Research project "a city in which it is easy to breathe". Year of Ecology in Oryol: What do we drink, what do we breathe, and what are the risks of city dumps? The air in our city

Chita this week hosted the participants of the ecoforum "Ecology of urbanized and mining areas of the Trans-Baikal Territory". They talked a lot about the dirty air in our city. According to this indicator, Chita is among the leaders of the "black" rating of the country. What will the residents of Chita say about this?

Olesya, 32 years old, psychologist:
- I do not feel that the air in Chita is particularly polluted. This problem is relevant during seasonal fires, when the city is shrouded in smog. Then I try not to leave the house unnecessarily, do not open the windows and often do wet cleaning.

Lyudmila Mikhailovna, 64 years old, pensioner:
- There is dirty air in our city. I have allergic bronchitis, so the smoke and exhaust fumes are causing me a severe cough.

Vladimir, system administrator, 35 years old:
- In Chita, the air is quite polluted, this is especially felt in the region of the Island, most likely because there is a lowland in which all harmful substances accumulate.

Larisa Anatolyevna, 43 years old, kindergarten teacher:
- Every year, with the beginning of the heating season, the air becomes dirtier, it is difficult for them to breathe. Even clothes are impregnated with harmful substances, let alone our lungs. To at least breathe more freely in my own apartment, I breed indoor plants.

Victoria, 21 years old, student:
- I think our air is clean enough. It happens, of course, I could, but not so often to say that the city has a terrible ecological situation.

Sergey, 21 years old, auto mechanic:
- Compared to the same one with Angarsk, where the chemical plants are located, the air in Chita is not very dirty. But many residents still complain about gas pollution. As an auto mechanic, I can give advice to drivers: reduce fuel consumption, do not waste it.

Albina, 29 years old, seller:
- In the Solnechny microdistrict, where we live with my family, the air is very good. Our house is on a hill, near the forest. We breathe much easier than in the same Kashtak, where private houses are heated with coal. My body reacts sharply to harmful impurities - a cough begins, and breathing becomes difficult. For this reason, we are planning to install an air purifier and humidifier at home.

Mikhail, 45 years old, unemployed:
- I don't feel that the air in our city is polluted. Previously, in my opinion, the situation was worse. Now at least emissions from boiler houses and railways have decreased, but there remains a problem with exhaust gases from cars.

Elena Anatolyevna, 53 years old, teacher:
- I feel polluted air during fires. It is difficult to breathe in the city center during rush hour - the level of exhaust gases goes off scale. From time to time, allergies and lacrimation begin. Therefore, you need to clean the air at least at home.

Alexander, 28 years old, lawyer:
- There are no factories in Chita, but it has its own factors of air pollution - boiler houses in which coal, firewood and industrial waste are burned. Together with the not entirely successful location of the city - in a lowland among the hills, this gives multiple exceedances of the permissible standards for atmospheric pollution.

Julia, 22 years old, administrator:
- Sometimes it is even impossible to open the windows in the apartment - immediately the smell of smoke and exhaust gases. This cannot but affect health, just not all people understand that polluted air is the cause of some ailments. I clean the air at home using an air conditioner.

About air ...

Answers to pages 48 - 49

1. Remember what the wind is.

Wind is moving air. The earth in different places is heated by the sun's rays in different ways. The air also heats up from the ground. Warm air is lighter than cold air. He rises up. And cold air rushes to its place. Here comes the wind.

2. Why is the air polluted?

Harmful substances get into the air from the pipes of factories and factories, from the exhaust pipes of cars and it becomes polluted.

• Continue the thought:
  Air surrounds us everywhere: on the street, in the classroom, in the room. The air cannot be seen, but it can be felt if ... swing your hand sharply or bend over; run; when the wind blows, open the window, turn on the fan.

• Using the picture, tell us about the meaning of air for plants, animals, humans.

People, plants and animals need air to breathe, which means to live.

• Consider the photo and diagram. Try to explain why the air is polluted, what it affects, how to protect the air from pollution.

For normal life, a person needs a small amount of carbon dioxide. It is necessary for the process of respiration, blood circulation. But if there is more carbon dioxide in the air, it can harm the human body. We get oxygen from the air we breathe. We breathe out carbon dioxide. The same thing happens in animals and plants. But to feed the plants, they need carbon dioxide, which they receive from the air, and release oxygen. Thus, a constant air composition is maintained.
But a person interferes with this balance and disturbs it with his activities. By cutting down forests, we reduce the amount of oxygen. And even more carbon dioxide becomes due to the fact that the pipes of factories and plants emit it into the atmosphere in whole clouds. The balance of the required ratio of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air is disturbed. This harms not only our health, but the entire planet.
To ensure that industrial enterprises do not pollute the air, it is necessary to install purification plants on them.

• Find out what is being done to keep the air clean in your area.

There are two environmental posts in our city that monitor the state of the environment, including recording the excess of the permissible concentration of harmful substances in the air.

1. On your own or with the help of a textbook, sign on the diagram which gaseous substances are included in the air.

Mark with pencils of different colors (of your choice) which gas living beings absorb during breathing and which they release.
Decipher the conventions you used:

2. Based on the research results, fill in the table.

3. Draw a schematic drawing of how the air particles are positioned during heating and cooling. (Mark air particles with circles.)

Wise Turtle and complete her tasks.

Air is the protector of the living

Herbaceous plants hibernating under the snow do not freeze because there is a lot of air in it. Thanks to the air, cold snow serves as a warm blanket for plants.
By winter, animals 'wool becomes thicker, and birds' feathers. Between thick hairs, feathers, more air is retained, and animals are warmer in winter.

1) These facts are explained by another property of air, which we have not yet discussed. Think about this property - air does not conduct heat well.
2) Give an example proving that this property of air is important not only for plants and animals, but also for humans - there is air between the body and clothing of a person and in the clothing itself, therefore clothing retains the heat of our body

check yourself.

5. Invent and draw a poster “Save the air!” On a separate sheet.
See what your friends have drawn. If you have any ideas on how you can help protect the air, discuss them and do it.

6. On the instructions of the textbook, find out and write down what is being done in your city to protect the air.

In our city, filters are installed on pipes to protect the air at enterprises, trees are planted in parks and forests. Also, new transport interchanges are being built in the city to eliminate traffic jams.

Of all the existing environmental factors, the most important for human health is the oxygen that he breathes. Unfortunately, few people on Earth manage to breathe clean air that is not polluted by industrial waste. The atmosphere of megalopolises contains almost the entire periodic table, i.e. a huge number of harmful impurities. The main sources that poison the air for our lungs are the numerous industrial enterprises created (what a misfortune!) By us and for our own good. Recently, vehicles have added soot and smoke to the atmosphere of cities, without which we, modern people, can nowhere. The role of cars in air pollution, one might say, is dominant - exhaust gases make up 75-80% of the total amount of all poisons in the atmosphere. The first place among the substances that polluted our capital is occupied by NO2 and NO, or simply nitrogen oxides. These compounds are characterized by increased toxicity, and when they enter the respiratory tract of a person, they are affected. The next most common in the air of Moscow are ammonia and formaldehyde. At a content of 0.5% of the total composition of the air, ammonia is extremely irritating to the mucous membrane. If this percentage is even higher, which happens quite often, then the respiratory tract and the membrane of the eyes are already affected. Formaldehyde is a carcinogen, toxic, affects human health almost at the genetic level, affects not only the respiratory tract, skin and eyes, but also the reproductive organs along with the central nervous system. The maximum concentration limit for formaldehyde in the air is 0.035 mg / m3. At the same time, the average annual indicators of atmospheric pollution with formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide in Moscow continue to grow in proportion to the increasing number of vehicles.

Note the following - all harmful compounds are present not only in the street air, but also in the air of our apartments. In fact, this is the same harmful "cocktail" of various chemical elements! Is that a little less concentration. In order for the chemistry that is present around us due to the unfavorable environmental situation to become truly dangerous, its dose for a certain volume of air must reach the maximum permissible concentration and exceed it. Note that over a period of time, harmful chemicals tend to build up. Consequently, it is rather difficult to associate all our ailments with one or another unfavorable environmental factor, although it was he who was the reason for this! Have you noticed, for example, that after moving to a new, just acquired, home, you have more frequent headaches or shortness of breath? Or maybe both symptoms are present? Most likely, the cause of "problems" with health is nothing more than a problematic environmental background in the area in which you will live. According to environmental studies in various municipal districts of Moscow, the situation is alarming! Kapotnya is on the verge of, one might say, an ecological catastrophe in terms of the air composition, and the most satisfactory results were shown by the analysis of the atmospheric composition in the area of ​​Krylatsky and Serebryany Bor. But these are extreme situations. Basically, the Central and South-Eastern administrative districts are affected, although foci of high levels of toxic substances and compounds in the atmosphere are observed both in the Eastern and Northern districts. Relatively better, but just as unfavorable, the ecological situation is developing in the North-East, South, South-West and partly Western districts of the capital. We have to admit that the farther from the city center and closer to nature, the cleaner the air. The situation on the outskirts is somewhat spoiled by the presence of the Moscow Ring Road, near which the level of exhaust gases in the air simply goes off scale! The accumulation of industrial enterprises in the South-East, South and West administrative districts does not add to the purity of the atmosphere. The industry of Moscow, as well as thermal power plants "give" the city "ikebana" such chemical compounds that you still have to try to find in textbooks! The enterprises of the capital do not hesitate to throw into the air absolutely all gaseous waste accompanying production. It can be organics, acids, and poisonous metals like mercury and the like. Rivers and rivulets belonging to the territory of Moscow and the Moscow Region are of great interest to ecologists dealing with the consequences of environmental disasters. Most of them look like uninhabited dead planets in the solar system. Life in them glimmers only due to pathogenic microflora and blue-green algae traditionally resistant to bad ecology. After such an "optimistic" introduction, there can be only one piece of advice - when choosing a suitable housing, never forget to take into account the ecological situation of the area! Only in this way can you protect yourself and your loved ones from possible health problems! And now a list of the most unfavorable territories in Moscow. Remember these "names": Maryino, Preobrazhenskoe, Sokolinaya Gora, Lefortovo, Pechatniki, Tekstilshchiki, Nizhegorodsky, Tagansky, Basmanny. These areas have the worst ecological situation, but there are also those in which it is simply bad: Kapotnya, Tsaritsyno, Nagatino-Sadovniki, Zamoskvorechye, Yakimanka, Khamovniki, Presnensky, Tverskoy, Meshchansky, Krasnoselsky, Maryina Roscha, Alekseevsky, Perovo, Ryazansky, Airport, Voykovsky. The rest of Moscow's districts are more or less prosperous, although according to some indicators, not everything is in order. The best for living, in terms of their ecological merits, are: Orekhovo-Borisovo Yuzhnoye, Yasenevo, Troparevo-Nikulino, Novo-Peredelkino, Lomonosovsky, Krylatskoye, Strogino, Yuzhnoye Medvedkovo, Losinoostrovsky, East Izmailovo.

What is being done in your city to protect the air or how to protect the air from pollution? Such a serious topic is studied on the subject of the world around us in grades 2 - 3 of primary school.

On this page we will try to figure out the answer to this question.

The process of air pollution began in the 19th century, due to the rapid development of industry. All factories of that time used one type of fuel - coal. Despite the fact that even then they knew about the harmfulness of this raw material for the environment, it still remained the most in demand. This was due to its low cost and excellent availability.

When approaching large metallurgical plants, you first of all pay attention to the rows of giant pipes that throw smoke high into the sky.

There are powerful winds blowing at the height. They pick up puffs of smoke and tear them to shreds, dispel, mix with clean air, quickly reduce the danger of poisonous gases. The same tall pipes are made in large power plants.

Tall pipes divert trouble from people living nearby, but poisonous gases still enter the air. They accumulate there, and then fall out with precipitation in other areas.

Man and other living things need clean air to breathe. But in many places, especially in big cities, it is polluted

Some factories and plants emit poisonous gases, soot, dust from their pipes. Cars emit exhaust gases, which contain a lot of harmful substances.

Air pollution threatens human health, all life on Earth!

What is being done to protect the air in cities?

1. Now a lot is being done to protect the cleanliness of the air in cities. Many enterprises operate installations that trap dust, soot, and poisonous gases. Dust and gas trapping devices are installed on boiler rooms.

2. The withdrawal of harmful enterprises outside the city limits is carried out.

3. Public transport is being replaced by more ecological ones. New trolleybus and tram routes are being created in cities. Scientists have developed new cars - electric vehicles that will not pollute the air.

4. In addition, all heavy vehicles, and the exhaust gases of cars are another harmful factor, are sent along bypass roads, they are prohibited from entering the city center.

5. Bans are introduced on waste incineration within the city.

6. Green spaces play an important role in air protection, therefore in cities much attention is paid to planting squares, alleys, parks.

7. Special stations have been set up in different places, they constantly monitor the air purity in big cities.