by Riley Yager
The vision for any dedicated environmentalist is quite simple. We see a world thriving in true prosperity for all life on Earth. This is done through political and ethical movements aimed to protect and improve the quality of our natural environment. The Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution (GASP) is an organization working towards such prosperity. GASP’s mission is to advance healthy air & environmental justice in the greater-Birmingham area through education, advocacy, and collaboration [1]. Along with picking the perfect acronym, GASP is actively doing great things for the city of Birmingham.
In this article, I am going to talk about one of the many ways GASP is fighting for clean air through the Smart City Sensor Project. First, however, I think it is important to review Birmingham’s history of air pollution and talk about how this has affected and is affecting the citizens, particularly those residing in North Birmingham. The objective of the Smart City Sensor Project is to monitor and analyze the current state of the air pollution in Birmingham so to inform the citizens with scientific data as well as push for ethical environmental practices from the many industrial facilities surrounding the homes of these citizens.
This article is aimed to spread the word about GASP and hopefully influence people to become more aware of air pollution and the ways to prevent it. At the end of the day, environmental organizations like GASP can only do so much to protect the environment on their own; it is the power of the people who support these organizations that truly brings about change. Everyone deserves clean air.
Birmingham: The Smoke City
Fig. 1 Downtown Birmingham 1960s [3]
Back in the 1960’s, traveling truck drivers had a nickname for Alabama’s large city of Birmingham and it wasn’t a pleasant one. Birmingham was widely known as the “Smoke City” because the eerie cloud of soot and smog that sat over the city [2]. Birmingham was famous for its iron and steel industries and the city took pride in this so much so that a statue was build in celebration of this. This iron statue, known as the Vulcan, stands tall in
Birmingham as a symbol of the cities steel and iron routes. To local environmentalist, however, this statue stands as a constant reminder of Birmingham’s on-going air pollution problem due to those industries. Despite the passing of the Clean Air Act of 1970, the big industries in Birmingham did not want to comply with ethical environmental practices in their facilities. This is where GASP swept in to save the day. Thanks to the dedication of this organization, Birmingham city was the first to experience the legal authority of the Clean Air Act and the city’s industries were shut down until the air pollution problem was fixed [1].
The pollution in Birmingham has improved over the years, but air pollution is still very much a problem. Those living in North Birmingham are completely surrounded with large polluting facilities including but not limited to ABC Coke, U.S. Steel, and Alabama Power. Therefore, environmental organizations in Birmingham such as GASP are still having to fight for clean, healthy air. Lucky for us, they do not give up easy.
Smart City Sensor Project
A man named Nathan McMinn started the Smarter Birmingham project with collaboration with GASP in hopes of bringing open “internet of things” networks and technologies to the citizens of Birmingham [4]. The phrase “internet of things” simply refers to the concept of connecting internet to devices besides phones, TVs, laptops, etc.. For instance, connecting air quality sensors throughout a city. This concept also includes smarter parking and smarter trash management. Nathan McMinn referred to this new city-wide network as the “digital nervous system of the city” [4].
McMinn brought this idea to the makers of Birmingham where a man named Daniel Near picked up the idea and ran with it. Daniel took the air quality senor prototypes that Mr. McMinn started and worked to make his own and optimize the idea. Daniel Near is a technical volunteer with GASP and he took this project with full force. He began developing his own prototypes for air quality sensors which lead to the projects first grants including a $1000 grant from EBSCO. This grant allowed for active testing of the first prototypes which then lead to more grants.
GASP had previously been working on installing air quality sensors through Purple Air. The main differences between Purple Air and Smart City Sensor is what each sensor has the capability to detect. Purple Air sensors are only able to detect particulate matter (PM) sizes 1, 2.5, and 10 micron. PM refers to the amount of particles floating in air which can be deemed hazardous. It is a complex mixture of inorganic particles including dust, pollen, soot, smoke, and liquid droplets. These particles vary greatly in size, composition and origin. These small particles can be inhaled and can potentially enter into the lung and blood stream. Figure 2 below shows the sizes of common PM that can be found in air pollution.
The Smart City Sensors (SCS) are optimized to detect all the PM that Purple Air can detect plus PM the size of 4 micron. This allows the SCS to obtain a fuller spectra of the PM in the air. This means that the SCS can provide a clearer distribution of the PM in the air. Another feature of the SCS is that they utilize what are called gateways to connect to the internet. A gateway is essentially a bridge for what is called a lora network to get to the internet. The lora network is a long-range wireless network used to connect scientific devices, such as the SCS, to the internet. This network connects at much longer ranges than the Purple Air sensors and allows for more flexibility in sensor placement and installation.
Fig. 2 PM in air pollution by size 1
The SCS also measure various air quality conditions including temperature, humidity, and pressure. These properties are important because they help us understand dynamic air quality. What makes air quality so hard to measure is that it has such random patterns in its fluid flow. Air does not flow in any given direction that we can predict accurately and the conditions in the air strongly affect the dynamics of this flow. Therefore, detecting these properties in the atmosphere helps paint a clearer picture of what the air quality is. The SCS also are designed to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are often originated from manmade chemicals which the EPA reports can cause eye, nose, and throat irritation, nausea, and possible damage to the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system [5].
The main goal of the Smart City Sensor project is to install a sensor at every mile to better sculpt a picture of what the air quality in Birmingham truly is. Areas such as North and West Birmingham are of particular interest because of the large amount of industrial activity happening in those areas. The more sensors we install, the more homogenous data we obtain.
Concluding Statements
The main objective of the Smart City Sensor project is to collect enough data to accurately show the air pollution problem in Birmingham and then make this information public. The more people that become aware of this issue, the more pressure is put on industry leaders and representatives to make a change. Again, I will say, it is the power of the people that can truly make a difference.
If you know of any potential locations for installation of a SCS, please contact the main offices at GASP. Your support is one step closer to clean, healthy air in the city of Birmingham.
Works Cited
[1] GASP, Inc. 2021. Our Story. https://gaspgroup.org/our-story/
[2] Byington, P., 2017. “’Smoke City’ – Birmingham air pollution our past and future. Bham Now. https://bhamnow.com/2017/08/17/smoke-city-birmingham/
[3] Jefferson County Department of Health. https://www.jcdh.org/Default.aspx
[4] McMinn, N. Smarter Birmingham. https://smarterbham.com/
[5] EPA. Volatile Organic Compounds’ Impact on Indoor Air Quality. https://www.epa.gov/indoor air-quality-iaq/volatile-organic-compounds-impact-indoor-air-quality