Roots and Routes uses health walks, air sensors and tree planting to tackle air pollution in Ghana
On the streets of Accra, the things that threaten people’s health are not always visible. Traffic moves through the city, rubbish accumulates at the roadside, and smoke rises from burning waste. People walk, work and exercise through it all, often without knowing what is in the air they are breathing. A youth-led initiative is trying to make some of that invisible pollution visible. Called Roots and Routes, the project combines health walks with air-quality monitoring and tree planting as part of efforts to raise awareness about air pollution and push for action in Ghana. The name captures its two main approaches: the roots represent trees planted to help improve the environment, while the routes represent the paths taken by participants as they walk through parts of Accra, collecting data on the air around them.