Air pollution and climate change threaten North Carolinians' health
Most of North Carolina isn't in the green, according to Thursday's Air Quality Index.
Many cities, including Raleigh, have a "moderate" or yellow designation. According to AirIQ, the air in the Triangle on Thursday had concentration of fine particles of pollution called PM2.5 that was more than three times higher than the World Health Organization guideline.
North Carolina has met all health-based federal air quality standards since 2015, according to the NC Department of Environmental Quality.
Wildfires and weather conditions can cause fluctuations in air quality, with hot and sunny days contributing to ground-level ozone that may lead to more code yellow days during the summer.
Dr. Aaron Levy, an Atrium Health pediatrician, says that particulate matter or soot comes from burning fossil fuels and can be dangerous.
"When it's in the orange, it's an early indicator of when children and other vulnerable populations may experience poor health effects," Levy said.
Levy was the keynote speaker at the eighth annual NC BREATHE conference, an event that brings together health professionals, researchers, students, frontline communities and policymakers to discuss clean air in the state. His talk mainly focused on how climate change and air quality impact health, particularly children.
"It increases use of rescue medicines for asthma, increases emergency room visits and hospitalizations," Levy said.
A 2021 Harvard study found pollution from the burning of fossil fuels was responsible for nearly one in five early deaths worldwide, with more than 350,000 premature deaths in the U.S. alone.
"More people are dying from air pollution than are dying from gun violence," said Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, Executive Vice President of the National Wildlife Federation.
Ali and other conference speakers focused on disparities and environmental justice, saying many underserved communities face the largest number of health risks due to air pollution and climate change.
Black Americans are nearly 1.5 times more likely to have asthma and Black women have the highest rates of death due to asthma.
Dr. Arlinda Ellison led the Alamance County Health Department to become the first North Carolina county to incorporate racial disparities into its community health assessments.
"This is public health, and for far too long I think it’s been separated," Ellison said. "The environmental piece has been separated from everything and this was our chance to jump into it."
Now, there's a push for other counties to follow suit.
"Our goal is to have at least ten health departments include environmental justice chapters in their community health assessments in their next cycle," said Virginia Guidry, branch head of occupational and environmental epidemiology at NC Department of Health and Human Services.
On Thursday, the Biden administration proposed a new regulation to reduce air pollutants from chemical plants that would impact the vast majority of chemical manufacturers, including Chemours' Fayetteville Works Plant.
It would update several regulations governing emissions from chemical plants, some of which have not been tightened in nearly two decades.
The Environmental Protection Agency is also exploring implementing stricter limits on air pollution from fine particulate matter.
New research shows tighter restrictions could reduce mortality rates by up to 7% for Black and low-income seniors already exposed to some of the most polluted air in the United States.
