Poor air quality and excessive heat can act like a one-two punch to the system, with one making the effects of the other worse for the human body. Add to that the fact that these interlinked issues are also affecting areas differently, with historically underresourced communities dealing with more pollution and heat exposure.
Understanding this complex interplay is challenging to untangle, but Duke University Pratt School of Engineering researchers are on the case.
For almost a decade, the partnership of civil and environmental engineering professors David Carlson and Mike Bergin has spawned multiple ongoing research projects focused on heat islands and air pollution globally and locally.
A local project here in Durham led by postdoctoral researcher Danielle Wagner involves more than a dozen community members. Together, they’ve installed small weather stations and provided neighbors with passive sensors to connect air temperature and quality to health effects.
“We’ve tried to space households all across the city so that we’re not just getting places near Duke, which is cooler than some parts because of all the trees on campus,” Wagner said. “The hope is to find overlaps between the effects of heat and air quality, like patterns of when it’s hotter at night and people are getting less sleep quality or their heart rate variability is not as healthy as usual.”
Working together with the community not only provides better research results, it builds lasting relationships for more collaboration. Gian Carlos Carmona, who is community engagement assistant at project partner El Futuro NC, says that finding committed people to work with for the long term is a big challenge.
“I feel like that’s something we’ve found working alongside the group that we have here at El Futuro,” said Carmona. “We want to bring resources to the people who need them, and that starts with educating people about these issues.”
