New regional air quality report shows increase of air pollution from fine particulate matter

In January of 2020, Bard College students, staff and faculty teamed up with residents in Kingston to monitor the air quality inside and outside of their neighborhoods.

“As a compact urban city, with a large percentage of our community living in either disadvantaged communities designated areas and/or potential environmental justice areas, we are acutely aware of the localized impacts of air pollution on our community members and quality of life,”said Julie L. Noble, sustainability coordinator for the city of Kingston. “The partnership we have had with Bard has been tremendously positive for us, providing sound, local data that we have been able to share, in real time, with our residents, to help them stay safe, plan accordingly, and make better choices for their own health and for the health of our environment.”

The group has announced that due to the success of the Kingston project, there has been a recent establishment of a second regional air quality station in partnership with the Poughkeepsie Library, as well as plans to install a third station in Newburgh in partnership with Mount Saint Mary College. Libraries across the Hudson Valley are encouraged to join the growing Hudson Valley Library Air Quality Network.

KAQI’s main monitoring efforts focus on a regional assessment of air pollution from fine particulate matter (PM2.5), made up of microscopic particles from burnt fuel that are released into the air from oil burners, gas burners, automobiles, cooking, grilling, and both indoor and outdoor wood burning. PM2.5 particles are so tiny, they stay suspended in the air for long periods of time, allowing them to travel long distances before depositing. When these particles are inhaled, they can enter the bloodstream through the lungs, creating or worsening health issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that “small particulate pollution has health impacts even at very low concentrations – indeed no threshold has been identified below which no damage to health is observed.”

According to the report: “2023 stands out from the past four years – after three years of decreasing daily average levels of pm2.5 from 2020-2022, we saw an increase in 2023 (figure 1). Annual mean pm2.5 was higher in 2023 than the three other years currently on record. Some of this increase is directly attributable to the wildfire smoke we experienced from Canada in June 2023, which may be a new reality for the Hudson Valley as fires continue to ravage Canadian forests.”

In addition to the impact from wildfires, over the past four years of reporting, there has been a “seasonal trend of higher particulate concentration in the winter and summer months, likely attributable to wood and fuel used for heating and recreation. Despite improvements in vehicular and industrial emissions, we are overall seeing consistently higher pollution levels. This trend underscores the ongoing need for more aggressive sustainable heating practices and transportation solutions to combat air pollution in Kingston.”

More details about KAQI’s findings can be found at the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities website: https://cesh.bard.edu/kingston-air-quality-initiative-kaqi/

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