environmental engineering

George Mason REACHes for regional health policy solutions

Nathan Kahl — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 15:53:52 +0000

George Mason REACHes for regional health policy solutions Nathan Kahl Fri, 11/01/2024 - 11:53

As the planet’s climate shifts, so too does the health of its inhabitants. Rising temperatures, wildfires, and worsening air quality are environmental and public health concerns.

With a new $3.69 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Research and Engagement for Action in Climate and Health (REACH) Center is set to tackle the urgent intersection of climate change and public health in the nation’s capital. ��AV is part of a team of institutions working on environmental health innovation that includes George Washington University (GWU), Howard University (HU), and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The REACH Center will be directed by Susan Anenberg, professor and chair of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at GWU.

Jim Kinter, director of the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies and the Virginia Climate Center (VCC) at George Mason, sits on the REACH internal advisory board. VCC's interdisciplinary team of Mason experts conduct research on Virginia’s vulnerability and risks to the impacts of climate change in order to provide local decision makers with actionable climate information.

“Climate change is having negative impacts on public health, and projected future climate changes will only exacerbate those effects, most acutely felt in underserved communities," said Kinter. "The REACH Center serves a vital role in making data and information more accessible, more effective, and more useful for conducting research and co-producing equitable solutions to advance public health resilience. With George Mason experts working across several disciplines, the center has a unique and powerful capability to transform research and applications in public health, and the emphasis on community engagement will help translate findings into practical solutions.”

Lucas Henneman, an assistant professor in the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering at George Mason, is leading a research project within the center studying climate policy in Washington, D.C. He’ll look at congestion pricing—charging a toll for vehicles traveling into a central part of the city—and the impacts on air pollution and local health. The D.C. government previously showed interest in such policies, and Henneman is working with researchers at George Mason and GWU along with a transportation advocacy group called Greater Greater Washington, who have deep ties in the D.C. government and interested community groups.

“The big thrust is that there's all this useful data out there that can be used to better protect public health from impacts of climate change," said Henneman, "but how do we make that data useful to stakeholders like researchers, community groups, and local governments?”

The co-location of these entities in the Washington, D.C., region allows them to work with the federal and regional governments, as well as other experts in public health and big data. The REACH Center will also look broadly at the implication of health and climate data.

“How do you process air pollution and public health information in a way that can be useful for different stakeholders,” said Henneman. “In D.C., for example, you have wards, neighborhoods, and census tracts, and you might have different amounts of data in each of those geographies and different stakeholders would want to see information about their locations. So, how do we interpret the outcome of a policy on these different geographic boundaries?”

Daniel Tong, director of George Mason's Cooperative Institute of Satellite and Earth System Studies, is co-directing REACH’s Exposure Assessment Core. He gave an example of how even far-flung incidents can affect local populations, and why it’s important to understand this impact. “Rising temperature and droughts bring more wildfire smoke and every-day air pollution to cities like Washington, D.C.," said Tong, who is also an an associate professor in the College of Science. "It is critical to measure how these changes harm people’s health. The exposure core will leverage George Mason’s world-renowned expertise in atmospheric and climate sciences to support health researchers and practitioners to understand these impacts.”

Jenna Krall, an associate professor in George Mason's College of Public Health, also brings expertise to the project, further emphasizing the interdisciplinary aspects.

The NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative (CCHI) funded 16 new exploratory research centers in September, including the REACH Center. These centers will support the development of innovative transdisciplinary research into the complex impacts of climate change on health.

Henneman noted that, in the long-run, this could mean more opportunities for George Mason researchers to study how regulations can consider the intersection of climate change and health.

In This Story

Lucas Henneman

Jenna Krall, PhD

Learn more about the Virginia Climate Center

Topics

Public Health

environmental engineering

Climate Change

climate policy

National Institutes of Health

Research

College of Science

College of Public Health

College of Engineering and Computing

Strategic Direction

CEIE Success Stories

Assessing climate change costs on careers and coastal communities

Nathan Kahl — Tue, 30 May 2023 16:30:26 +0000

Assessing climate change costs on careers and coastal communities Nathan Kahl Tue, 05/30/2023 - 12:30

In This Story

Celso Ferreira

Watch the video

Coastal communities worldwide are seeing stronger storm surges, more powerful waves, and potential devastation for homes, infrastructure, jobs, and a way of life. Celso Ferreira, an associate professor in the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering at the ��AV College of Engineering and Computing, studies the impacts of these threats and suggests ways to manage them.

In May 2023 he co-authored a paper, Jobs at Risk: Sea Level Rise, Coastal Flooding, and Local Economies. “This study is the first to evaluate potential future impacts of flooding from sea level rise and climate change to people’s jobs and incomes. This new methodology provides a more equitable analysis of the impacts of climate change and a vision into its potential implications for the region,” said Ferreira.

According to the study, approximately 263,500 jobs and $11.1 billion in wage income will be threatened by 100-year flooding in the Chesapeake Bay region by 2050. The nonprofit Resources for the Future, with whom Ferreira co-authored the paper states, “These (jobs) figures represent 3.3 and 5 percent of all jobs in the Chesapeake region now and in 2050, respectively. The study also identified several flooding ‘hot spots’ around the region—counties and cities in Maryland and Virginia where 25 percent or more of jobs are flood-exposed.”

“Working with MDDNR and TNC allows our research to directly impact decision-making at the state and local level. It has been a tremendous experience to see our research translated for stakeholders so they can benefit from the science that Mason is producing.”

In addition to quantifying the economic impact, the paper recommends ways to prepare for it. The recommendations include aiming government spending at developing areas outside current and future flood zones; giving coastal communities financial aid but with the condition that businesses are in areas with limited exposure to flooding; providing aid to enterprise zones that incorporates requirements for resilience, such as infrastructure changes to reduce potential flood damage; using FEMA dollars to relocate businesses to different areas within their existing community but out of flood zones; and encouraging communities to change zoning rules to account for climate change.

Ferreira visits the Chesapeake Bay to study the impacts of climate change

In a related project with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDDNR), Ferreira and colleagues are assessing the ability of tidal wetlands, marshes, and sea grass beds to absorb storm surges and waves, protecting developed areas.

Ferreira says, “We place sensors that measure wave energy across the coastal habitats during extreme coastal storms, capturing unique data documenting its flood protection capacity. We then use computer models to predict future scenarios through 2100, with different projections of sea level rise focusing on coastal flood protection. We are looking at how will these ecosystems provide coastal protection into the future.”

These coastal barriers are essential to absorbing destructive storm surges. The first few feet of tidal marsh can reduce wave energy by 90 percent, according to TNC. In addition, marshes can trap tidal water sediment, allowing them to grow naturally with sea level rise. “Living” shorelines improve water quality while creating a habitat for fish and increasing biodiversity.

Nicole Carlozo of MDDNR says, “The data collected will help us make better decisions about where to restore and protect coastal habitats and make decisions about coastal restoration strategies. For example, how wide does a marsh need to be, to provide protection benefits.”

Researchers believe that their findings will provide input for statewide models to understand how habitats will transition as sea levels rise, allowing Maryland to make strategic decisions about anticipating and responding to such changes.

Topics

Climate Change

coastal habitats

Chesapeake Bay

civil and infrastructure engineering

environmental engineering

Research

CEIE Success Stories

CEC faculty research

New lab closes the loop on water sustainability

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 18:47:56 +0000

New lab closes the loop on water sustainability Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/06/2021 - 13:47

In This Story

Kirin Emlet Furst

The water that pours out from your kitchen faucet goes through a lot to make it to your home. Assistant Professor Kirin Emlet Furst wants to use her new high-tech Water Systems Chemistry Lab at the Potomac Science Center to close the loop on water and increase the efficiency of those processes by taking a systems approach.

Kirin Furst (pictured) says that the new equipment in her lab makes their work studying water from different angles possible and accurate. Photo by Evan Cantwell.

Furst, a faculty member in the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, believes a systems approach is the best way to solve the world’s safe water problems. “Our research lab is primarily focused on removing organic contaminants in drinking water systems and potable reuse systems,” says Furst.

The water treatment process has many steps: source water protection, water treatment, the distribution of the water, and what people are actually exposed to in their homes. “A lot of researchers and research labs focus on one of these processes, but we have projects that touch each part of the water system,” Furst says.

Furst’s main research interest is in reducing disinfection byproducts caused by reactions between dissolved organic materials and water disinfectants. The disinfectants used in water are essential to preventing water-borne pathogens, but when they react with materials that remain in the water, they can create toxins that have numerous health effects.

“To solve the disinfection byproducts problem, we have to look at the bigger picture. It’s hard to test their effects, and there are dozens of opportunities for these toxins to be introduced, so we can’t look at one stage in the process,” she says.

Furst and the graduate and undergraduate students in her lab are also working on ways to increase affordable water treatment methods for low-income areas and increase the treatment and reuse of wastewater. In addition, some of her graduate students are looking into creating new types of filters, others at reducing phthalates.

The advanced equipment in her lab gives her and her students the ability to tackle numerous parts of the water treatment systems, says Furst. And she is looking forward to the new and innovative projects her undergraduate and graduate students will take on.