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Aubourg MA, Sawtell G, Deanes L, Fabricant N, Thomas M, Spicer K, Wagar C, Campbell S, Ulman A, Heaney CD. Community-driven research and capacity building to address environmental justice concerns with industrial air pollution in Curtis Bay, South Baltimore. FRONTIERS IN EPIDEMIOLOGY 2023; 3:1198321. [PMID: 38099060 PMCID: PMC10720608 DOI: 10.3389/fepid.2023.1198321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
Introduction Curtis Bay (CB) is an environmental justice (EJ) community in South Baltimore. With a high concentration of industrial polluters and compounding non-chemical stressors, CB has experienced socioeconomic, quality of life, and health burdens for over 100 years. Today, these polluters include the open-air CSX Coal Terminal, waste-to-energy incinerators, and heavy diesel traffic through residential areas. The Community of Curtis Bay Association, Free Your Voice, and South Baltimore Community Land Trust are local organizations enacting a vision for equitable, healthy, and community-led development without industrial encroachment. In response to community-identified EJ concerns and an explosion at the CSX Coal Terminal, CB community groups partnered with academic researchers to develop a community-driven hyperlocal air monitoring and capacity building approach. This paper describes this approach to characterizing hyperlocal air quality in CB, building bridges between community residents and regulatory agencies, and nurturing a cohesive and effective community-academic partnership toward EJ. Methods Using hyperlocal air monitoring, we are collecting real-time air pollution (particulate matter, black carbon, and ground-level gas species) and meteorological data from 15 low-cost sensors in residential and industrial areas of CB. We also use trail cameras to record activities at the CSX Coal Terminal. We merge air pollution and industrial activity data to evaluate the following: overall air quality in CB, multi-air pollutant profiles of elevated events, spatiotemporal changes in air quality in the community, patterns of industrial activity, and potential correlations between air quality and observed industrial activity. Members of our partnership also lead a high school course educating students about the history and ongoing efforts of the EJ movement in their community. Students in this course learn how to employ qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods to bring scientific support to community EJ concerns. Results and Discussion Our hyperlocal air monitoring network and community-academic partnership are continuing to evolve and have already demonstrated the ability to respond to community-identified EJ issues with real-time data while developing future EJ leaders. Our reflections can assist other community and academic groups in developing strong and fruitful partnerships to address similar EJ issues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew A. Aubourg
- Community Science and Innovation for Environmental Justice (CSI EJ) Initiative, Center for a Livable Future, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Greg Sawtell
- Community of Curtis Bay Association, Curtis Bay, Baltimore, MD, United States
- South Baltimore Community Land Trust, Curtis Bay, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Lauren Deanes
- Community Science and Innovation for Environmental Justice (CSI EJ) Initiative, Center for a Livable Future, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Nicole Fabricant
- Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Criminal Justice, Towson University, Towson, MD, United States
| | - Meleny Thomas
- Community of Curtis Bay Association, Curtis Bay, Baltimore, MD, United States
- South Baltimore Community Land Trust, Curtis Bay, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Kristoffer Spicer
- Community Science and Innovation for Environmental Justice (CSI EJ) Initiative, Center for a Livable Future, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Caila Wagar
- Community Science and Innovation for Environmental Justice (CSI EJ) Initiative, Center for a Livable Future, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Shashawnda Campbell
- Community of Curtis Bay Association, Curtis Bay, Baltimore, MD, United States
- South Baltimore Community Land Trust, Curtis Bay, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Abigail Ulman
- Community Science and Innovation for Environmental Justice (CSI EJ) Initiative, Center for a Livable Future, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Christopher D. Heaney
- Community Science and Innovation for Environmental Justice (CSI EJ) Initiative, Center for a Livable Future, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States
- Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States
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Anyachebelu A, Cabral A, Abdin MI, Choudhury P, Daepp MIG. Characterizing the effects of structural fires on fine particulate matter with a dense sensing network. Sci Rep 2023; 13:12862. [PMID: 37553425 PMCID: PMC10409864 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-38392-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Short-term increases in air pollution levels are linked to large adverse effects on health and productivity. However, existing regulatory monitoring systems lack the spatial or temporal resolution needed to capture localized events. This study uses a dense network of over 100 sensors, deployed across the city of Chicago, Illinois, to capture the spread of smoke from short-term structural fire events. Examining all large structural fires that occurred in the city over a year (N = 21), we characterize differences in PM[Formula: see text] concentrations downwind versus upwind of the fires. On average, we observed increases of up to 10.7 [Formula: see text]g/m[Formula: see text] (95% CI 5.7-15.7) for sensors within 2 km and up to 7.7 [Formula: see text]g/m[Formula: see text] (95% CI 3.4-12.0) for sensors 2-5 km downwind of fires. Statistically significant elevated concentrations were evident as far as 5 km downwind of the location of the fire and persisted over approximately 2 h on average. This work shows how low-cost sensors can provide insight on local and short-term pollution events, enabling regulators to provide timely warnings to vulnerable populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayina Anyachebelu
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London, WC1E 7HB, UK.
| | - Alex Cabral
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02134, USA
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