Oct 5, 2023, 4:10pm - 5:30pm
Location:
Kottman Hall 103, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210
Website:
Attachments:
SENR Seminar Series - Decadal Lessons Learned: The Story of Wildfires, Air Quality, and Environmental Justice
The SENR Seminar Series welcomes Dr. Joseph Wilkins, Assistant Professor at Howard University, who will present, Decadal Lessons Learned: The Story of Wildfires, Air Quality, and Environmental Justice on Thursday, October 5, 2023, starting at 4:10 p.m.
Abstract
Wildfire risk and severity have recently grown substantially due to climate change and other anthropogenic factors such as increasing development at the wildland-urban interface. Existing research has characterized substantial adverse health impacts from exposure to wildfire-associated smoke. Few existing studies have quantified long-term health impacts from wildfires, and none have used a wildfire-specific long-term dose-response coefficient for mortality, which we have now developed. These findings are critical for guiding societal investments for wildfire prevention and suppression. For example, in 2018, ~2 million acres burned in California, led to ~5,000 asthma-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations and ~11,500 premature deaths equating to an economic impact of ~$100 billion, with respect to the EPA Value of a Statistical Life of $8.7 million (2015 dollars).
Recommended reading:
O’Neill, S., Diao, M., Raffuse, S., Al-Hamdan, M., Barik, M., Jia, Y., Wilkins, J., et al. 2021: A Multi-Analysis Approach for Estimating Regional Health Impacts from the 2017 Northern California Wildfires, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, DOI: 10.1080/10962247.2021.1891994.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10962247.2021.1891994?needAccess=true&role=button
Wilkins, J. L., B. de Foy, A. M. Thompson, D. A. Peterson, E. J. Hyer, C. Graves, et al. 2020: Evaluation of stratospheric intrusions and biomass burning plumes on the vertical distribution of tropospheric ozone over the Midwestern U.S. J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos. 125:e2020JD032454.doi.org/10.1029/2020JD032454.
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1029/2020JD032454
D’Evelyn, S.M., Jung, J., Alvarado, E., Baumgartner, J., Caligiuri, P., Hagmann, R.K., Wilkins, J.L., et al. Wildfire, smoke exposure, human health, and environmental justice need to be integrated into forest restoration and management.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40572-022-00355-7