change
 declining of biodiversity
 damaging of the ecosystem(nature)
 acid rains
 global warming
 destruction of the ozone layer
 smog
  diseases

 How can government help to solve the issue of air pollution in our city?
Conclusion after the conducted interviews that the government should allocate money for a
filtration, artificial airings of roads, transplanting of trees along roads. Only in this way the
government can solve the problem and thus help people to stay healthy.

 What are the individual actions that people can take to solve this problem?
The main forms of action that people can help to tackle the issue:
 Ride a bicycle
 Do planting
 Walking
 Establish the filters, if it is necessary to them
 Using new sources of energy
As a result of this research, it is possible to conclude that more needs to be done to raise
awareness about the issue of air pollution, particularly about how to respond at an individual
level. To solve this problem every person should do the planting, and it is necessary to establish
the filters in factories. The research also shows that most of the people are willing to take action
to improve the environment in general and improve the quality of air. However, it may seem that
more specialists must be involved in the research.
Evaluation

Overall, the results of the research were favorably finished and the main research questions were
completely described and answered.
The strengths of research design are that there was background information from credible
sources with good statistics and valuable data. For instance, information have been taken from
the reliable and checked sources such as National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences,
and it can be received as credible and accurate enough, also it helped to provide people with
excellent information. However, there were some information without authors and were not
credible because they were outdated. In addition to this, foreign websites may introduce their
countries as ecologically clean, thus attracting tourists and forcing us to think positively about
their country, that is why it was difficult to find information concerning the local area.

As claimed by primary research can make clear conclusions, which contained interviews of two
specialists and perspectives of 384 people who represent the population of Aktobe city.
Moreover, the results can be generalised with some confidence for those who are under 50, the
reason of this that the number of old respondents few.

My point of view has not changed because the results of primary and secondary researches that
mean the answers from the interviews and survey were similar to my perspectives.

This project has some weaknesses with the research methods, but there were other good results,
that is why it would be possible to develop their quality of being dependable, also increase the
inaccuracy with a larger number of respondents for a more clear introduction to the issue and to
add other methods of primary research such as observation, for a confident generalization of the
findings. In general, the results of the interviews strengthened the claims data in the context
section. This gives increased confidence in the conclusions of this research.

Future research

According to the research work, some questions were interesting to find answers which will be
helpful for the future study.

 At first, it is necessary to do the answer comparison of drivers with those who don't drive,
for valuable questions and their ways of tackling problems to make accurate conclusions
about air pollution because of a car in Aktobe. The opinions and cause of it are that views
and behavior of these two groups of people might be distinctive from each other.
 At second, the survey should have a focus group. This research must contain the views of
people whose age started from 16. Likewise, they should be with good background
knowledge. The reason of this that society’s attitude based on population that is why the
age of people is very important. This way can help to define the exact index of awareness
people and solution to this problem.
 At third, involving the qualified people means integrating specialists with many years of
experience. To tackle this problem, individual actions are not enough, that is why it is
necessary to get an interview from the ecologists because they know almost all
information about this issue and it can give an opportunity to find a more precise
solution.
 Finally, it is necessary to include the observation. It will be good to conduct the
experiment among 100 people to determine the number of gasses from the car during one
day. This method will be helpful to find a way of reduction the rate of polluted air.

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