Photo source: CANUE
Canada is an urbanized country with over 80 per cent of Canadians living in urban areas and growing numbers of new immigrants that tend to settle in urban areas. To meet the need to learn how to design and modify cities to improve population health, the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE) was established in June 2016. Continue reading
Source: Toronto Star
Black carbon (BC) particles are generated through incomplete combustion processes including combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. These two sources are most commonly from vehicles and residential wood burning for heating. BC has an overall warming effect on the global climate and long-term exposure to it has been associated with cardiopulmonary mortality.
Dr. Robert Healy, Senior Environmental Officer at The Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, spoke about the Ministry’s work on assessing the sources of fossil fuel and biomass burning black carbon in Ontario at the SOCAAR Seminar on November 30th, 2016. Continue reading
Source: CBS
Source: Slices of light/Flickr
The flow of carbon between the atmosphere, oceans, and land is known as the Carbon Cycle. The cycle is influenced by changes in carbon sources and sinks: fossil fuel burning; land use changes; plant respiration and photosynthesis; ocean uptake and release. Carbon sources and sinks can be quantified and monitored for long term trends from atmospheric measurements of carbon dioxide.
Dr. Debra Wunch, Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment & Department of Physics, presented the global and urban measurements of greenhouse gases at the October 5th SOCAAR Seminar.
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Photo source: Wikipedia
The Athabasca deposit in Alberta is the largest oil sand in the world and is a powerful source of Canadian energy. Over the last decade a lot attention has been paid to the environmental impacts of oil sands production. Primary emissions associated with oil sands activities have been the focus of past research but less is known about the reaction products of these emissions to the atmosphere. In the SOCCAR Seminar held on September 14, Dr. Liggio, a research scientist at Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Air Quality Research Division, presented his research on the formation of organic acidity and secondary organic aerosol from oil sands activities. Continue reading
In SOCAAR seminar held on April 6th Dr. Shunsuke Nakao, Assistant Professor at Clarkson University presented a theoretical framework used to study the aging of atmospheric organic aerosol.
Organic aerosol change (i.e. oxidize) as they age in the atmosphere and are nuclei for cloud formation. Having an understanding of the change in cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity of organic aerosol as they evolve overtime can be used to identify the impact of organic aerosol on the climate. Continue reading
Aside from inhalation, exposure to indoor air pollutants through skin and oral routes can also be significant. Exposure through skin and oral routes become important for lower volatility chemicals like methamphetamine, phthalates, and nicotine. In the March 22 SOCAAR Seminar Dr. Glenn Morrison, a professor at Missouri University of Science & Technology, spoke about the influence of clothing on exposure to methamphetamine, phthalates and nicotine. Continue reading
Photo source: Conventional to Conscious blog
Air pollution is the leading global environmental health risk factor according to the World Health Organization. Implementing policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions can also reduce the outdoor levels of air pollutants that harm human health by targeting the same emission sources. Dr. Rebecca Saari, an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, presented the relationship between climate policies and health co-benefits at the SOCAAR seminar held on March 2, 2016. Continue reading
It’s well known that exposure to air pollution increases the likelihood and health problems linked to cardiorespiratory diseases. Air pollutants consist of a mixture of gases and particulate matter such as secondary organic aerosols (SOA). SOA are formed through the oxidation of natural sources like plants and trees, as well as from industry emissions like naphthalene. Continue reading
Photo source: Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division
Toxicological studies have consistently found that ultrafine particles are potentially harmful. Yet only recent epidemiological studies have been able to link ultrafine particles to negative public health effects. The difficulty in finding effects in epidemiological studies may be in part because of the population exposure metrics used in previous studies. In the December 2 SOCAAR Seminar Dr. Michael J. Kleeman, a professor at UC Davis’ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, presented 15 years of research on the measurements and modeling of ultrafine particular matter in California. Continue reading
