Anti-racist Air-quality Modeling

JULIAN MARSHALL, University of Washington

     Abstract Number: 777
     Working Group: Plenary Lecture Invited by Conference Chair

Abstract
Ambient air quality in the US has improved over time, thanks to steps such as the 1970 Clean Air Act. However, in part because of where pollution sources are located, people of color in the US are still, on average, more exposed to air pollution than are white Americans. Today, society’s goals for air quality include not only improving conditions overall, but also addressing systemic disparities. Models and measurements are needed to focus attention on how to achieve that goal; research is needed to help propose and test possible solutions.

This talk will discuss existing exposure-disparities and the need to evaluate strategies to eliminate them. Three aspects will be emphasized:

(1) We don’t all breathe the same air.
Today, the largest exposure disparities are by race-ethnicity. Disparities by race are larger than, and statistically distinct from, those by income. Exposure disparities reflect segregation of people and of pollution, which in turn reflect norms, laws, enforcement, acts of violence, and threats of violence, which have reenforced segregation. Over time, polluting land uses were more likely to locate in communities that lacked political power to object.

(2) The past is present.
Contemporary disparities reflect recent actions but also actions many decades ago. Race-based planning implicitly and explicitly included race in deciding where to locate polluting land-uses.

(3) The disparities won’t eliminate themselves.
Improvements since 1970 reflect substantial attention and resources. Similar attention and resources will be needed to address exposure disparities. If future emission-reductions follow historic patterns, then future improvements to exposures will continue to reduce average exposures (a good outcome) but maintain relative disparities. Eliminating disparities requires spatially targeted emission-reductions that clean the air especially for overburdened communities.

In light of these facts, aerosol researchers can play a valuable role by using data and models to investigate how to eliminate existing exposure disparities.