Prenatal Exposure to Tailpipe and Non-Tailpipe Tracers of Particulate Matter Pollution and Autism Spectrum Disorders
By Rob McConnell et al.
Environmental International
2023
Research Papers: Sustainable Cities and Their Built Environments
A Portable Sensor for the Determination of Tree Canopy Air Quality
By Esther Marguiles et al.
Environmental Science: Atmospheres
2023
Using low-cost air quality sensors (PM2.5 , NO2, CO), air pumps, and a Raspberry Pi computer, we constructed a system by which air quality in tree canopies could be interrogated and quantified. The system involves pumping air into a sensor-containing box alternatively from tree canopy air and ambient air; repeating often enough to document if there are concentration differences between these two sources. By using the same set of sensors for air analysis from two sources, we eliminate issues such as sensor offset or drift and/or sensitivity to environmental conditions. True differences between tree canopy air and ambient air can be verified only after it has been established that the concentration difference between co-located inlet tubes is negligible. We’ve documented co-location results, described data summary protocol and as proof of concept, we show true differences in PM2.5 (production) and CO (consumption) between ambient air and tree canopies on the University of Southern California’s campus. In one tree tested, NO 2 between tree canopy and ambient air fluctuated as a function of day/night indicating periods of production and consumption…
Promoting Self-Determination, Minimizing Green Gentrification, and Maximizing Community Benefits in Urban Forestry Expansion: A Systematic Review
By Esther Marguiles et al.
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening
2023
The purpose of this systematic review is to investigate how urban forest expansion processes can most equitably be carried out to improve environmental conditions in U.S. cities. In hopes of informing future environmental planning efforts that center racial and socioeconomic justice, this study examines existing literature in two ways. First, this study gathers existing research looking at associations between urban forest coverage and indicators of gentrification and residential displacement to better understand eco-gentrification risks. Second, this study assesses how participatory planning has been carried out in urban forest expansion projects and compiles descriptive findings and best practices noted in the literature. Findings show a need for further research looking specifically at associations between urban forest expansion and diverse indicators of gentrification and residential displacement, such as demographic shifts in neighborhood populations over time, and temporal changes in rental prices depending on a neighborhood’s proximity to different forms and magnitudes of urban forest expansion. Publications related to participatory urban forestry planning point to the importance of: (a) prioritizing the needs and goals of community members to best utilize local knowledge, rebuild trust in government, and repair historic harm; and (b) creating opportunities for community members to participate in planning processes that are accessible logistically, economically, and socially.
A Unifying Approach to Measuring Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation
By Antonio M. Bento et al.
Journal of Environmental Economics Management
2023
We develop a unifying approach to estimating climate impacts and adaptation, and apply it to study the impact of climate change on local air pollution. Economic agents are usually constrained when responding to daily weather shocks, but may adjust to long-run climatic changes. By simultaneously exploiting variation in weather and climate, we identify both the short- and long-run impacts on economic outcomes, and measure adaptation directly as the difference between those responses. As a result, we identify adaptation without making extrapolations of weather responses over time or space, and overcome omitted variable bias concerns from prior approaches.
Disparities in Greenspace Associated with Sleep Duration Among Adolescent Children in Southern California
By Rob McConnell et al.
Environmental Epidemiology
2023
More than half of adolescent children do not get the recommended 8 hours of sleep necessary for optimal growth and development. In adults, several studies have evaluated effects of urban stressors including lack of greenspace, air pollution, noise, nighttime light, and psychosocial stress on sleep duration. Little is known about these effects in adolescents, however, it is known that these exposures vary by socioeconomic status (SES). We evaluated the association between several environmental exposures and sleep in adolescent children in Southern California.
Maternal Exposure to Aircraft Emitted Ultrafine Particles During Pregnancy and Likelihood of ASD in Children
By Rob McConnell et al.
Environmental International
2023
There is increasing evidence for adverse health effects associated with aircraft-emitted particulate matter (PM) exposures, which are largely in the ultrafine (PM0.1) size fraction, but no previous study has examined neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Predicting the Climate Impact of Healthcare Facilities Using Gradient Boosting Machines
By Rob McConnell et al.
Cleaner Environmental Systems
2024
Health care accounts for 9–10% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States. Strategies for monitoring these emissions at the hospital level are needed to decarbonize the sector. However, data collection to estimate emissions is challenging. We explored the potential of gradient boosting machines (GBM) to impute missing data on resource consumption in the 2020 survey of a consortium of 283 hospitals participating in Practice Greenhealth. GBM imputed missing values for selected variables in order to predict electricity use (R2 = 0.82) and beef consumption (R2 = 0.82) and anesthetic gas desflurane use (R2 = 0.51), using administrative and financial data readily available for most hospitals. After imputing missing consumption data, estimated GHG emissions associated with these three examples totaled over 3 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions (MTCO2e). Specifically, electricity consumption had the largest total carbon footprint (2.4 MTCO2e), followed by beef (0.6 million MTCO2e) and desflurane consumption (0.03 million MTCO2e) across the 283 hospitals. The approach should be applicable to other sources of hospital GHGs in order to estimate total emissions of individual hospitals and to refine survey questions to help develop better intervention strategies.
Air Pollution and Age-Dependent Changes in Emotional Behavior Across Early Adolescence in the U.S.
By Rob McConnell et al.
Enviromental Research
2024
Recent studies have linked air pollution to increased risk for behavioral problems during development, albeit with inconsistent findings. Additional longitudinal studies are needed that consider how emotional behaviors may be affected when exposure coincides with the transition to adolescence – a vulnerable time for developing mental health difficulties. This study investigates if annual average PM2.5 and NO2 exposure at ages 9–10 years moderates age-related changes in internalizing and externalizing behaviors over a 2-year follow-up period in a large, nationwide U.S. sample of participants from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study®. Air pollution exposure was estimated based on the residential address of each participant using an ensemble-based modeling approach. Caregivers answered questions from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at the baseline, 1-year follow-up, and 2-year follow-up visits, for a total of 3 waves of data; from the CBCL we obtained scores on internalizing and externalizing problems plus 5 syndrome scales (anxious/depressed, withdrawn/depressed, rule-breaking behavior, aggressive behavior, and attention problems). Zero-inflated negative binomial models were used to examine both the main effect of age as well as the interaction of age with each pollutant on behavior while adjusting for various socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Against our hypothesis, there was no evidence that greater air pollution exposure was related to more behavioral problems with age over time.