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New research from UC San Diego and the University of Texas shows that certain types of air pollution can have significant climate-related impacts, depending on where the pollutants are emitted.
The study, published in the journal Science Advances, is the first to examine the relationship between air pollution and climate impacts.
Aerosols are tiny particles of matter, such as soot from wildfires, or water droplets from smokestacks or tailpipes. Aerosol emissions can affect economic and agricultural productivity depending on where they are released.
Researchers have known for a long time that pollution affects health. However, the new findings show that aerosols increase the climate impact of greenhouse gas emissions.
“It’s not surprising that they see the damage to society compared to carbon dioxide,” says Geeta Persaud, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. “What’s interesting to me is how different those societal impacts are depending on who’s producing the aerosols.”
and where those emissions are located. The effect is also related to geography.
“The total number of infant deaths we find at the reported air emissions from India is 100 times greater than with the same amount of aerosol emissions,” Persad said.
The pollution is often released at the same time as carbon dioxide, which has a cumulative effect on the climate. As more carbon is released into the atmosphere, the planet’s climate will warm.
Aerosols work differently. Their impacts tend to be localized to the area where they are released, making it difficult to measure wider climate impacts.
“Combined aerosols, carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases have all sorts of additional negative effects on the world, so we need to keep an eye on that,” said UC San Diego researcher Jennifer Burney.
But the scientists measured the regional impact in eight key regions: Brazil, China, East Africa, Western Europe, India, Indonesia, South Africa and the United States.
They found that aerosol pollution contributes more than 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions to regional climate impacts.
Some aerosols have reflective properties, prompting researchers to question whether they have climate benefits. The research shows that the emission level is always bad for the region where the pollution is created and the overall health of the planet.
Bernie proposed shifting the focus of public policy from pollution control to pollution and climate management.
“The biggest fight in the United States is whether the EPA can think about air pollution, climate change and greenhouse gases in general,” Bernie said. “We’re going to let the EPA do that. It was a policy fight.”
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