10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Abstract View
The Earth's Climate and Human Health Taught through the Lens of Clean Cookstoves
DEBORAH GROSS, Tsegaye Nega, Carleton College
Abstract Number: 562 Working Group: Aerosol Education
Abstract Air pollution is a leading cause of death globally, with upwards of 4 million deaths per year caused by indoor air pollution due to cooking with biomass fuels, alone (WHO, 2016). This important problem is intimately connected with such issues as combustion and particle emissions from biomass combustion, the environmental impacts due to gathering the fuel, impacts on the global climate from the emissions of soot, and the impact of social structures on the interaction of people, especially women and children, with smoke from cooking fires. To engage fully with this complex problem requires an interdisciplinary approach that forces students and faculty members to stretch beyond standard disciplinary boundaries. This topic, with specific applications to a clean cookstove program in Ethiopia, has been used successfully at Carleton College to introduce undergraduate students to complex climate and health-related issues, while also providing a fruitful topic for faculty teaching and research collaborations. To-date, this project has been connected to 4 classes in three departments on campus, an off-campus program, and the research programs of two faculty members, and we anticipate that its presence will continue to grow. In addition, a class centered around an international collaboration between students at Carleton College and Addis Ababa University, which also includes components of the cookstove study, has been initiated. In this presentation, the centrality of aerosols, and how they can be connected to a range of topics related to climate and health, attracting students from a variety of disciplines, will be discussed.