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Author: Elizabeth Duran Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 51
Book Description
Wildfires are predicted to become more severe and frequent with climate change. Wildfire smoke contains toxic pollutants such as particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), which has adverse effects to human health. Literature suggests that air pollution health impacts are cumulative, and wildfire PM2.5 exacerbates pre-existing conditions, potentially contributing to increasing environmental health inequalities. Multiple studies have suggested that communities from low-SES and minority backgrounds are more impacted by air pollution than their counterparts but the role of wildfires' smoke in health inequalities is still unclear. In this study, we assess the environmental implications of wildfires and wildfire PM2.5 by investigating two mechanisms through which wildfire smoke may contribute to health inequalities: differential exposure and differential susceptibility. We use the 2007 San Diego wildfire storm as a case study along with twelve of CalEnviroScreen 3.0's environmental justice indicators and run linear aggressions against wildfire PM2.5 and respiratory hospitalizations attributable to wildfire PM2.5. We also produce maps for wildfire PM2.5, excess respiratory hospitalizations, and all twelve indicators for spatial analyses. Overall, we found a null or negative correlation between wildfire PM2.5 and environmental indicators suggesting that low SES communities were less exposed to wildfire smoke during this event. However, we found a positive correlation between respiratory hospitalizations and environmental indicators indicating that low SES communities are systematically more impacted. This suggests that wildfire smoke may contribute to exacerbating environmental injustices through a differential susceptibility mechanism. These findings are important in identifying vulnerable populations and helps inform targeted policies during wildfires events.
Author: Elizabeth Duran Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 51
Book Description
Wildfires are predicted to become more severe and frequent with climate change. Wildfire smoke contains toxic pollutants such as particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), which has adverse effects to human health. Literature suggests that air pollution health impacts are cumulative, and wildfire PM2.5 exacerbates pre-existing conditions, potentially contributing to increasing environmental health inequalities. Multiple studies have suggested that communities from low-SES and minority backgrounds are more impacted by air pollution than their counterparts but the role of wildfires' smoke in health inequalities is still unclear. In this study, we assess the environmental implications of wildfires and wildfire PM2.5 by investigating two mechanisms through which wildfire smoke may contribute to health inequalities: differential exposure and differential susceptibility. We use the 2007 San Diego wildfire storm as a case study along with twelve of CalEnviroScreen 3.0's environmental justice indicators and run linear aggressions against wildfire PM2.5 and respiratory hospitalizations attributable to wildfire PM2.5. We also produce maps for wildfire PM2.5, excess respiratory hospitalizations, and all twelve indicators for spatial analyses. Overall, we found a null or negative correlation between wildfire PM2.5 and environmental indicators suggesting that low SES communities were less exposed to wildfire smoke during this event. However, we found a positive correlation between respiratory hospitalizations and environmental indicators indicating that low SES communities are systematically more impacted. This suggests that wildfire smoke may contribute to exacerbating environmental injustices through a differential susceptibility mechanism. These findings are important in identifying vulnerable populations and helps inform targeted policies during wildfires events.
Author: Rachel Emma Connolly Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Despite a growing body of research and policy action to increase environmental equity in California, vulnerable populations remain disproportionately environmentally disadvantaged, experiencing a wide spectrum of environmental injustices. Though California is a national leader in combating climate change, with ambitious climate change targets and priorities, the vulnerability of disadvantaged populations also has the potential to increase with impending climate impacts. Ultimately, this dissertation aims to identify pathways to improve environmental health and attain equity across California. We use various methods in the environmental health sciences field - including geospatial techniques, dose-response analysis, qualitative thematic analysis, and predictive modeling - to characterize environmental health impacts from various exposures and identify evidence-based strategies to improve environmental conditions, providing action-oriented research that can result in policy change. This dissertation includes three aims, each of which has a distinct motivation stemming from California's climate priorities and environmental justice concerns throughout the state. This work is divided into the following five chapters: an introduction (Chapter 1), three chapters of primary research (Chapters 2-4) and the conclusions and future research directions (Chapter 5). First, we used recently released small-area life expectancy data to quantify the relationship between life expectancy and green space in Los Angeles County, a large diverse region with inequities in park access. Our predictive models analyzing remote sensing and satellite imagery-based greenness metrics demonstrated that neighborhood-level greenness is positively associated with life expectancy. Additionally, we found evidence that access to higher park acreage is only predictive of longer life expectancy for populations residing in neighborhoods with a lower percentage of tree canopy cover than the county median. This finding suggests that parks become a more important component of green infrastructure when other sources of green space are unavailable, which within the Los Angeles context is often in neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic status and more communities of color. We found that more than 110,000 years of life expectancy could be saved for just Hispanic/Latinx and Black residents if park acreage were to be increased to the median level in less green areas. This has distinct environmental justice implications. Then, we quantified the total mortality burden for exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) due to wildland fires in California using eleven years of Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system fire PM2.5 estimates. We applied ZIP code level mortality data and an estimated wildfire-specific chronic dose-response coefficient accounting for the likely toxicity of wildfire smoke, estimating between 47,100 and 50,360 premature deaths are attributable to wildland fire PM2.5 over the eleven-year period. This mortality burden for 2008-2018 equates to an economic impact of $387 to $413 billion. These findings extend evidence on climate-related health impacts, suggesting that wildfires account for a substantial mortality and economic burden. Finally, we analyzed procedural equity in household-level just transition policies and associated programs, which are designed to increase the uptake of novel technologies through the provision of incentives and rebates. We accomplished this through a case study of a longstanding equity-focused electric vehicle incentive program in the United States, the Clean Cars 4 All (CC4A) program offered in California. We used the academic literature to develop a broader conceptual procedural equity framework for household-level just transition policies. We then conducted interviews with program stakeholders and benefit recipients to analyze the extent to which various regional CC4A program implementation strategies have achieved procedural equity outcomes, using the framework we developed. We find that while regionally distinct strategies are valuable in tailoring approaches to meet community heterogeneity, the decentralized program implementation structure has resulted in inconsistency in the realization of procedural equity outcomes. These procedural impacts also influence the distributive dimension of equity. The framework developed in this study can be applied in future procedural equity analyses of other policies, and our findings have significant implications for ensuring a just transition to clean energy more broadly.
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309499879 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 161
Book Description
California and other wildfire-prone western states have experienced a substantial increase in the number and intensity of wildfires in recent years. Wildlands and climate experts expect these trends to continue and quite likely to worsen in coming years. Wildfires and other disasters can be particularly devastating for vulnerable communities. Members of these communities tend to experience worse health outcomes from disasters, have fewer resources for responding and rebuilding, and receive less assistance from state, local, and federal agencies. Because burning wood releases particulate matter and other toxicants, the health effects of wildfires extend well beyond burns. In addition, deposition of toxicants in soil and water can result in chronic as well as acute exposures. On June 4-5, 2019, four different entities within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop titled Implications of the California Wildfires for Health, Communities, and Preparedness at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at the University of California, Davis. The workshop explored the population health, environmental health, emergency preparedness, and health equity consequences of increasingly strong and numerous wildfires, particularly in California. This publication is a summary of the presentations and discussion of the workshop.
Author: Wael Al-Delaimy Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3030311252 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 417
Book Description
This open access book not only describes the challenges of climate disruption, but also presents solutions. The challenges described include air pollution, climate change, extreme weather, and related health impacts that range from heat stress, vector-borne diseases, food and water insecurity and chronic diseases to malnutrition and mental well-being. The influence of humans on climate change has been established through extensive published evidence and reports. However, the connections between climate change, the health of the planet and the impact on human health have not received the same level of attention. Therefore, the global focus on the public health impacts of climate change is a relatively recent area of interest. This focus is timely since scientists have concluded that changes in climate have led to new weather extremes such as floods, storms, heat waves, droughts and fires, in turn leading to more than 600,000 deaths and the displacement of nearly 4 billion people in the last 20 years. Previous work on the health impacts of climate change was limited mostly to epidemiologic approaches and outcomes and focused less on multidisciplinary, multi-faceted collaborations between physical scientists, public health researchers and policy makers. Further, there was little attention paid to faith-based and ethical approaches to the problem. The solutions and actions we explore in this book engage diverse sectors of civil society, faith leadership, and political leadership, all oriented by ethics, advocacy, and policy with a special focus on poor and vulnerable populations. The book highlights areas we think will resonate broadly with the public, faith leaders, researchers and students across disciplines including the humanities, and policy makers.
Author: David L. Peterson Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3030870456 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 346
Book Description
This open access book synthesizes current information on wildland fire smoke in the United States, providing a scientific foundation for addressing the production of smoke from wildland fires. This will be increasingly critical as smoke exposure and degraded air quality are expected to increase in extent and severity in a warmer climate. Accurate smoke information is a foundation for helping individuals and communities to effectively mitigate potential smoke impacts from wildfires and prescribed fires. The book documents our current understanding of smoke science for (1) primary physical, chemical, and biological issues related to wildfire and prescribed fire, (2) key social issues, including human health and economic impacts, and (3) current and anticipated management and regulatory issues. Each chapter provides a summary of priorities for future research that provide a roadmap for developing scientific information that can improve smoke and fire management over the next decade.
Author: Andrzej Bytnerowicz Publisher: Elsevier ISBN: 0080560490 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 687
Book Description
The interaction between smoke and air pollution creates a public health challenge. Fuels treatments proposed for National Forests are intended to reduce fuel accumulations and wildfire frequency and severity, as well as to protect property located in the wild land-urban interface. However, prescribed fires produce gases and aerosols that have instantaneous and long-term effects on air quality. If fuels treatment are not conducted, however, then wild land fires become more severe and frequent causing worse public health and wellfare effects. A better understanding of air pollution and smoke interactions is needed in order to protect the public health and allow for socially and ecologically acceptable use of fire as a management tool. Wildland Fires and Air Pollution offers such an understanding and examines innovative wide-scale monitoring efforts (field and remotely sensed), and development of models predicting spatial and temporal distribution of air pollution and smoke resulting from forests fires and other sources. - Collaborative effort of an international team of scientists - High quality of invited chapters - Full colour
Author: Jing Kong Publisher: ISBN: Category : Electronic dissertations Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
This paper examines the effect of climate change on corporate performance. Using exposure to wildfire smoke as a novel setting, I document a significant physical effect of climate change on corporate operating income. On average, a one-standard-deviation increase of wildfire smoke exposure is associated with an $18.7 million loss in operating income. The effect is strongest for firms with high R&D-to-employee ratios, with high average labor costs, or that operate in industries that are highly dependent on skilled labor, suggesting that decreased productivity among high-skilled employees drives the observed effect. I also find that the stock market does not fully incorporate the effect of wildfire smoke into stock prices until annual earnings announcements. More climate change disclosure moderates the negative market reaction around annual earnings announcements. Overall, this paper documents the less salient effects of climate change on corporate performance and asset prices.
Author: Stephen J. Pyne Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520383591 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 191
Book Description
A provocative rethinking of how humans and fire have evolved together over time—and our responsibility to reorient this relationship before it's too late. The Pyrocene tells the story of what happened when a fire-wielding species, humanity, met an especially fire-receptive time in Earth's history. Since terrestrial life first appeared, flames have flourished. Over the past two million years, however, one genus gained the ability to manipulate fire, swiftly remaking both itself and eventually the world. We developed small guts and big heads by cooking food; we climbed the food chain by cooking landscapes; and now we have become a geologic force by cooking the planet. Some fire uses have been direct: fire applied to convert living landscapes into hunting grounds, forage fields, farms, and pastures. Others have been indirect, through pyrotechnologies that expanded humanity's reach beyond flame's grasp. Still, preindustrial and Indigenous societies largely operated within broad ecological constraints that determined how, and when, living landscapes could be burned. These ancient relationships between humans and fire broke down when people began to burn fossil biomass—lithic landscapes—and humanity's firepower became unbounded. Fire-catalyzed climate change globalized the impacts into a new geologic epoch. The Pleistocene yielded to the Pyrocene. Around fires, across millennia, we have told stories that explained the world and negotiated our place within it. The Pyrocene continues that tradition, describing how we have remade the Earth and how we might recover our responsibilities as keepers of the planetary flame.
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309471699 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 207
Book Description
Climate change poses many challenges that affect society and the natural world. With these challenges, however, come opportunities to respond. By taking steps to adapt to and mitigate climate change, the risks to society and the impacts of continued climate change can be lessened. The National Climate Assessment, coordinated by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is a mandated report intended to inform response decisions. Required to be developed every four years, these reports provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date evaluation of climate change impacts available for the United States, making them a unique and important climate change document. The draft Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report reviewed here addresses a wide range of topics of high importance to the United States and society more broadly, extending from human health and community well-being, to the built environment, to businesses and economies, to ecosystems and natural resources. This report evaluates the draft NCA4 to determine if it meets the requirements of the federal mandate, whether it provides accurate information grounded in the scientific literature, and whether it effectively communicates climate science, impacts, and responses for general audiences including the public, decision makers, and other stakeholders.
Author: Elizabeth Duran
Author: Elizabeth Duran
Author: Rachel Emma Connolly
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Author: Wael Al-Delaimy
Author: David L. Peterson
Author: Andrzej Bytnerowicz
Author: Jing Kong
Author: United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Air and Radiation
Author: Stephen J. Pyne
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine