THE AIR
WE BREATHE
WE BREATHE
The World Health Organization estimates that 6-7 million people die prematurely every year from strokes, heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory illnesses caused by the air they breathe. Air pollution is a major killer of children—those in the Global South, as well as those who live in poverty in the U.S. and other high-income countries. Developing effective policies and responses to this threat depends on the availability of consistent and reliable air-quality data, something that's hard to come by in places where the most vulnerable live, work and play. In Africa alone, nearly half a billion children live in areas with no reliable air-quality monitoring.
THE AIR
WE BREATHE
The World Health Organization estimates that 6-7 million people die prematurely every year from strokes, heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory illnesses caused by the air they breathe. Air pollution is a major killer of children—those in the Global South, as well as those who live in poverty in the U.S. and other high-income countries. Developing effective policies and responses to this threat depends on the availability of consistent and reliable air-quality data, something that's hard to come by in places where the most vulnerable live, work and play. In Africa alone, nearly half a billion children live in areas with no reliable air-quality monitoring.
A large, interdisciplinary group of Columbia researchers co-led by Lamont's Daniel Westervelt have been working to change this reality. Their project, the Clean Air Toolbox for Cities (CAToolbox) is closing data-collection gaps in several African countries, as well as in India and Indonesia, by deploying state-of-the-art air-quality monitoring networks. The team is also supporting local community efforts to mitigate the health effects from pollution through legal and policy means. Lamont's Steven Chillrud, Róisín Commane, and Beizhan Yan are also part of CAToolbox. The project has already produced important results. Air monitoring in Togo’s capital, Lomé, for example, revealed that the city frequently experiences unsafe levels of air pollution. The team has published similar studies for Ghana and the Congo.
Community-Led Science Uncovered High Air Pollution From Fracking in Ohio County
By Sarah Fecht
Residents of Belmont County in eastern Ohio have long suffered from headaches, fatigue, nausea and burning sensations in their throats and noses. They suspected these symptoms were the result of air pollution from fracking facilities that dominate the area, but regulators dismissed and downplayed their concerns.
With the technical assistance of volunteer scientists from Lamont, MIT and the American Geophysical Union’s Thriving Earth Exchange, local advocacy groups set up their own network of low-cost sensors. They found that the region’s three EPA sensors were not providing an accurate picture: The low-cost sensors revealed concerning levels of air pollution, and correlations between local spikes and health impacts. The researchers and community organizations published their findings in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
Belmont County is booming with new infrastructure to extract and process natural gas. Fracking is known to emit pollutants including particulate matter and volatile organic compounds such as benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene, which have been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular health problems.
Concerned about the fumes and the lack of information and transparency, two activist groups, Concerned Ohio River Residents and the Freshwater Accountability Project, wanted to set up a high-density monitoring network. After submitting their proposal to the Thriving Earth Exchange—a program that enables collaborations between community groups and volunteer scientists—they were paired with Garima Raheja, a PhD candidate who studies air pollution at Lamont.
With advice from Raheja and other scientists, the community members bought 60 low-cost sensors to monitor particulate matter and volatile organic compounds in the air. Then they identified areas of highest concern, and recruited residents to install and maintain the sensors in backyards, churches, and schools in those areas.
Based on two years of data from their sensor network, the team found that many sites frequently experienced days when air pollution exceeded levels recommended by the World Health Organization. For example, in the city of Martins Ferry, where a sensor took measurements for 336 days, it measured unsafe levels of air pollution on 50 of those days.
“It is kind of wild,” said Raheja, “considering that it’s generally a clean area. I think any number of days above WHO guidelines is really concerning for an area like this.”
EPA sensors likely missed these details because the agency relies on high-grade monitors that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece, so the network is sparse. In contrast, the citizen scientists’ sensors cost only a few hundred dollars each, so they were able to set up a denser network.
Information from the air quality sensors has helped residents know when to close their windows, wear masks or update indoor air purification systems.
The data also offered a shared language that community members could use to articulate their complaints to the EPA, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and the Ohio Department of Health.
“None of the Ohio regulators would come to witness the extreme air pollution events that made my wife and me very sick,” said community member Kevin Young. “Now that we have data to substantiate the harmful amounts of the air pollutants, it seems the regulators are taking us more seriously.”
The scientists and community groups hope to continue working together. They’re applying for grants to scale up their sensor network, and networking with other concerned community groups who want to get started on similar programs.
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A large, interdisciplinary group of Columbia researchers co-led by Lamont's Daniel Westervelt have been working to change this reality. Their project, the Clean Air Toolbox for Cities (CAToolbox) is closing data-collection gaps in several African countries, as well as in India and Indonesia, by deploying state-of-the-art air-quality monitoring networks. The team is also supporting local community efforts to mitigate the health effects from pollution through legal and policy means. Lamont's Steven Chillrud, Róisín Commane, and Beizhan Yan are also part of CAToolbox. The project has already produced important results. Air monitoring in Togo’s capital, Lomé, for example, revealed that the city frequently experiences unsafe levels of air pollution. The team has published similar studies for Ghana and the Congo.
Closer to home, Lamont atmospheric geochemist Róisín Commane and colleagues from the University of Albany embarked on a mission to locate New York state's largest sources of methane emissions, using a mobile laboratory housed in a cargo van. Their goal is to measure, and hopefully help reduce, emissions from landfills, cities, farms, waste treatment plants, and other sources where mitigation measures could be put in place. "There is a really large methane signal from New York City that is a mixture of many different sources,” said Commane. “Our work is focused on identifying and quantifying the contributions of these different sources to overall methane concentrations so we can help state regulators and policymakers.” Methane is the second-largest contributor to climate change behind carbon dioxide, and it accounts for 35% of New York's greenhouse-gas emissions.
And in Ohio's Belmont County, Westervelt and Lamont PhD student Garima Raheja gave their time and technical expertise to help communities and advocacy organizations set up air sensors to monitor emissions from nearby fracking facilities. What they found was both empowering… and concerning. Scroll down for details.
Community-Led Science Uncovered High Air Pollution From Fracking in Ohio County
By Sarah Fecht
Residents of Belmont County in eastern Ohio have long suffered from headaches, fatigue, nausea and burning sensations in their throats and noses. They suspected these symptoms were the result of air pollution from fracking facilities that dominate the area, but regulators dismissed and downplayed their concerns.
With the technical assistance of volunteer scientists from Lamont, MIT and the American Geophysical Union’s Thriving Earth Exchange, local advocacy groups set up their own network of low-cost sensors. They found that the region’s three EPA sensors were not providing an accurate picture: The low-cost sensors revealed concerning levels of air pollution, and correlations between local spikes and health impacts. The researchers and community organizations published their findings in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
Belmont County is booming with new infrastructure to extract and process natural gas. Fracking is known to emit pollutants including particulate matter and volatile organic compounds such as benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene, which have been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular health problems.
Concerned about the fumes and the lack of information and transparency, two activist groups, Concerned Ohio River Residents and the Freshwater Accountability Project, wanted to set up a high-density monitoring network. After submitting their proposal to the Thriving Earth Exchange—a program that enables collaborations between community groups and volunteer scientists—they were paired with Garima Raheja, a PhD candidate who studies air pollution at Lamont.
With advice from Raheja and other scientists, the community members bought 60 low-cost sensors to monitor particulate matter and volatile organic compounds in the air. Then they identified areas of highest concern, and recruited residents to install and maintain the sensors in backyards, churches, and schools in those areas.
Based on two years of data from their sensor network, the team found that many sites frequently experienced days when air pollution exceeded levels recommended by the World Health Organization. For example, in the city of Martins Ferry, where a sensor took measurements for 336 days, it measured unsafe levels of air pollution on 50 of those days.
“It is kind of wild,” said Raheja, “considering that it’s generally a clean area. I think any number of days above WHO guidelines is really concerning for an area like this.”
EPA sensors likely missed these details because the agency relies on high-grade monitors that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece, so the network is sparse. In contrast, the citizen scientists’ sensors cost only a few hundred dollars each, so they were able to set up a denser network.
Information from the air quality sensors has helped residents know when to close their windows, wear masks or update indoor air purification systems.
The data also offered a shared language that community members could use to articulate their complaints to the EPA, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and the Ohio Department of Health.
“None of the Ohio regulators would come to witness the extreme air pollution events that made my wife and me very sick,” said community member Kevin Young. “Now that we have data to substantiate the harmful amounts of the air pollutants, it seems the regulators are taking us more seriously.”
The scientists and community groups hope to continue working together. They’re applying for grants to scale up their sensor network, and networking with other concerned community groups who want to get started on similar programs.
Donate today to SUPPORT LAMONT SCIENCE
GIVE TODAY
Editors: Francesco Fiondella, Marian Mellin, Stacey Vassallo I Contributing Writers: Kevin Krajick, Sarah Fecht, Marie DeNoia Aronsohn I Design: Carmen Neal
Columbia Climate School Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Annual Report FY2022
© 2022 by The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. All rights reserved.
Editors: Francesco Fiondella, Marian Mellin, Stacey Vassallo I Contributing Writers: Kevin Krajick, Sarah Fecht, Marie DeNoia Aronsohn I Design: Carmen Neal
Columbia Climate School Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Annual Report FY2022
© 2022 by The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. All rights reserved.