quiz 4 environmental health Flashcards
Anthropology
Anthropology contributes to our understanding of how society, beliefs, and culture influence air pollution and responses to it, as emissions are a largely individual and cultural activity. We can also look through an anthropological lens to understand people’s beliefs and perceptions of climate change, as well as human impact on climate change. Air pollution has had an effect on human behavior and health since medieval times. In England, air pollution led to maxillary sinus disease. Men, who more often worked outdoors, were more regularly impacted by outdoor pollen while women were impacted by indoor particulates from cooking. During the Industrial Revolution, there was an increase in poor air quality, causing many people to protest. One example occurred in the late 1900s in Czechoslovakia when the extensive ash and sulfur dioxide emissions released by lignite, a highly ineffective energy source, left more than half of the North Bohemian forests destroyed. The nation’s population spent 3-4 days every week breathing unsafe air in Most and Chomutov, affecting the health and wellbeing of their society. There is a strong tie between atmospheric pollution and social activism throughout history.
Currently, toxins attributed to vehicle and power plant emissions have increased, causing greater levels of particulate matter. Individuals of lower socioeconomic status are more susceptible to poor air quality. A study conducted in California found that people in Los Angeles performed worse at school, work, or other activities because of air pollutants. There is a lot of discussion relative to how to decrease pollution in the presence of a globally rising middle class with higher demands for fossil fuels. Anthropological research ties the rise in particulates with possible effects of global climate change. There is a risk of future resulting shifts in everything from agriculture and political structures that could result in forced migrations of peoples.
Chemistry
Chemistry
The chemistry of our breathable atmosphere- whether indoors or outdoors- is complex. Particulate matter can be derived from various chemical interactions based on chemical precursors. A main concern of chemists is the chemical interactions of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species (ROS, RNS), primary biological and secondary organic aerosols (PBA, SOA), as well as carbonaceous combustion aerosols (CCA) including soot, black/elemental carbon, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and related compounds (PAH, PAC). ROS and RNS are known for their reactions with other agents, specifically with aerosols and allergic immune responses triggered by the environment. Focus is being placed on multiphase chemical processes (the study of chemical transformation between solids, liquids and gasses) to evaluate the best ways to address air pollution and resulting health issues.
This complex chemistry means that the types of pollution found in different regions of the world can vary based on the types of chemical emissions. For example, air pollution in China is determined to be of a more complex chemical makeup than that found in Los Angeles or in Industrial England, because China’s pollution is largely from coal and petroleum burning sources at the same time, rather than separately (Industrial England was largely from coal alone, Los Angeles is largely from petroleum alone).
Indoor air pollution is sourced from a variety of chemical emissions including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulates from cooking, and microorganisms. Indoor air pollution is not as tightly regulated as outdoor air pollution, but can lead to severe health outcomes, especially in homes that lack air filtration or in more impoverished areas where fires are used indoors as the primary source of heating or cooking.
More research is needed to understand how specific chemicals and chemical mixtures contribute to air pollution and influence health outcomes.
Engineering
Engineering
The field of engineering, whether chemical, civil, electrical, or mechanical, impacts air pollution emissions, measurements, and interventions. Engineers work to design more advanced catalytic converters and overall more efficient transportation, help decrease emissions from factory sources, develop new and more mobile air pollution monitors, and are working to develop ways to pull both particulates and CO from the air.
Chemical engineers in particular can focus their careers on understanding how to reduce emissions so as to avoid chemical atmospheric interactions (as described in the previous section) which lead to increased particulate matter. Mechanical engineers are developing new small indoor particulate sensors, such as one called “Smart-Air” that can gather and transmit data and present it in understandable ways to homeowners and property managers. This would be especially helpful for people who have respiratory conditions. Others focus on indoor air filtration, including recent advances in photocatalytic materials such as copper and other metal oxides.
Engineers may also work to change the energy efficiency of whole communities by changing power delivery systems, moving to more efficient energy storage, or even redesigning road networks. In doing so, they must consider geographical areas and determine who would most benefit from systemic changes. It is important that the solutions created are both cost effective and safe.
Economics
Air pollution has a higher impact on megacities, centers of population and economy, resulting in an increase in exposure to air pollution among those of lower socioeconomic status compared to individuals with higher socioeconomic status. Patterns show that air pollution rises with per capita income of developed countries; once past the developing phase, countries that are richer experience lower air pollution.
Exposure to fine particulate matter has an intergenerational effect with lower educational attainment and reduced income, additionally affecting business incomes through reduced workforce productivity, work absences, premature death, and lower crop yield. These observations emphasize the need to develop technology that allows us to monitor air quality far more closely, so that action can be taken to remove setbacks to the economy.
Another way in which air pollution damages the economy is through negative effects on mental and physical health. Air pollution is also associated with premature death. For example, a 1% reduction rate of total suspended particles results in the decline of infant mortality rate (0.35%) at the county level. Had TSP levels been reduced earlier, 2500 infant deaths in the 80s would have been avoided. The association between air pollution and premature death is estimated to create a global cost of 15 to 20 trillion by 2060.
International trade and innovation affects air pollution. Pollution in the trans-Pacific area travels across the ocean and affects pollution levels in the US, leading to foreign policy and trade discussions relative to air quality. Additionally, continued innovations in wealthy countries provide ways to mitigate air pollution which can be implemented in foreign policy.
Psychology
Air pollution can have profound influences on the mental health of communities. Communities exposed to higher levels of air pollution, especially particulate matter from coal mines, have more symptoms of depression and anxiety. Higher ozone levels are associated with increased depressive symptoms in adolescents, who likely are more sensitive to air pollution because of the development that takes place at this age.
Higher levels of air pollution are linked with damage to children’s cognitive ability and faster decline of seniors’ cognitive ability. When mice living in conditions similar to that of smoggy city were asked to run a maze, they did so at a much slower rate, showed higher rates of depression, and would give up swimming if placed in water much quicker than mice living in healthy air conditions.
There is a correlation between exposure to PM10 in the third trimester of pregnancy and risk of autism spectrum disorder in children. Researchers found that the developing fetus of pregnant women exposed to increased levels of PM10 (specifically closer to freeways and traffic) are at higher risk of developing some form of autism between birth and their first birthday.
High levels of air pollution also influences physical behavior and outdoor activity which, in turn, impacts mental health. As pollution increases, so do crime levels. Researchers are finding links between pollutants and psychiatric disorders. A two year study in Italy found ozone had a significant impact on how many people checked into a psychiatric facility.
When it comes to desires to make changes and reduce air pollution, perceived health risks are the biggest motivator leading to behavior change. Different intervention and communication approaches should be used based on what types of behavior change the person is most likely to pursue, values, and perceived benefits.
Arguments for federal carbon fee and dividends
Federal Carbon taxes have minimal impacts on the economy and will create dramatic positive changes in our environmental health. It would also replace higher cost carbon regulations that are currently in place.1, 4
There are many alternative energy solutions that are already created and available and being engineered that companies can invest in and adopt in order to reduce the carbon fees placed on them.3
Taxes incentivize individuals and large corporations to decrease their carbon footprint while not dramatically affecting their financial ability to survive. It creates change at the multiple levels in the social ecological model.1,2
It is a fair policy that holds corporations and households accountable for their actions and decisions without shutting them down completely. It also engages the invisible hand of our free market economy to incentivize better company and individual practices. 2, 3
The dividends will be given back to low income households to create more financial equity. Both the funding and the payments of this program make sense. One gives back to the environment improving our overall health and one gives back to low income families improving our country’s infrastructure and overall health.1, 2
