Program for 15 April 2012
IMPROVING AIR QUALITY IN HANOI

In recent years, poor air quality in major urban centers in Vietnam, such as Hanoi or Hochiminh City, has been a major concern. Polluted air adversely affects our health, leading to increased public spending on healthcare, which otherwise could be invested in more productive economic activities. Poor air quality also makes it less attractive for foreigners to visit or work in Vietnam, and this has many negative economic consequences as well.
Not contenting to wait for the government to provide an easy answer, many for-profit and non-profit organizations have taken the initiative to reduce air pollution in Vietnam.
One example is a business that buys excess straws from farmers to produce electricity. The excess straws will not need to be burned and therefore will not be a major source of air pollution (which is the case every summer in Hanoi). Some other non-profit organizations are trying to educate people about the need to choose clean energy sources, reduce wastage, and only buy products and services from businesses that don’t pollute the air.
Group Discussion
- What sources of air pollution can you identify? Among those sources, which ones are the worst, which ones are the easiest/the most difficult to eliminate?
- Imagine that your group is an organization trying to fight air pollution. Please choose a single source of air pollution and try to get the whole group to come up with a solution to eliminate or reduce air pollution coming from that source.
- Each group will prepare a detailed plan to implement the solution.
- Try to predict all possible difficulties in the implementation of the plan so you can defend it better in your presentation.
Presentation
Each group will present their detailed plan. The audience will ask questions, and the group will try to defend their plan.