what does it look like when children grow up in ashtrays? when their laughter is swallowed by smog, their playgrounds paved over by industries that poison the very ground beneath them?

through visual art and poetry learn how environmental inequality isn’t just smoke and mirrors, but the lived reality of black communities.

click on the presentation below to view the whole story!

the wilting bush is right in front of a sitting area, a tupperware full of homemade cookies in the shapes of trees on the table. a pitcher of iced tea, minty and fresh, made just for us on a small plot of land adjacent to the embarras river. it reminds me of my grandparents’ farm. the colorful set of wind chimes strumming chords into the air carries the same cadence of those hung from the trees around my grandmother’s vegetable garden.

this is someone’s backyard, someone’s home, but the greenery that makes this place so vibrant is dying because of herbicide drift. patsy hopper is one of many farmers living in the rural midwest. she’s angry about what she sees, yet approaches anyone who will listen with kindness and hospitality.

hopper’s story calls into question the experiences of people who make their way on small farms, like many of my family members, the many that aren’t aware of the dangers under their noses, and the corporations behind mass herbicide misuse. 

we see firsthand the damages of herbicide drift. the curling, dehydrated leaves are evidence of attempts to bolster crop output for higher profits. according to prairie rivers network, farmers and corporations in the row crop industry have oversaturated their fields with herbicides, often disregarding the scarcely enforced regulatory guidelines. 

in a six-year comprehensive study, prairie rivers network showed that herbicides are drifting more than a mile from the source, threatening human health, trees, crops, and pollinators, with ripple impacts through the ecosystem. this affects the environment and people, like hopper, their livelihoods, health, and quality of life.

hopper tells us that she used to use herbicides like most farmers in central illinois, but went organic after learning more about the dangers and seeing the effects firsthand. this puts her in a minority. only 1% of farms in the united states are certified organic. 

as a descendant of many generations of family farmers, on both my mother and father’s sides, i consider my ties to this damage. how much of my own family uses herbicides? misuses herbicides? have bushes like patsy’s, dying and brittle, in their backyards? 

if you know a farmer, you know what it means to them, to be in touch with the land. however, the nature of farming in illinois has changed dramatically over the years. according to the illinois department of agriculture, since 1959 the average farm size has more than doubled. more than 49% of illinois farmers hold other jobs, treating farming as their secondary occupation. large scale family farms and non-family farms account for the bulk of farm production. for most, farming alone is no longer a sustainable way to support a family.

yet these small farms, scattered between the sterilized sites of the larger industry, are personal. there are the rows of hay bales we would climb and run along as kids, the corn fields we would weave through in a game of hide and seek, the trees we learned to climb. there are the backyards where the tired farmer takes a breath after a long day amongst the corn, the vegetable garden that feeds a family. these places are under threat, and the threat is largely invisible, “hidden in plain sight,” as prairie rivers network says in their 2024 report. 

greenpeace international’s “4 myths about industrial agriculture” discusses how industrial agriculture pushes the idea of “feeding the people,” using the narratives of the actual farmers who earn their livelihood from the land. however, the reality of corn production in the u.s. tells a different story.

according to the usda, 45% of corn grown in the united states is used for ethanol. in illinois alone, the department of agriculture records that 274 million bushels of illinois corn are used each year to produce about 678 million gallons of ethanol– more than any other state.

beyond diverting crops from food production, ethanol contributes to environmental damage. the us energy information administration states that ethanol and ethanol-gasoline mixtures burn have higher evaporative emissions from fuel tanks, contributing to smog formation and air pollution. rather than feed the people, the crop industry is growing gasoline, and increasing pollution while they’re at it.

hopper tells us how heavy branches drop out of her trees on a windless day. the dull thud of a rotted life plucked from something once beautiful and full. she grieves the ghostly falling limbs, whole trees dying from the chemical infection. i consider this as we say goodbye to her. she insists we take tea and cookies for the road. hopper’s humanity stands in contrast to the detached systems of corporations, illustrating their distance from the individuals impacted. individuals, kind, good people, are affected. 

who is responsible for herbicide drift — the individual or the institution, the absentee land-owner farmer or the hired hand? many farmers may not even know the impact of herbicide drift. does my family? blame moves in circles — from the government to the corporation, to the individual, and back again — but proximity to the damage is often closer than we realize.

after all, patsy hopper, a dedicated and informed organic farmer, is the outlier. we need to heed the message, the warning, of the echo of limbs falling from trees on a still afternoon.

“reading sea creatures & corals: a penghu story” (esri story map) is my love letter to the coral reef ecosystem and the organisms it supports in the penghu archipelago, taiwan. i collaborated with the foundation of pescadores citizens, a local ngo, to organize volunteer sessions on penghu’s main island for scleractinian coral rehabilitation.

while stationed on the island, i was inspired by the terns soaring through the sky and the sea turtles swimming freely in the ocean. this inspiration led me to write two short stories featured in the story map, looking into their challenges living under anthropogenic impacts. by the end of last summer, i had helped transplant over 90 coral stems with volunteers and mapped live coral coverage across five sites (2020–2023) on penghu’s main island and in south penghu marine national park for long-term monitoring efforts. the map integrates underwater footage, photography, film and digital photos, gis maps, and figures from the scientific literature to immerse the audience in the underwater world.

the story map is divided into five sections, beginning with my short stories on greater crested terns and sea turtles, an introduction to the biology of corals, and the restoration work i carried out with the ngo in penghu. my story raises awareness of the urgent need to preserve coral reef ecosystems and inspire a deeper love for the ocean.

click on the presentation below to read the full story!

milan, italy is recognized as a global leader in design, art, and business. in the city’s bustling center, one can see leonardo da vinci’s last supper alongside the fashion houses of prada and giorgio armani — all while cooling off with a cup of gelato.

but talk to the city’s residents and they’ll reveal a secret that will make you drop your spoon. behind milan’s glitz and glamor lies a difficult truth: the city suffers from the most polluted air of any eu metropolis, a status that threatens the city’s future.

numerous factors make milan vulnerable to elevated levels of air pollution. italy’s second-largest city is home to much of the country’s heavy industry and agriculture. both sectors produce substantial amounts of pollution from waste and burning. milan is also situated in northern italy’s po valley, a low-lying area surrounded by mountains that trap dirty air. with a lot of pollution with nowhere to go, milan’s unique economic and geographic features turn it into an air pollution pressure cooker.

polluted air isn’t just a cosmetic issue. valentina bosetti, a professor of climate change economics at milan’s bocconi university, notes that air pollution can have a lasting impact on our mental and physical health. the world health organization (who) agrees, stressing that exposure to particulate matter can increase the risk of strokes and heart disease. the american lung association echoes these claims, while also linking air pollution to higher rates of cognitive impairment and alzheimer’s.

it’s health concerns like these that compelled anna gerometta, founder of the milan-based nonprofit cittadini per l’aria (citizens for the air), to push for change. as an adult, gerometta recalls that she was aware of milan’s air pollution but didn’t give it much thought. that changed when her daughter experienced dermatitis and allergies that worsened with exposure to milan’s polluted air. newly motivated, gerometta threw herself into the issue of air pollution in northern italy and started cittadini per l’aria.

after founding cittadini, gerometta launched her groundbreaking no₂, no grazie! (no₂, no thank you!) campaign, one of the first air pollution citizen science projects in italy. gerometta began by gathering over 200 milan residents — a process she described as “not easy” — and helped them place small air quality sensors near their homes, schools, and workplaces.

she then collaborated with researchers to transform the sensor data into moving visuals. cittadini’s interactive maps show not just air quality, but also the estimated increase in hospitalizations, heart attacks, and other conditions expected due to pollution.

in 2023, the no₂, no grazie! campaign exploded to 1500 volunteers across italy, with a motto of sai cosa respiri? (do you know what you’re breathing?) gerometta’s success has won the support of international environmental organizations, with patagonia and wwf italy supporting her fight for clean air.

despite cittadini’s achievements, gerometta notes that air pollution remains an “invisible issue.” individuals can rarely see, smell, or feel particulate matter in the air — as a result, it’s easy to ignore. a generational divide also exists.

at a recent cittadini event, several young activists discussed their decision to leave milan because of concerns for their children’s health. however, the science surrounding air pollution has accelerated past the ability of researchers to communicate said science to people of all ages.

professor bosetti at bocconi university has witnessed this gap firsthand. bosetti is a leading climate change researcher, but she has often heard air pollution described as a “fifth-order problem.” she has since abandoned her air pollution research, describing the results as too depressing.

however, bosetti notes that progress is possible towards cleaner air. milan’s city government has already implemented notable changes: when air quality declines, the city introduces low emissions zones and lowers speed limits. but air pollution is not a tangible issue, and these measures have resulted in pushback from italian citizens.

this three-way tug of war between activists, the government, and the public can make the issue of air pollution feel intractable. the success of the no₂, no grazie! model lies in its ability to assemble disparate groups of people — including nonprofits, researchers, and citizens — to make a change.

in 2023, the city of milan sponsored cittadini’s data collection efforts. this raises the hope that the no grazie! campaign will be used not just to inform and educate, but also to improve local policy.

milan is a place that never stops running, as if the city is constantly indulging in italian espresso. but at night, the city’s tension fades. it’s times like these that i ask locals how they feel about the air. it seems everyone knows someone who has moved away because of pollution.

anna gerometta’s activist friends have moved. professor bosetti lost a colleague who became fed up with long stretches of unhealthy air. i’ll leave this city eventually, too, as part of a cohort of young people leaving partially due to pollution.

we aren’t alone. from mexico city to lahore, india, air pollution represents an under-discussed threat to public health.

if what you see concerns you, talking to a friend or neighbor can help raise awareness. for those looking to make an even greater difference, the no grazie! campaign offers a model as radically collaborative as it is impactful. it only asks us to consider a future of smog and respond: no, thanks. no, grazie.

race is the no. 1 indicator for the placement of toxic facilities in the united states according to research published in the american public health association.

this film is a reflection on environmental justice in the united states as seen through the lens of our nation’s capital. the film juxtaposes unkempt green spaces with the crumbling infrastructure of forgotten communities. in this short, i sought to explore what justice truly looks like through conflicting political systems and embedded community experience. while injustice takes many forms and can be easily identified in the digital age, understanding the broader societal barriers and economic binds that allow these injustices to fester is a much more complex topic. 

the filming of this short was done in union market, ivy city, and the national arboretum which are next to each other from left to right in d.c. while the arboretum is a true example of environmental consideration in the city, its neighbor ivy city, struggles with air pollution and economic disenfranchisement, lagging behind much of the more affluent areas of the city. similarly, ivy city’s neighbor, union market, is undergoing rapid gentrification but still struggles with equity for all.

washington, d.c. – volunteers braved near-freezing temperatures in the 30s on saturday, hauling soggy suitcases, rusted tires, abandoned toilets and bags of food wrappings at pope branch park near the anacostia river. by the end of the day, they had collected nearly 4,000 pounds of illegally dumped waste.

the annual cleanup, hosted by the anacostia riverkeeper, honored the rev. dr. martin luther king jr.’s legacy of service and justice, turning environmental action into a fight for civil rights.

dr. king reminded citizens that life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “what are you doing for others?” volunteers answered this question through action to restore the anacostia river and the surrounding community.

dolly davis, executive director and site leader of pope branch park restoration alliance, has led community cleanups since 1999. her experience as an advisory neighborhood commissioner in 2001 prompted her to investigate issues in her community.

“one of the biggest problems i found was illegal dumping,” davis recalls. “i started getting involved to really understand my community.”

davis has continued advocating for and protecting her twining neighborhood, partnering with the anacostia watershed society, the anacostia riverkeeper, brenda richardson of anacostia park community collaborative and nathan harrington of ward 8 woods.

the d.c. department of energy and environment enforcement (doee) has also helped davis with enforcing back road surveillance and issuing fines of up to $40,000 for illegal dumping. for years, davis struggled to engage csx transportation, a major freight rail company whose tracks run through southeast d.c., an area historically burdened by industrial pollution. after two decades of efforts, the nonprofit ward 8 woods recently received a $6,500 grant from csx to help develop a trail along unused tracks.

“they’re at the table, and they’re working with us,” davis said. “and we’re going to create this hiker-biker trail where kids can ride, seniors can walk and people can rehab.”

a community of volunteers

many volunteers returned from last year’s cleanup, eager to be part of a community initiative. “service is what my husband and i try to share with our kids,” jenee edgerton said, a ward 7 resident and community volunteer. “coming together and participating in the day of service brings us closer as a community and family.”

some volunteers joined to increase their community engagement. “it’s important to give back and help the community,” sharina shuler, a howard university alumna, said. “my goal this year was to be more active and do more service. no matter how far you get in life, it’s always important to give back.”

trey sherard, anacostia riverkeeper, has been involved with the river cleanup program for over a decade. he emphasized that the event has grown into one of the largest community-driven cleanups in d.c., with over 400 volunteers participating last year and more than 90 braving this year’s frozen river stream.

sherard connected the event’s mission to king’s legacy, explaining that it was originally started by dolly davis and joseph glover, former deacon of pennsylvania avenue baptist church, to improve the community. “it has been awesome since,” sherard said.

pollution in the anacostia

not only is the surrounding land affected, but the anacostia river itself has long been polluted by industrial runoff. sherard noted that while conditions have improved, challenges remain. he highlighted “forever chemicals” or pfas (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), which are even more toxic in small doses than pcbs (polychlorinated biphenyls).

pcbs are manmade chemicals once widely used in electrical equipment like capacitors due to their heat and pressure. though banned in 1979, these oily, odorless substances persist in soil and waterways, making cleanup efforts even more difficult.

“pfas are in most of what we wear — stain-repellent, water-repellent fabrics, flame retardants, all of those things,” sherard said. “they’re everywhere, and they’re toxic at even smaller doses.”

the anacostia river faces contamination issues, including:

• oil leaks, reckless dumping and industrial waste accidents, such as overturned coal cars and polluting water.
• toxic pollutants that settle in the riverbed, affecting bottom-feeders like catfish.
• bioaccumulation of petroleum and heavy metals, which pose health risks to immunocompromised individuals and pregnant women.
• restrictions that limit consumption of fish from the river.

karim marshall, former senior advisor for environmental justice and external civil rights for the u.s. environmental protection agency, explained: “the environmental justice movement has always been a civil rights movement. the short answer to all this is that we need to be serious and intentional about the decisions we make as a city.”

to combat contamination, d.c. has focused on capping polluted riverbed soil with clean sediment to reduce exposure. marshall acknowledged that while capping isn’t a perfect solution, it significantly lowers contamination risks compared to natural attenuation — a slower option to reduce contaminants without human intervention.

“the capping method helps prevent river life from coming into contact with pollutants, reducing the overall risk,” marshall explained.

in 2023, d.c. attorney general brian l. schwalb defended the anacostia river sediment project (arsp), citing the severe impact of pollution. following this, pepco, one of the river’s biggest polluters, paid $60 million in restitution, received by the office of the attorney general (oag).

but private industry was not the only culprit. for decades, the u.s. government contributed to the river’s contamination through hazardous waste discharge at the washington navy yard, chemical dumping from federal printing facilities, and poor sewage and wastewater management. schwalb sued the u.s. government on jan. 10 for its continued pollution of the anacostia river, which he called d.c.’s most vital natural resource.

“we’re playing a long game here. part of that means that you get setbacks occasionally, but you never stop fighting,” marshall said. “and you make sure that the things that are worth fighting for get the support they deserve.”

the u.s. has used the anacostia river as an industrial, cost-free dumping site for over 150 years, depositing cancer-causing pcbs, pesticides and heavy metals into its waters, according to the oag. these pollutants pose serious health risks to both residents and wildlife. the oag’s lawsuit seeks to hold the federal government accountable for cleanup costs to protect the health and safety of d.c. communities.

the biden-harris administration has taken steps to strengthen environmental protections. a white house briefing stated, “the epa established the first-ever national drinking water standard for pfas, banned ongoing uses of asbestos, and strengthened lead protections and mercury and air toxics standards.” these regulations aim to address elevated cancer risks and other health hazards in communities near polluted sites.

when asked whether these protections would remain under a second trump administration, marshall responded, “i can’t comment on the intent of an incoming administration, but we are a nation of rules and laws, and the actions of the biden-harris administration have been consistent with the rule of law.” the response stops short of predicting future policy changes but undergoes the legal framework guiding environmental protections.

morghan manuel is a reporter for hunewsservice.com. this story was originally published in the howard university news service, which you can read here.

studies show that communities near landfills face increased exposure to toxic “forever chemicals” that may pose significant health risks. for long island residents in new york state living near legacy landfill sites, escaping these chemicals may become impossible.

concerns about these “forever chemicals” and their risks continue to grow. the new hampshire department of environmental services describes “forever chemicals” as synthetic chemicals, often used commercially or industrially, that are particularly resistant to breaking down. these chemicals are especially prevalent near landfill sites.

the presence of toxic chemicals near landfill sites has sparked outcries from nearby residents. according to suffolk county legislator rebecca sanin, who served as the former health and welfare council ceo, “living near dump sites leads to increased asthma and respiratory distress depending on other kinds of autoimmune issues and other kinds of health challenges.”

confronting the legacy of pollution

landfills can have detrimental impacts on both the communities and environments they are built in, polluting water sources with “forever chemicals” and lowering the value of nearby homes, according to a study published in pubmed.

the environmental consequences of dumping this toxic waste can harm surrounding communities and pollute their water supplies for generations.

the superintendent of the hicksville water district, paul granger said, “the legacy landfills have already impacted the groundwater contamination, it’s kind of co-mingled, and water systems are probably seeing the impacts from sins of the past.”

according to the nassau suffolk water commissioners’ association, all of long island is dependent on groundwater aquifers for clean water. granger said, “our water comes from groundwater, and we live, work, and play on top of our water supply.” 

with all of long island’s communities dependent on groundwater, the problem of contamination becomes detrimental to local communities.

on long island, the impacts of landfills on public health can be seen ravaging local communities. in the town of brookhaven, an elementary school was built less than a mile from a notorious waste dumping facility. according to the stony brook school of social welfare, 35 faculty members have since contracted cancer-related diseases. of those 35 teachers, 11 have died.

brookhaven and new york state officials have denied any correlations between this landfill site and illness within the surrounding community, stating that there is no statistical significance in this data.

even with constant advancements in the field of waste management, landfills continue to grow in size across america, according to a study published by geosciences. this is due to landfills having the lowest cost of operation out of any waste site as well as a lack of regulations.

research done by verisk maplecroft, a waste management company, found that the united states, while only accounting for 4% of the world’s population, produces 12% of global municipal waste.

according to a review published in the wiley online library, lead exposure is just one of the many risks faced by communities living near landfills. the review determined that there had been direct increases in blood lead levels, particularly in children, in populations that lived near or on-top of landfill sites.

the world health organization states that lead exposure in children can lead to permanent developmental disorders and even convulsions and death, in high enough quantities. even lower levels of lead exposure, experienced by populations near landfill sites, remain detrimental to child development, lowering iq points, reducing attention span, and increasing antisocial disorders.

another major concern is exposure to polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as pfas, which can remain in soil and water supplies almost indefinitely. these chemicals can pose significant health risks to the general population, according to the agency for toxic substances and disease registry. 

sanin emphasized the potential dangers of these chemicals, saying, “we worry pfas in our water supply… i am concerned about all chemicals and carcinogens and how they impact our crops and the soil we grow them in.”

pfas are chemicals that are designed to have non-stick and stain-resistant properties, according to an article published by the u.s government accountability office. these chemicals are found in many common household items, ranging from non-stick pans to carpets. even products that are meant to be used daily such as toothpaste and dental floss have been found to contain these chemicals. 

a survey by the government accountability office found that 77% of public water systems have not enforced measures to fully remove pfas from water supplies. the companies in charge of running these public water systems often are uninformed on the dangers of these chemicals and how to properly remove them from drinking water supplies. 

there has been at least one pfas chemical found in 45% of america’s total drinking water, according to a study published in the environment international journal. this study further noted that every single american has faced some form of pfas exposure in their lifetime. 

when exposed to these chemicals for prolonged periods of time, people may suffer enzyme changes, according to the agency for toxic substances and disease registry, which can affect an individual’s ability to process cholesterol and regulate their liver, wreaking havoc on their daily life. these chemicals have also been known to weaken immune system response, especially in immunocompromised groups.

within communities that are exposed to these chemicals, there are higher rates of kidney and testicular cancers, according to a study published in pubmed. the study claims, “increases in risk of adverse health effects have been reported near individual landfill sites and in some multisite studies.”

forever chemicals aren’t the only issue caused by landfills

landfills are responsible for the production of landfill gas emissions, known as lfgs. these gases further pollute the environment and even directly contribute to global warming. lfgs form when the organic materials within the waste decompose, often due to sun exposure, and can continue emissions for upwards of 20 years, according to a study published by geosciences. 

when these landfills are exposed to rain, toxic chemicals known as leachates begin to seep into the groundwater and soil around the site. these leachates carry a variety of toxic heavy metals and chemicals that lead to long-term pollution of a community’s environment and agriculture, according to the study.

this problem becomes increasingly prevalent when looking at how socioeconomic factors can play a role in a persons level of exposure. low-income communities are often disproportionately affected by these dangerous chemicals coming from waste sites, as stated in a paper published by taylor and francis.

according to sanin, “folks who are harming our environment are often doing so in low-income communities, so it has a huge factor, a huge impact, that people are often disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards.” 

this is due to the ever-growing issue of environmental racism. environmental racism refers to the deliberate placement of environmental hazards and contaminants in both communities of color and communities of low-income, according to a study published in the environmental research letters. communities that face these issues are known as environmental justice communities.

though public concerns continue to grow, work is being done across long island to combat these issues. sanin said, “long island has grants available to communities to do mitigation work when they are deemed an environmental justice community.” 

grants aren’t the only way long island is combating this crisis as environmental scientists are constantly working on new technology. granger said, “our budget for laboratory analysis of pre-emerging contaminants, around 2019 or even earlier, was about $100,000, now we’re spending close to $250,000.” these budget increases are due to technological improvements, which allows for better detection of potential contaminants. 

in 2023, new york governor kathy hochul allocated $3.5 million towards new york environmental justice initiatives, with $200,000 being put towards projects in long island, according to new york state’s government website.

sanin said, “that’s really what this is about, making sure that we’re doing the mitigation work and that we’re preventing future harm to our land.”

in this video, george washington university student lydie lake dives into the issue of light pollution. by talking to d.c. locals who feel the impacts of light pollution and work to fight it, lake finds that light pollution is more than not being able to see the stars; it affects human health and our circadian rhythms; it contributes to the deaths of migrating birds, and it hinders our view of the universe.

the disused buildings of our past can be a way of preserving culture while simultaneously following sustainable initiatives of our present day. it’s up to us to harness the potential of these buildings and preserve our beautiful, one-of-a-kind, planet. 

in this video, i discuss how giving building stock a second chance allows for communities to grow without the unnecessary use of undeveloped land. using these buildings can also allow for local economic stability by hiring locally and keeping the resources of the buildings within the community. we can build a better future together.

air pollution disproportionately affects communities across the us. the particulate matter that can enter our lungs and travel all throughout our bodies from our bloodstream, to our brains, to our future children, can come from different sources, but communities that are located directly next to an emission source will oftentimes develop short and long term health problems.

occupational health researcher gaige kerr discusses how air quality relates to environmental injustice, and maryland resident latasha currie talks about her experience developing asthma after a construction plant was built in her community. despite not having any problems with asthma throughout her childhood currie says her lungs are now at 60% capability.

air pollution is a silent killer as so many people in these communities do not know that the air they are breathing is contaminated. however, there is hope for the future. kerr discusses how we can work together to combat air quality injustice through a combination of research, advocacy, education, and community building.

listen to the podcast below!

podcast transcript:

guinevere maclowry: welcome to planet forward’s podcast series. my name is guin maclowry, and here with me today to talk about air pollution and environmental injustice. is gaige kerr. kerr is a current faculty member and assistant research professor with milken institute’s department of environmental and occupational health. thanks for sitting down with me today, gaige.

gaige kerr: thanks for having me.

gm: can you begin by giving us a brief introduction of your work and what you do?

gk: i would say, at essence, i’m an air quality scientist. i spent many years trying to understand air pollution and air quality, and the air pollution i focus on is ambient or outdoor air pollution. i’ve done a number of different studies across different scales that range from local scales all the way to global scales, but most of the work i do is based in the us.

so in my work, i use a lot of satellite data and sophisticated computer models of the atmosphere to try to understand what kind of air pollution we face in the us, where it’s coming from, as well as some of the impacts that it has on health and environmental justice.

gm: to begin i want to talk about fine particulate matter. according to the epa, fine particulate matter, or pm, is the term for microscopic particles of pollutants in our air. pm can be made up of hundreds of different chemicals and come in different shapes and sizes. but pm 2.5, or particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, are the most dangerous to our health. what makes them so harmful?

gk: there are a number of constituents in the atmosphere, and some of them are bigger in size. so many listeners might be familiar with pollen and dust in the air, and you might know that when we breathe it in your nose might get itchy, your eyes water. so those larger particles are thankfully filtered out by some of the natural defense mechanisms that we have in our throat, in our nose, but there’s this whole other class of particles that are very fine that are able to bypass some of those natural defense mechanisms that we have, and they can get into our lungs and into our blood.

and there’s been a number of studies to show that the impacts that pm 2.5 have on our health are quite pervasive and far reaching. so there’s been really interesting and groundbreaking studies that have shown that these really super small particles can make it into the blood brain barrier. they can make it into the fetal part of the placenta. so it’s not just that they’re limited to our lungs or respiratory system. once they’re in our bodies, they can travel really many places and have wide reaching impacts on our health.

in terms of longer term health impacts, we know from epidemiological literature that higher concentrations of no2 over long periods of time is associated with increased odds of stroke of copd, ischemic heart disease, and many other adverse health outcomes that no one wants to have. but we know and listeners probably can guess this, that pm 2.5 can have a really wide range of sources, ranging from natural things like little particles from wildfires and sea salts to things that are human caused or anthropogenic – black carbon from diesel fuel burning.

so one exciting area of environmental epidemiology currently is trying to pick apart whether different types of pm, whether they’re sourced from dust or from wildfires or from fossil fuel burning, might have different health impacts. currently in the us, though, the quantity that’s regulated by the epa is just undifferentiated or total pm 2.5. so our current regulation structure in the us doesn’t really discern between different kinds of pm 2.5 but there is evidence to suggest, and hopefully this evidence continues to be fleshed out in research, that different constituents of pm 2.5 might have different health impacts.

gm: the negative impacts of air pollution can take effect within days or weeks of exposure, and children are particularly vulnerable. i know that you did some work studying nitrogen dioxide air pollution, and i know that nitrogen dioxide can combine with other chemicals and become particulate matter.

gk: yeah, there’s a lot to him back here, as you alluded to, air pollution is complex the atmosphere, and the chemistry that takes place in the atmosphere is really complex. and pollution varies a lot, not just from location to location, but from day to day. different weather patterns like warm fronts and cold fronts can create different pollution levels and similar things go for high and low pressure systems and other meteorological features that we might hear about on the evening or morning news.

so there are really major variations, both in space and time with respect to pollution. when we think about the health impacts that pollution causes, a lot of times, people group them into the long term or chronic impacts, and then the short term or acute impacts. i mainly focus on those chronic or long term impacts in my research. so i’m interested in understanding areas that persistently have higher levels of air pollution.

so in the context of environmental equity and justice, those might be communities that are proximal to a highway or interstate or to, let’s say, a power plant or refinery. so in these communities, residents are faced with high pollution day after day, and while some of those levels might fluctuate again, oweing to the role that meteorology has on air pollution, their levels are persistently higher than levels in other neighborhoods that might not be so proximal to emission sources.

there is a community in south baltimore that is a little bit downwind of a major trash incinerator, and then to its other side, it’s boxed in by a lot of industry related to the port of baltimore. in this community, they are grappling with incredibly high school absenteeism rates due to pediatric asthma. so this is one example of a fairly clear link between industrial processes and fossil fuel combustion and then some adverse health impact that is unfortunately disproportionately born by this community, which happens to be predominantly black and brown with lower wealth.

gm: looking closer at dc, while air pollution has decreased in general over the past 20 years, the improvement has not been equitable across the city. according to a 2023 study by nasa, higher levels of pm 2.5 were found in neighborhoods with the highest percentage of black residents, particularly in the southeast areas of the city.

i had the chance to speak with 36 year old latasha currie, a maryland resident who was born and raised in alexandria, virginia. currie developed asthma later in life as a result of frequent exposure to smoke and pollutants in the air emitted by a nearby factory.

latasha currie: air pollution has impacted me in many ways. i develop asthma. i frequently get bronchitis, and i now have a 60% lung function. where i currently live, there is a- some type of construction factory that lets off either smoke or some type of debris or something into the air, which has definitely caused my asthma to flare up a lot.

gm: and when you went to the doctor, were there any resources available to you at the time when you realized there was a problem?

lc: no, there weren’t many resources available. they just quickly diagnosed me with asthma and put me on steroids. i only knew of the issue because i did a lot of research, because i’m not the type that really just takes medicine, just because the doctor says, ‘take this.’

so i researched and read up on the background of air pollution and everything that’s going on currently in the world with air pollution.

gm: did you get any sort of support from your local government or community. how, like, what was the response that you heard from people?

lc: i didn’t get any support from the local government. i got support from a there’s a asthma group on instagram, and they told they tell you about different ways to decrease asthma attacks, or what to do if your breathing is labored and stuff like that. so that was the resource and the help that i got from the community.

gm: what’s something you wish people knew about air pollution and environmental injustice that they might not know?

lc: i wish people would do more research on it, instead of just allowing doctors or people to tell them, ‘okay, well, you have lung disease or you have asthma.’ there’s reasons why we have these conditions, and i would like for people to advocate more for themselves.

don’t just take the asthma diagnosis, do the research and find out what tests you can get to get your lungs tested and checked and see why you’re having these issues. and i would also like for the local government to put more information out there about the air pollution and air quality in different parts of the states and in different communities.

gm: what work is being done to mitigate air pollution. i know that it’s difficult. there’s not one solution. we can’t just put an air filter through the entire atmosphere, but what work is being done to help these communities?

gk: you are completely right that there’s not just one solution. we can’t pass air through a vacuum. but actually think there’s some excitement and there’s actually a positive way we can spin that, because there is no one size fits all solution or approach. there are many prongs, many different mitigation, adaptation strategies that we have our disposal.

and maybe one of those strategies isn’t going to reduce all of pollution or eliminate all inequities and injustices in pollution, but we at least have different options, and we can approach those different options, or choose those different options based on what pollution is affecting an area or the political situation in an area at the time.

so i am most familiar with traffic related pollution, and even within this one subset of air pollution emission sources, there are many different options that we have to try to reduce traffic related air pollution. so one particular research question that i’m interested in is understanding the role of heavy duty traffic semis and other large, boxy trucks in producing nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter pollution. there’s growing research to highlight how electric trucks or low emission trucks can reduce pollution coming out of their tail pipes.

there’s also ways that we can rethink about how we move goods in the country. so maybe it’s shifting more to rail. and all of these actions, along with others, can have impacts on reducing pollution in overburdened communities.

gm: that’s fantastic. i know that the burden is not on the individual to fix environmental injustice and pollution in general, but i do think that it’s important to look around each other and find ways we can help, especially in the face of a very doom and gloom attitude when it comes to the climate. so do we focus on educating each other, urging our elected officials to make changes a combination of both, or something else

gk: all of the above! i do think education is needed. i’m someone who’s really steeped in the science and in this work, so i know many of the ins and outs of the field of air quality and environmental justice. i will say, though, in people i’ve talked to that are pretty far removed from air quality and even environmental studies and earth science, the air to them feels, it smells all the same. so to tell people that air pollution is two times worse, three times worse in a certain community might come as a surprise. and even politicians. i won’t name any names here, but there have been kind of iconic tweets from certain high level politicians that accuse certain political parties of racializing or politicizing the air. you know, people will say, ‘how can air be racist?’ and of course, air is not a racist object. it’s a, you know, an inanimate object.

but the urban planning, the design of our cities that is so closely linked to the air pollution that we experience has unfortunately placed emission sources in communities of color. so all this is to say, i think educating the general public, teaching them that all people do not breathe the same air, unfortunately, and these differences, these inequities in the air we breathe, can lead to really real health consequences that don’t just impact the health of the residents breathing that air, but they also have larger economic and productivity consequences for our society as a whole.

so yes, education is important, and then advocacy is super important as well. i realize not everyone is a researcher like me, but people that have lived experiences dealing with air pollution and health inequities in overburdened communities should be talking with policy makers as their time and interests allow, because they have really valuable lived experiences that will help shape the way that their elected leaders hopefully respond to this important issue. for those who are able to afford air filtration, hepa filters, that’s one way that we can reduce our exposure when we’re inside. additionally, when there are high pollution episodes outdoors, we can either stay inside or we can sometimes mask too if there are fine particulate matter episodes.

gm: thank you so much for sitting down with me today. gaige,

gk: of course!

gm: this has been a planet forward podcast series. my name is guin maclowry, and thank you so much for listening.