The importance of educating younger generations about raw materials and their uses in our daily life

Raw materials are of great importance for humankind as they enable the development of technology, drive industry and economy, and overall the lifestyle we know today. The paper is addressing the topic of interactive learning about the mineral raw materials, i.e. metals and non-metals. Due to population growth and consequently increased global demand for raw materials, there is a need to educate younger generations about the raw materials and their properties and origin, so they would know from an early age where the mineral products they use come from and how purchase decisions affect the social environments of people who live in countries with resources exploitation. Today’s trends in mining are oriented towards more sustainable exploitation and management, taking into account the economic, social and environmental aspects. An example of such is exploitation of secondary raw materials from tailings and heaps. But in some countries, mining is stuck in the past, using obsolete technologies causing increased pollution and strongly present linear economy approaches of take-use-dispose attitudes or even unethical approaches, such as children being exploited as a cheap workforce, people being abducted, tortured and even killed over minerals (minerals being exploited in such way are called blood or conflict minerals). Further, due to the potential negative impacts on health and safety, due to the emissions in air, water and surface disturbance, the public perception of mining is still perceived as negative in most cases. School curriculums most often lack description of current situations in the global mining. Therefore, within the EIT RawMaterials BRIEFCASE and 3D BRIЕFECASE projects the project partners provide the comprehensive view of the issues of today’s mining and use of raw materials. The paper presents the description of both projects and the non-conventional teaching methods — the hands-on and digital tools for pupils and teachers, i.e. the briefcases, the "Briefcase of mineral applications" game, workshops and the supporting materials. The main objective of projects is to raise the pupils’ awareness about the utility and indispensability of minerals and mining and the consequences of their uses and production systems, which would increase in the long term the awareness about the social and environmental consequences of raw material production

Int J Hyg Environ Health

BACKGROUND: Gas cooking is an important source of indoor air pollutants, and there is some limited evidence that it might adversely be associated with respiratory health. Using repeated cross-sectional data from the multi-centre international European Community Respiratory Health Survey, we assessed whether adults using gas cookers have increased risk of respiratory symptoms compared to those using electric cookers and tested whether there was effect modification by a priori selected factors. METHODS: Data on respiratory symptoms and gas cooking were collected from participants at 26-55 and 38-67 years (median time between examinations 11.4 years) from interviewer-led questionnaires. Repeated associations between gas cooking (versus electric) and respiratory symptoms were estimated using multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, study arm, smoking status, education level, and included random intercepts for participants within study centres. Analyses were repeated using a 3-level variable for type of cooker and gas source. Effect modification by ventilation habits, cooking duration, sex, age atopy, asthma, and study arm were examined. RESULTS: The sample included 4337 adults (43.7% males) from 19 centres in 9 countries. Gas cooking increased the risk of "shortness of breath whilst at rest" (OR = 1.38; 95%CI: 1.06-1.79) and "wheeze with breathlessness" (1.32; 1.00-1.74). For several other symptoms, effect estimates were larger in those who used both gas hobs and ovens, had a bottled gas source and cooked for over 60 min per day. Stratifying results by sex and age found stronger associations in females and younger adults. CONCLUSION: This multi-centre international study, using repeat data, suggested using gas cookers in the home was more strongly associated than electric cookers with certain respiratory symptoms in adults. As gas cooking is common, these results may play an important role in population respiratory health