AOSC Seminar by Dr. Annmarie Carlton, 9/15/2022
AOSC Seminar
Dr. Annmarie Carlton
University of California, Irvine
Title: Agricultural Air Pollution Policy and Impacts: an Almanac
Abstract:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that agriculture is the largest controllable source sector for ammonia (NH3), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). Livestock is a dominant contributor to these emissions that degrade air quality, threaten the stratospheric ozone layer and contribute to the climate crisis. In contrast to most controllable air pollution in the U.S., agricultural air pollution, now detectable from remotely based platforms, is rising. Increasing agricultural air pollution exhibits similar spatial and temporal patterns to the rise in number of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). The top three most polluted U.S. cities for year-round fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are in California’s Central Valley, one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions, and home to 100s of CAFOs. The number of “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” air quality days in the region hit records last year. CAFOs are more common in high-poverty and majority-nonwhite communities. In California, the odds of exposure to CAFO pollution increases with increasing percentage of Native Americans, non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic individuals. Air pollution from CAFOs is not federally regulated and several unfortunate barriers to safeguard human health and environment from the industry are in place. We will discuss satellite detection of ammonia and aircraft measurements of methane over the Central Valley within the context of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 goals, and potential regulatory avenues to justly improve environmental conditions in the region.
Bio:
Ann Marie Carlton is the AAAS Roger Revelle Fellow for Global Stewardship. She worked and continues to consult for the Climate and Environment Team in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She is also a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Bioenvironmental Engineering and a Ph.D. in environmental science all from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. She worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and then became a Rutgers University Environmental Science Department faculty member. Dr. Carlton is a scientific leader of the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study and served on the National Academy of Sciences’ panel to write The Future of Atmospheric Chemistry Research. She is a former co-editor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics and presently an editor of Reviews of Geophysics. She also serves on the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science Magazine.
Contact: Kenneth Pickering
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AOSC Seminar
Pre-seminar refreshment: N/A
Seminar: 3:30-4:30pm, Room: ATL 2400(only when in-person)
Meet-the-Speaker: 4:30-5:00pm, Room: ATL 3400(only when in-person) [For AOSC Students only]
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