Every Air Quality Monitor Tells a Story

Inspired by the recent mud house story published by the Chiang Mai Grow-operative, we emailed our community with a newsletter asking for stories about how monitoring air quality has impacted their lives. The response was incredible - over 20 people from all corners of the globe shared their experiences with us.

For us, every monitor tells a story, and it’s these stories that motivate us and drive us to improve our monitors. When we understand how our devices are used in different circumstances - whether tracking air pollution in a busy city or monitoring dust in a rural village - it helps us develop even better solutions and continually motivates our team. While science is the foundation of what we do, it’s the personal stories and real-life experiences that bring our mission to life.

To show our appreciation, we wanted to gift some monitors to those whose stories moved us the most. Although selecting the winners was difficult, as every story was special, we’ve now sent out the monitors to four deserving winners. While we didn’t intend to share the stories initially, we changed our mind after we realised how impactful they were to our team and how they capture the essence of what we want AirGradient and its community to be about.

As a team, we’ve had our own experiences, too - our team members in Kyiv recently experienced heightened air pollution from local wildfires, while other members based in Jakarta experience severe air pollution most days. With these experiences, we know firsthand how air quality is not just a scientific issue but also emotional, and it’s these stories that remind us that air quality monitoring isn’t just about numbers and sensors; it’s much more personal than that.

Story 1

Mihnea Grigore, Romania

My story is nowhere as touching as the one with the Mud House, but I did get the air quality monitor for my parents’ house, which is an apartment located in one of the most polluted cities in the world, Bucharest.

I always felt my airways irritated when visiting, and I wanted to have a quantitative measure backed with data to help base decisions around ventilation, air purification, etc. Since installing the AirGradient, I could see constantly elevated levels of all particulates (PM2.5/10/01/003) as well as very low humidity indoors, all contributing to the low quality air.

Having the constant monitoring also allows to compare levels before/after opening windows (which help with CO2, but increase PMs) or in different seasons. Overall, a very useful addition for personal health!

Story 2

Marco Heuvelman, Netherlands

I had been looking for a good air quality monitor for quite some time. It started when I was living in a one room student dorm with questionable ventilation. I had got a cheap CO2 monitor which made clear that my headaches were CO2 related.

After I moved I wanted to be able to better monitor and track CO2 and other metrics. But not a single product could give me these metrics in an easy and cheap way. Until I found airgradient. The open source and community driven aspect immediately got me hooked. After getting one it made the question of air pollution (small particles/PM) much more tangible and allowed me to be more proactive about it.

I have since recommended airgradient to many friends! I even alter their setup so that the LED displays show what they want to see at their preferred brightness :) great fun

Story 3

Luciano Lamaita, Argentina

The AirGradient Open Air monitor donated by AirGradient as part of the OpenAQ Ambassadors program in 2023 has allowed me to provide my community, Saladillo, with high-quality open air data for the first time in its history. Thanks to the program and the portability and ease of use and configuration of the monitor, it has enabled me to assess air quality in different locations throughout my city. I started at my home, in a partially covered area, and despite our city not experiencing significant impacts from vehicular traffic or industrial activity, we have been surprised by values above the limits established by the WHO.

However, as a challenge, we are addressing the possibility of starting measurements in educational establishments, where children and young people are more affected by poor air quality. The high school where I teach is a technical-oriented school with electromechanical workshops and chemistry laboratories. Therefore, it is necessary not only to know the outdoor air quality but also the indoor air quality, where students and teachers are exposed to many airborne substances that are harmful over prolonged exposures, such as VOCs.

We have begun taking measurements in classrooms and laboratories using the Open Air monitor, and despite having extraction hoods for volatile and dangerous reagents, the study environment remains risky.

These initiatives allow us, first, to be aware of the air we breathe; just because we cannot see the pollutants does not mean they do not exist, and that is thanks to the low-cost air quality monitors we have and could build. This provides us with another avenue of action; thanks to open hardware and open-source projects like AirGradient, we can build our own monitors to provide the school with more devices and extend it to the rest of the educational community.

We are convinced that change comes from the bottom up; by empowering the youth, many changes can be achieved in the future.

Story 4

Benjamin Ragheb, USA

I live in a New York City apartment with my wife and 3-year-old son, and I’ve been curious how much of an effect our gas stove has on our indoor air quality. For years, I never understood why the simple act of cooking would set off smoke alarms when nothing was visibly burning. AirGradient has made visible the invisible! It won’t be easy to replace our gas stove, but at least the AirGradient can remind us to open a window when we use it.

We want to thank everyone who shared their stories! Your experiences remind us of why we do what we do. Stay tuned for more opportunities to get involved in our mission to create cleaner, safer air for everyone. If you’re interested in upcoming giveaways like this one, please don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter!