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Students Monitor Air in Beijing

Region: China
Author: Xicheng Science and Technology Centre
Consortium Member: Green Earth Volunteers
Status: Funded and Ongoing Budget: $1100 Collected: $1100 Needs: $0
Result: Twenty students and 2 teachers will sample and test air in industrial and residential sites of Beijing. Students will use their project to raise awareness of air quality issues among other students and encourage environmental protection activities.
Donors: Derek Chung Fund, San Francisco Foundation, California; Anonymous, California; and matching funds from the Trace Foundation [June 2002]


Proposed plan of this project:

Two air quality monitoring sites will be set up in an industrial zone, residential zone, commercial zone, school campus, government agencies, and recreational sites. The main monitoring indexes are SO2, CO, NOX and suspended particles. The samples will be picked up once a month and analyzed and tested in the laboratory of Xicheng Science and Technology Center. Final results and averages for each ambient air pollutant will be compared to Canadian or American Environmental Air Quality Standards. Students will be encouraged to display the data using graphs which indicate what the National and International Standards are. Two teachers and twenty high school students will participate in this project from the Xicheng District of Beijing.

Output of the project:

By conducting air quality monitoring in different places of Beijing, the students will have a general idea of the air quality status in Beijing. Through this quality monitoring project, it is hoped that the students will know the general status of air quality in Beijing, and know the importance of protecting the ambient environment as well as how to conduct air quality monitoring so as to raise the environmental protection awareness among high school students and encourage them to participate in the activities of environmental protection. They will provide a technical report including the monitoring data to Virtual Foundation after the project is finished.

Project Duration:

Seven months

Budget

Purchase of air sampling instruments $200
Purchase of air quality analysis instruments $400
Sampling activities(transportation, etc.) $400
VF Administrative Cost $100
Total 1100