Local Growth Coalitions and Air Pollution Controls: The Ecological Modernization of the US in Historical Perspective

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.A. González
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Local Growth ◽  
The Us ◽  
Growth Coalitions

A dragon eating its own tail: public control of air pollution information in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Ravetti ◽  
Tim Swanson ◽  
Yana Jin ◽  
Quan Mu ◽  
Shiqiu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Media ◽  
Public Signal ◽  
Beijing China

AbstractThis paper analyses the implications of government control over public information about air pollution. First, we model the incentives for a local government with control over the media to affect popular perception concerning pollution. We argue that biased announcements can influence the inflows of labour force in a municipality beyond economic factors. Then, we examine some evidence on information misreporting in the context of Beijing, China. We show that official air pollution announcements diverge systematically from an alternative source of information, provided by the US Embassy. The results point at a manipulation of popular perception consistent with the motives indicated in our model. Furthermore, using an original household survey, we examine whether the distorted public signal affects agents' behaviour. We find that households that depend upon government-controlled media are significantly less responsive to pollution peaks.

scholarly journals PM2.5 and Ozone Air Pollution Levels Have Not Dropped Consistently Across the US Following Societal Covid Response

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bujin Bekbulat ◽  
Joshua S. Apte ◽  
Dylan B Millet ◽  
Allen Robinson ◽  
Kelley C. Wells ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Pollution Levels ◽  
Secondary Pollutants ◽  
The Us ◽  
Many Sources ◽  
Primary Pollutant ◽  
Ozone Levels ◽  
At Home

<p>Analysis of a large national dataset of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone air pollution from the US Environmental Protection Agency indicate opposing differences in average concentrations during the covid response period, relative to expected levels. These are the two most important pollutants in terms of public health impacts and regulatory non-attainment in the US. Post-covid response, average PM2.5 levels are slightly higher (~5%) than expected; average ozone levels are slightly lower (~5%). The size of post-response ozone anomaly has decreased with time and by week 6 after the first stay-at-home order was enacted (April 29- May 5, 2020), ozone levels were higher than expected. In addition, no individual US state had lower-than-expected PM2.5 and ozone for all weeks post- covid response. Two non-covid factors, meteorology and regional transport, do not fully explain observed trends. These findings are unexpected given the large reduction in many household’s activities associated with “stay at home” and other covid responses. We hypothesize that this result partly arises from the fact that ozone and the majority of PM2.5 are secondary pollutants formed in the atmosphere from emissions from many sources (i.e., not just traffic). Preliminary analysis of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) data in a few cities reveals substantially lower-than-expected (~30%) concentrations post-covid. NO2 is a primary pollutant and is much more strongly associated with traffic than PM2.5 or ozone. </p><p><br></p>

scholarly journals The Establishment of the Household Air Pollution Consortium (HAPCO)

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 422
Author(s):  
H. Dean Hosgood ◽  
Madelyn Klugman ◽  
Keitaro Matsuo ◽  
Alexandra J. White ◽  
Atsuko Sadakane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Smoking Status ◽  
Household Air Pollution ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Lung Cancer Death ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Carcinogenic Potential ◽  
The Us ◽  
Disease Specific Mortality

Household air pollution (HAP) is of public health concern, with ~3 billion people worldwide (including >15 million in the US) exposed. HAP from coal use is a human lung carcinogen, yet the epidemiological evidence on carcinogenicity of HAP from biomass use, primarily wood, is not conclusive. To robustly assess biomass’s carcinogenic potential, prospective studies of individuals experiencing a variety of HAP exposures are needed. We have built a global consortium of 13 prospective cohorts (HAPCO: Household Air Pollution Consortium) that have site- and disease-specific mortality and solid fuel use data, for a combined sample size of 587,257 participants and 57,483 deaths. HAPCO provides a novel opportunity to assess the association of HAP with lung cancer death while controlling for important confounders such as tobacco and outdoor air pollution exposures. HAPCO is also uniquely positioned to determine the risks associated with cancers other than lung as well as nonmalignant respiratory and cardiometabolic outcomes, for which prospective epidemiologic research is limited. HAPCO will facilitate research to address public health concerns associated with HAP-attributed exposures by enabling investigators to evaluate sex-specific and smoking status-specific effects under various exposure scenarios.

scholarly journals The US Renal Data System at 30 Years: A Historical Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friedrich K. Port ◽  
Philip J. Held
Keyword(s):  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Data System ◽  
The Us

scholarly journals Modeling inter-continental transport of ozone in North America with CAMx for the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII) Phase 3

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uarporn Nopmongcol ◽  
Zhen Liu ◽  
Till Stoeckenius ◽  
Greg Yarwood
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
North America ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Regional Models ◽  
Phase 3 ◽  
Global Models ◽  
The Us ◽  
Surface O3 ◽  
International Initiative

Abstract. Inter-continental ozone (O3) transport extends the geographic range of O3 air pollution impacts and makes local air pollution management more difficult. Phase 3 of the Air Quality Modeling Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII-3) is examining the contribution of inter-continental transport to regional air quality by applying regional scale atmospheric models jointly with global models. We investigate methods for tracing O3 from global models within regional models. The CAMx photochemical grid model was used to track contributions from boundary condition (BC) O3 over a North America modeling domain for calendar year 2010 using a built-in tracer module called RTCMC. RTCMC can track BC contributions using chemically reactive tracers and also using inert tracers in which deposition is the only sink for O3. Lack of O3 destruction chemistry in the inert tracer approach leads to over estimation biases that can exceed 10 ppb. The flexibility of RTCMC also allows tracking O3 contributions made by groups of vertical BC layers. The largest BC contributions to seasonal average daily maximum 8-hour averages (MDA8) of O3 over the US are found to be from the mid-troposphere with small contributions from the upper troposphere-lower stratosphere. Contributions from the lower troposphere are shown to not penetrate very far inland. Higher contributions in the Western than the Eastern US, reaching an average of 57 ppb in Denver for the 30 days with highest MDA8 O3 in 2010, present a significant challenge to air quality management approaches based solely on local or US-wide emission reductions. The substantial BC contribution to MDA8 O3 in the Intermountain West means regional models are particularly sensitive to any biases and errors in the BCs. A sensitivity simulation with reduced BC O3 in response to 20 % lower emissions in Asia found a near linear relationship between the BC O3 changes and surface O3 changes in the Western US in all seasons and across the US in fall and winter. However, the surface O3 decreases are small: below 1 ppb in spring and below 0.5 ppb in other seasons.

Climatological study of the Boundary-layer air Stagnation Index for China and its relationship with air pollution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qianqian Huang ◽  
Xuhui Cai ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
Yu Song ◽  
Tong Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Weak Link ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Pollution Index ◽  
Climatic Data ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
National Climatic Data Center ◽  
The Us ◽  
Pm2.5 Concentration

&lt;p&gt;The Air Stagnation Index (ASI) is a vital meteorological measure of the atmosphere&amp;#8217;s ability to dilute air pollutants. The original metric adopted by the US National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is found to be not very suitable for China, because the decoupling between the upper and lower atmospheric layers results in a weak link between the near-surface air pollution and upper-air wind speed. Therefore, a new threshold for the ASI&amp;#8211;Boundary-layer air Stagnation Index (BSI) is proposed, consisting of daily maximal ventilation in the atmospheric boundary layer, precipitation, and real latent instability. In the present study, the climatological features of the BSI are investigated. It shows that the spatial distribution of the BSI is similar to the ASI; that is, annual mean stagnations occur most often in the northwestern and southwestern basins, i.e., the Xinjiang and Sichuan basins (more than 180 days), and least over plateaus, i.e., the Qinghai&amp;#8211;Tibet and Yunnan plateaus (less than 40 days). However, the seasonal cycle of the BSI is changed. Stagnation days under the new metric are observed to be maximal in winter and minimal in summer, which is positively correlated with the air pollution index (API) during 2000&amp;#8211;2012. The correlations between the BSI and the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during January 2013 and November to December in 2015&amp;#8211;2017 of Beijing are also investigated. It shows that the BSI matches the day-by-day variation of PM2.5 concentration very well and is able to catch the haze episodes.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Assessment and economic valuation of air pollution impacts on human health over Europe and the United States as calculated by a multi-model ensemble in the framework of AQMEII3

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 5967-5989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulas Im ◽  
Jørgen Brandt ◽  
Camilla Geels ◽  
Kaj Mantzius Hansen ◽  
Jesper Heile Christensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
External Costs ◽  
Model Ensemble ◽  
Premature Deaths ◽  
The Us

Abstract. The impact of air pollution on human health and the associated external costs in Europe and the United States (US) for the year 2010 are modeled by a multi-model ensemble of regional models in the frame of the third phase of the Air Quality Modelling Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII3). The modeled surface concentrations of O3, CO, SO2 and PM2.5 are used as input to the Economic Valuation of Air Pollution (EVA) system to calculate the resulting health impacts and the associated external costs from each individual model. Along with a base case simulation, additional runs were performed introducing 20 % anthropogenic emission reductions both globally and regionally in Europe, North America and east Asia, as defined by the second phase of the Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (TF-HTAP2). Health impacts estimated by using concentration inputs from different chemistry–transport models (CTMs) to the EVA system can vary up to a factor of 3 in Europe (12 models) and the United States (3 models). In Europe, the multi-model mean total number of premature deaths (acute and chronic) is calculated to be 414 000, while in the US, it is estimated to be 160 000, in agreement with previous global and regional studies. The economic valuation of these health impacts is calculated to be EUR 300 billion and 145 billion in Europe and the US, respectively. A subset of models that produce the smallest error compared to the surface observations at each time step against an all-model mean ensemble results in increase of health impacts by up to 30 % in Europe, while in the US, the optimal ensemble mean led to a decrease in the calculated health impacts by  ∼  11 %. A total of 54 000 and 27 500 premature deaths can be avoided by a 20 % reduction of global anthropogenic emissions in Europe and the US, respectively. A 20 % reduction of North American anthropogenic emissions avoids a total of  ∼  1000 premature deaths in Europe and 25 000 total premature deaths in the US. A 20 % decrease of anthropogenic emissions within the European source region avoids a total of 47 000 premature deaths in Europe. Reducing the east Asian anthropogenic emissions by 20 % avoids  ∼  2000 total premature deaths in the US. These results show that the domestic anthropogenic emissions make the largest impacts on premature deaths on a continental scale, while foreign sources make a minor contribution to adverse impacts of air pollution.

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