Air Pollution as an Indicator of Local Environmental Safety Based on the Example of the Town of Barlinek

This article aims to present the state of air quality treated as a measure of the state of quality of local environmental safety, based on the research conducted in the town of Barlinek. This information is necessary to identify the areas that require action to improve air quality (to reduce the concentration of pollutants). The main factors that inspired the author to address this issue are, first of all, the continuous high level of air pollution, despite the actions taken to reduce it; secondly, the lack of precise, clear indicators and measures of such deprivation that applies to a major part of the territory of Poland that would take into account the individual national context; thirdly, the need to identify the main factors that determine this phenomenon in the specific context of Poland. Other factors include the need to consider the requirement for Poland as a member state of the EU to participate in reducing air pollution to an appropriate extent; and, finally, the need to develop and implement integrated 10-year National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) for the years 2021–2030 with a long-term perspective to the year 2050, as well as long-term renovation strategies to improve the accuracy of eliminating air pollution. The research problem focuses on three issues: presenting the current national and European criteria of ecological safety for air pollution, identifying the indicators and measures that enable the determination of air pollution levels, and presenting the local air pollution level based on the selected example. The research problem discussed in the article is empirical. Analytical/synthetic, qualitative and quantitative methods were used to provide a more in-depth analysis of the problem, and conclusions were drawn.