Impact of a truck Driver's strike on air pollution levels in São Paulo

Chiquetto, Júlio Barboza; Alvim, Débora Souza; Rozante, José Roberto; Faria, Marlon Resende; Rozante, Vinícius; Gobo, João Paulo Assis

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.118072

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…A study in Hong Kong reported a reduction in pollutant emissions from traffic (substantially reduced NO 2 and just slightly reduced PM in the area of the protests) during large-scale street protests 7 . In another study focusing on truck drivers’ strike impact on air pollution in São Paulo, it was observed that while the concentrations of CO and NO decreased by 50%, NO 2 and PM showed almost no changes, suggesting the relevance of secondary reactions and other sources, such as fires 31 . Studies carried out in Italy and Spain during public transport strikes indicated that the concentration of pollutants, such as CO, increased due to a greater use of private vehicles 32 , 33 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of national protest in Ecuador on PM pollution

Žalakevičiūtė

Alexandrino

Mejía

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Particulate matter (PM) accounts for millions of premature deaths in the human population every year. Due to social and economic inequality, growing human dissatisfaction manifests in waves of strikes and protests all over the world, causing paralysis of institutions, services and circulation of transport. In this study, we aim to investigate air quality in Ecuador during the national protest of 2019, by studying the evolution of PM2.5 (PM ≤ 2.5 µm) concentrations in Ecuador and its capital city Quito using ground based and satellite data. Apart from analyzing the PM2.5 evolution over time to trace the pollution changes, we employ machine learning techniques to estimate these changes relative to the business-as-usual pollution scenario. In addition, we present a chemical analysis of plant samples from an urban park housing the strike. Positive impact on regional air quality was detected for Ecuador, and an overall − 10.75 ± 17.74% reduction of particulate pollution in the capital during the protest. However, barricade burning PM peaks may contribute to a release of harmful heavy metals (tire manufacture components such as Co, Cr, Zn, Al, Fe, Pb, Mg, Ba and Cu), which might be of short- and long-term health concerns.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of national protest in Ecuador on PM pollution

Žalakevičiūtė

Alexandrino

Mejía

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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“…Previous studies have used various events to explore exogenous shocks on air quality. For example, Chiquetto, et al [ 21 ] studied the impact of a sudden truck driver strike in Sao Paulo on urban air pollution. Li, et al [ 22 ] took the suspended production of heavy-polluting factories during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics as an environmental event to study its impact on outpatient visits for asthma owing to the improvement of air quality.…”

Section: Data and Empirical Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ambient Air Quality in China: A Quasi-Difference-in-Difference Approach

Zhang

Tang

2021

IJERPH

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The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has provided a distinct opportunity to explore the mechanisms by which human activities affect air quality and pollution emissions. We conduct a quasi-difference-in-differences (DID) analysis of the impacts of lockdown measures on air pollution during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Our study covers 367 cities from the beginning of the lockdown on 23 January 2020 until April 22, two weeks after the lockdown in the epicenter was lifted. Static and dynamic analysis of the average treatment effects on the treated is conducted for the air quality index (AQI) and six criteria pollutants. The results indicate that, first, on average, the AQI decreased by about 7%. However, it was still over the threshold set by the World Health Organization. Second, we detect heterogeneous changes in the level of different pollutants, which suggests heterogeneous impacts of the lockdown on human activities: carbon monoxide (CO) had the biggest drop, about 30%, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) had the second-biggest drop, 20%. In contrast, ozone (O3) increased by 3.74% due to the changes in the NOx/VOCs caused by the decrease in NOx, the decrease of O3 titration, and particulate matter concentration. Third, air pollution levels rebounded immediately after the number of infections dropped, which indicates a swift recovery of human activities. This study provides insights into the implementation of environmental policies in China and other developing countries.

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“…Explicitly, a CO level reduction of −40% was registered in 2009 [34] and 20% in 2010 [21]. In a study in Sao Paulo, Brazil, an even higher reduction, −67%, of CO levels was reported [18]. A reduction of NO 2 concentrations was also observed in Sao Paulo ranging from −7% [18] to −55.5% [35].…”

Section: Inter-period Observational Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A study in Hong Kong during large-scale street protests reported a substantial reduction in NO 2 in the central area [5]. An investigation in São Paulo during a truck drivers' strike showed a 50% reduction in CO and NO concentrations, although NO 2 and particulate matter (PM) indicated no changes [18]. In contrast, during public transport strikes in Italy and Spain, CO levels increased due to the greater use of private vehicles [19,20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In previous studies, pollution change estimates are often based on differences between central and background sites [5] or "trend conditions". The latter are usually calculated using a comparable period (e.g., 3 to 5 years) prior to the protest event [18] or simply comparing pollution pre-strike levels to those during the strike [21]. Depending on the nature of the pollutant, these types of analyses could be subject to biases, as meteorological conditions that influence the production and transport of certain contaminants could vary between the time periods used for comparison [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gradient Boosting Machine to Assess the Public Protest Impact on Urban Air Quality

et al. 2021

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Political and economic protests build-up due to the financial uncertainty and inequality spreading throughout the world. In 2019, Latin America took the main stage in a wave of protests. While the social side of protests is widely explored, the focus of this study is the evolution of gaseous urban air pollutants during and after one of these events. Changes in concentrations of NO2, CO, O3 and SO2 during and after the strike, were studied in Quito, Ecuador using two approaches: (i) inter-period observational analysis; and (ii) machine learning (ML) gradient boosting machine (GBM) developed business-as-usual (BAU) comparison to the observations. During the strike, both methods showed a large reduction in the concentrations of NO2 (31.5–32.36%) and CO (15.55–19.85%) and a slight reduction for O3 and SO2. The GBM approach showed an exclusive potential, especially for a lengthier period of predictions, to estimate strike impact on air quality even after the strike was over. This advocates for the use of machine learning techniques to estimate an extended effect of changes in human activities on urban gaseous pollution.

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Impact of a truck Driver's strike on air pollution levels in São Paulo

Cited by 13 publications

References 41 publications

The effect of national protest in Ecuador on PM pollution

The effect of national protest in Ecuador on PM pollution

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ambient Air Quality in China: A Quasi-Difference-in-Difference Approach

Gradient Boosting Machine to Assess the Public Protest Impact on Urban Air Quality

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