Highways through historically redlined areas likely cause air pollution disparities today

Historically “redlined” areas – neighborhoods with primarily Black or immigrant communities – are exposed to more air pollution than other urban neighborhoods. According to research published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, the cause could relate to nearby highways or industrial parks.

GW Experts Available: EPA Strengthens Rule on Harmful Soot Pollution

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is strengthening limits on soot, a harmful air pollution in which studies have shown that fine particles kill thousands of Americans every year. According to The Washington Post, the stricter standards could prevent thousands of premature…

‘Roving sentinels’ discover new air pollution sources

Google Street View cars equipped with instrumentation sampled air quality at a scale fine enough to capture variations within neighborhoods in the Salt Lake Valley. A new atmospheric modeling method, combined with these mobile observations, can be used to identify pollution emission sources in many cities.

UC Irvine receives grant to study lead exposure effects on children’s learning, behavior

The Program in Public Health at the University of California, Irvine has received a five-year, $2.7 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to research the connection between low-level lead exposure during pregnancy and early childhood and children’s school performance and behavior in Santa Ana, California.

UCI and national lab researchers develop a cobalt-free cathode for lithium-ion batteries

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 21, 2022 – Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and four national laboratories have devised a way to make lithium-ion battery cathodes without using cobalt, a mineral plagued by price volatility and geopolitical complications. In a paper published today in Nature, the scientists describe how they overcame thermal and chemical-mechanical instabilities of cathodes composed substantially of nickel – a common substitute for cobalt – by mixing in several other metallic elements.

Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Launch Multi-Million Dollar Joint Initiative to Improve Health and Wellbeing in West and Southwest Philadelphia Neighborhoods with Greenspaces, Career Training, and Community Environmental Grants

The Penn Urban Health Lab, along with 13 community and faith-based organizations, will launch Deeply Rooted, a community-driven program to promote health equity and environmental justice in Black and brown neighborhoods in West and Southwest Philadelphia. Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s (CHOP) Healthier Together Initiativeare the initial funders for Deeply Rooted, while the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society serves as the lead strategic greenspace implementation partner.

UCI’s Michael Méndez to lead press conference at UN climate change summit

Michael Méndez, assistant professor of urban planning & public policy at the University of California, Irvine, will moderate a press conference on California’s approach to integrating environmental justice into climate solutions at 1:15 p.m. GMT on Monday, Nov. 8, at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Glasgow, Scotland.

Increased use of household fireworks creates a public health hazard, UCI study finds

Irvine, Calif., June 29, 2021 – Fireworks are synonymous in the United States with the celebration of Independence Day and other special events, but the colorful displays have caused a growing risk to public safety in recent years, according to a study by environmental health researchers at the University of California, Irvine.

Decisions, Decisions: Climate Change and Water

PNNL’s Framework for Assessment of Complex Environmental Tradeoffs (FACET) is designed to navigate and rigorously evaluate competing environmental, economic, and social impacts to help make decisions more equitable. In an example scenario prepared using publicly available data, FACET was applied to predict tradeoffs facing the Colorado River and to balance competing demands of river flow and temperature, along with withdrawals for cities, crop irrigation, and power generation.

Coal-fired power plant closures tied to fewer asthma ER visits for kids

Sarah Komisarow is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.  She is an applied microeconomist with research interests in public policies that affect children’s health and education.  Her work…

Air pollution spikes linked to lower test scores for Salt Lake County third graders

More frequent exposure to air pollution spikes were associated with reduced test scores for third graders in Salt Lake County. Schools with a higher proportion of students of color and from households experiencing poverty were exposed to more peak pollution days than were schools serving middle- to upper- class and predominately white students.

Penn’s Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) Receives $8 Million Grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

The Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) at the University of Pennsylvania received an $8 million grant, to be distributed over the next five years, from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a renewal of its P30 Environmental Health Sciences Core Center (EHSCC) grant.