An OpenAQ Impact Story by Matt Lane
Air pollution is a “silent killer” that accounts for more than 8 million early deaths each year [1]. To tackle this global epidemic, first and foremost we need to reduce the sources of air pollution. Thankfully, the next generation of environmental health, urban planners, and data scientists are increasingly being taught to understand and address air pollution as an integral part of planning and policy development. What these future leaders are learning today will lead to upfront action, versus remedy as an afterthought.
Moreover, many of these students aren’t just studying from textbooks and presentations. Some are gaining insights via hands-on labs powered by OpenAQ, the largest open-source global air quality dataset. “It is like a choose-your-own-adventure,” Dr. Peter DeCarlo, Associate Professor of Environmental Health at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., explained to me when I interviewed him to learn more about how educators use OpenAQ.
I also talked to Dr. Priyanka deSouza, Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Colorado Denver in the U.S., who uses OpenAQ to help her students appreciate the power of universal access to global air quality information. All of Dr. deSouza’s students do an interactive project where they analyze the impacts and possible solutions to air pollution in their home city using OpenAQ. The students, even as non-technical majors, find OpenAQ accessible and easy to use. They are able to see which areas of their city have issues, compare regions, and comprehend longer-term trends.
Dr. deSouza’s unit teaches future urban planners to not just analyze roads, transportation, and sprawl, but also how to plan, mitigate, and make equitable the air quality impacts of polluting sources. “Using OpenAQ’s website with comprehensive global air quality data down to their hometown is extremely exciting for my students,” says Dr. deSouza. “They start to understand the influence they can have as urban planners towards cleaner air.”
Additionally, Dr. deSouza has found students grasp the importance of having access to the air quality data itself. Historically, urban planners may not have thought about where data comes from and how important its accessibility is. In some cases, as students do their project they may even see key gaps in the data. For example, their home country does not monitor and release air quality data.
Dr. DeCarlo’s environmental health undergraduates at Johns Hopkins similarly use an OpenAQ-based lab. They do a real-time applied project where they analyze air pollution in an area of their choice. OpenAQ’s own Dr. Colleen Rosales serves as a guest lecturer. Dr. DeCarlo points out that he really likes basing the lab on OpenAQ because it is visual, easy to use, global, standardized, and Dr. Rosales does a wonderful job interacting with the students.
“We get some great individual learnings from the OpenAQ-based lab,” adds Dr. DeCarlo. For example, one student analyzed the increased air pollution trend in India due to the Diwali festival. Another noticed high pollution levels during a particular time in their home country of Brazil and wondered, ”Why was this happening?” They were able to discover it was due to the surge of activities during the Carnival festival season.
In addition, I learned about the usefulness of OpenAQ in a different field of study — data science. I spoke to Dr. Dianne Cook, Professor of Econometrics & Business Statistics at Monash University in Australia, about her use of OpenAQ. In her masters-level Diving Deeply into Data Exploration class, students work in groups of two using data science and statistics to answer a relevant local air pollution question. For example, one student investigated how the July 2024 Derrimut chemical factory fire affected Melbourne’s air quality.
The Monash University students used OpenAQ’s in conjunction with airpurifyr, an R-based programming package that was developed by colleague Dr. Michael Lydeamore and a team during a three-day university hackathon event. The assignment also has the students layer in secondary data sets (e.g. weather data) and evaluate the reliability of statements made by off-the-shelf AI.
According to Dr. Cook, the assignment leads to a rich set of insights for her students. Firstly, they gain an understanding of how to synthesize and coherently present large, disparate data sets. Additionally, they use critical thinking skills by addressing a higher-level air quality question while also fact-checking generic AI-generated responses. Through it all, Dr. Cook highlights the importance of open data. “Open datasets like OpenAQ are hugely important. The community use contributes back to the quality of the data, garners new insights, and ultimately increases overall trust.”
As I finish my discussions with Dr. deSouza, Dr. DeCarlo, and Dr. Cook, it calls my attention to the power and importance of learning by doing with open data. It also leaves me optimistic that the next generation of leaders will be more thoughtful and effective about how our cities are planned in order to ensure clean air for all.
P.S. — Are you using or interested in using OpenAQ for education? We would love to hear from you and can be reached at info@openaq.org
[1] State of Global Air 2024. Special Report. Health Effects Institute. Boston, MA. 2024.
