Iranian Journal of

Background and Objective: Nowadays, with the increasing environmental issues such as energy crisis, climate change, waste generation and destruction of natural resources and the increase of waste materials due to the development of urbanization, human impact on the environment is one of the most challenging issues of the scientific community. The purpose of this study was to measure the level of awareness and environmental behaviors of Yazd citizens.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 1000 residents of Yazd in 2018 by cluster sampling. The data collection tool was a standard questionnaire for knowledge, attitude and environmental behavior. The score range for the three knowledge, attitude and practice structures was 0-12, 13-65, and 17-55, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analytical tests at the significance level of 0.05 using spss16 software.
Results: One hundred percent of the questionnaires were completed. Mean score of knowledge and environmental attitude was 8.23 ± 3.92 and 36.15 ± 8.28 (moderate), and of the environmental behavior was 26.19 ± 7.14 (poor). There was a significant statistical difference between knowledge and environmental behavior of women and men. The level of knowledge and environmental behavior of women was higher (p<0.05). The largest source of environmental information was radio and television (42%).
Conclusion:  Despite the relatively good awareness and attitude towards the environment, the majority of the people had poor performance due to the environmental behavior. Therefore, environmental awareness cannot be a guarantee of environmental behavior. It also needs to encourage persuasive social conditions and structure and facilitating environmental behaviors.
 

Background and Objective: Water is one of the most valuable environmental factors that has become one of the greatest challenges of human society today. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between religious attitudes toward water saving in high school students in Yazd.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2018. 600 subjects (300 girls and 300 boys) were selected by random sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire on water saving tendency including 21 questions and Religious attitude questionnaire including 60 questions. The score range for the religious attitude and the tendency to save water was 60-300 and 21-105, respectively. Data were entered into SPSS18 software and analyzed using Chi-square, Pearson correlation coefficient and descriptive statistics.
Results: The mean and standard deviation of the religious attitude score and the tendency to save water consumption were 180.11 ± 14.31 and 65.27 ± 10.21, respectively. The religious attitude of students with age and gender, and the tendency toward water saving with gender variables and number of family members was significant (p<0.05). Correlation between religious attitude and tendency to water saving was statistically significant (r=0.69, p=0.01)
Conclusion: Considering the positive correlation between religious attitude and tendency towards water saving, efforts to strengthen religious and moral inputs related to water consumption in students can lead to the development of an optimal water consumption attitude in this influential community of a society.
 

Background and Objective: Toluene is one of the most important volatile organic compounds that threaten human health and introduce many environmental problems. Therefore, the present study aims to determine the performance of a biofilter based on pine cones/compost to remove toluene vapors from polluted air streams.
Materials and Methods: In this research, a biofilter with a volume of 19.468 L was designed and built. The biofilter bed consisted of two parts 26 cm in height and packed with a mixture of compost and pine cones in 1:1 volumetric ratio. After inoculating the bed with sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant and making it compatible with toluene, the performance of the biofilter in different parts of the bed was investigated at the inlet toluene concentrations of 2.5-5.5 g/m³ and Empty Bed Retention Times (EBRTs) of 1.3, 1.7, and 2.43 min. Also, the results were analyzed statistically.
Results: At EBRT of 2.43 min and different inlet toluene concentrations of 2.5-5.5 g/m³, the removal efficiency reached 100 percent. Also, the removal efficiency decreased with the reduction of EBRT. The results showed that removal efficiency was higher in the first part of the biofilter bed relate to the second part. At an inlet toluene concentration of 2.62 g/m³ and EBRT of 1.7 min, the maximum elimination capacity (EC_max) of 2.74 g/m³.min was obtained.
Conclusion: In all experimental conditions the outlet concentration of pine-cone/compost biofilter was below the WHO standard (260 µg/m³). Also, the high elimination capacity of biofilter verified its capability toward toluene removal from polluted gas streams.