Combatting air pollution with nature:
Technologies to mitigate pollution have become widespread in recent years, but scientists are now exploring a new, pared-down approach: using nature to restore ecological balance. They report their findings in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology.
Newswise — Air pollution is composed of particles and gases that can
have negative impacts on both the environment and human health.
Technologies to mitigate pollution have become widespread in recent
years, but scientists are now exploring a new, pared-down approach:
using nature to restore ecological balance. They report their findings
in ACS’
Environmental Science & Technology.
In the
decades since the Clean Air Act of 1970, air quality across the U.S. has
improved dramatically. However, according to the American Lung
Association, four in 10 people in the U.S. still live in areas with poor
air quality, which can result in serious health effects such as asthma,
lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. Technology to control and
remove pollutants can be costly and often requires a great deal of
energy. As an alternative, researchers are looking to nature-based
solutions (NBS), a form of sustainable infrastructure that uses natural,
rather than manufactured, elements. NBS are adaptable, cost-effective
and can support native wildlife, making it a truly “green” solution in
combatting pollution and climate change. To better understand the
feasibility of NBS to reduce pollution, Bhavik Bakshi and colleagues
wanted to perform a data-driven analysis.
The researchers used
publicly available data and calculated factors, such as current
vegetation cover, county-level emissions from air pollutants and land
area available for restoration, to determine the potential benefits of
NBS across the U.S. Next, they calculated the financial aspect of
implementing NBS to mitigate various air pollutants. The team found that
in 75% of counties analyzed, it was more economical to use nature-based
solutions for mitigating emissions than to implement technological
interventions. Counties that were not strong candidates for NBS either
did not have enough available land, or the cost of technological methods
was less than that of restoration. Overall, the researchers found that
both urban and rural populations could benefit from NBS, though many
environmental factors should be considered before putting the approach
into practice.
Interactive versions of the maps can be accessed here:
https://sustainable.engineering.osu.edu/software.
The researchers acknowledge funding from the
National Science Foundation.
This paper’s abstract will be available on November 6 at 8 a.m. Eastern time here:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b01445
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