PM 2.5 polluters disproportionately and systemically affect people of color in the United States.

Autor: Tessum CW; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. ctessum@illinois.edu., Paolella DA; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA., Chambliss SE; Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA., Apte JS; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.; School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA., Hill JD; Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA., Marshall JD; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Science advances [Sci Adv] 2021 Apr 28; Vol. 7 (18). Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Apr 28 (Print Publication: 2021).
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf4491
Abstrakt: Racial-ethnic minorities in the United States are exposed to disproportionately high levels of ambient fine particulate air pollution (PM 2.5 ), the largest environmental cause of human mortality. However, it is unknown which emission sources drive this disparity and whether differences exist by emission sector, geography, or demographics. Quantifying the PM 2.5 exposure caused by each emitter type, we show that nearly all major emission categories-consistently across states, urban and rural areas, income levels, and exposure levels-contribute to the systemic PM 2.5 exposure disparity experienced by people of color. We identify the most inequitable emission source types by state and city, thereby highlighting potential opportunities for addressing this persistent environmental inequity.
(Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).)
Databáze: MEDLINE