Susan Anenberg

1 month ago | nature.com | Soo-Yeon Kim |Gaige Hunter Kerr |Aaron van Donkelaar |J. Jason West |Susan Anenberg |Randall V. Martin

Air pollution and climate change are urgent global concerns, with urban areas contributing heavily to both air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Here we calculate fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone concentrations and fossil-fuel carbon dioxide emissions per capita in 13,189 urban areas worldwide from 2005 to 2019 and analyze correlations between trends for these pollutants, leveraging recently-developed global datasets. Globally, we found significant increases in ozone (+6%) and small, non-significant changes in fine particulate matter (+0%), nitrogen dioxide (−1%), and fossil-fuel carbon dioxide emissions (+4%). Also, over 50% of urban areas showed positive correlations for all pollutant pairs, though results varied by global region. High-income countries with strong mitigation policies experienced decreases in all pollutants, while regions with rapid economic growth had overall increases. This study shows the impacts of urban environmental initiatives in different regions and provides insights for reducing air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions simultaneously. Globally, urban areas experienced increases in ozone concentrations from 2005 to 2019, whereas fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and fossil-fuel carbon dioxide emissions showed non-significant variations, according to analysis of large geospatial air pollution datasets.

Sep 11, 2024 | laprogressive.com | Susan Anenberg |Rob Maurer

The wildfire smoke people are breathing across Canada and the United States today is a harbinger of what’s to come. Fires, whether raging, smoldering, or something in between, release tiny particles and a variety of noxious gases. While wildfires are a natural ecosystem process, many of the fires today are ignited by humans and are supercharged by human-caused climate change. The air we breathe is always changing.

Jul 14, 2023 | pubs.acs.org | Sara F. Camilleri |Gaige Hunter Kerr |Susan Anenberg |Daniel Horton

Download Hi-Res ImageDownload to MS-PowerPointCite This:Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett.

Jun 28, 2023 | statnews.com | Susan Anenberg |David Michaels

In 20 states, people are once again breathing in hazardous smoke from Canadian wildfires. The return of the air quality warnings, just weeks after the first took much of the U.S. by surprise, are a reminder that we will keep experiencing these conditions in the absence of integrated and health-driven climate adaptation policies.

Jun 17, 2023 | thehill.com | Susan Anenberg

Smoke from Canadian wildfires traveled hundreds of miles along the U.S. East Coast this week and last week, forcing millions of people to breathe air laced with harmful pollutants. The mix of pollution from these fires contains particles and gases that impede healthy lung and heart function.