Quantifying health impacts of traffic-related fine particulate air pollution at the urban project scale

Public health practitioners in the United States are increasingly advocating the use of formal health impact assessments (HIAs) to inform local decision-makers of adverse health consequences of local urban and transportation planning decisions. Yet only 5 of 70 transportation-related HIAs conducted in the United States between 1999 and 2013 quantified health impacts of the decisions under consideration. Furthermore, none of these quantitative HIAs accounted for variability and uncertainty; rather, each provided a single, deterministic estimate of health risks. This research aims to expand the evidence and tools available for quantitative HIAs of traffic-related fine particulate matter air pollution (denoted as PM2.5) at the urban project scale. The research objectives are to (1) develop and empirically validate an improved approach for characterizing variability and uncertainty in local population exposure to near-roadway PM2.5 under alternative future traffic scenarios, (2) determine the extent to which including variability and uncertainty in an HIA affects HIA results, and (3) develop a simplified method for quantifying traffic-related PM2.5 health impacts that can include variability and uncertainty but also ease the quantitative burden for HIA practitioners. The methods in this research are demonstrated using a case study roadway corridor in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where a future extension to the University of North Carolina campus is predicted to increase local traffic volumes. Key findings of this research include that (1) air quality model prediction error appears to have a greater effect on estimated near-roadway seasonal daily average PM2.5 concentrations than hourly meteorological variability, (2) the current deterministic HIA approach may under-estimate health impacts, and (3) a simplified parametric approach for HIA may estimate transportation-related health impacts sufficiently for conservative, screening-level analysis, saving the time and costs of more complex modeling for situations in which the screening analysis shows risks may exceed a pre-determined threshold of acceptability.Doctor of Philosoph

Spatial-temporal Patterns of MODIS Active Fire/Hotspots in Chiang Rai, Upper Northern Thailand and the Greater Mekong Subregion Countries During 2003-2015

For the past decade, smoke-haze pollution from forest fires and open burning has been a yearly recurring problem over Chiang Rai and other provinces in Upper Northern Thailand, along with other countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. Remote-sensing active fire/ hotspot data are currently used for monitoring the forest fires and open burning in the sub-region. This study aimed to extend the current monitoring work by performing spatial and temporal analysis to examine the patterns, either globally or locally, of MODIS active fires/hotspots during the critical smoke-haze pollution periods from January to April in 2003-2015. Fire radiative power was used as a weight attribute for each active fire/hotspot. Administrative unit maps were used for aggregating data and creating spatial weight matrices. Results indicated that for all the years over the investigated period and based on detected locations, active fires/hotspots were overall clustered spatially across provincial, interprovincial, and international scales. Their density patterns were locally variable for each year, but the high concentrated zones, in terms of both fire counts and fire radiative powers, were consistently bounded in the hilly and mountainous areas, confirming that the forest fires and open burning problem keeps recurring in certain areas. When aggregated by administrative unit, the administrative boundaries with high active fires/hotspots, in terms of both fire counts and fire radiative powers, were spatially clustered, either globally or locally, but there was only an increasing trend of the clustering intensity in fire radiative powers, implying that the forest fires and open burning problem have become more severe in particular areas. These findings could be useful for further reviewing and strengthening current measures and plans of fire and smoke haze pollution management

Measuring the Impacts of a Save Food Campaign to Reduce Food Waste on Campus in Thailand

This study measured the impact of an awareness campaign to reduce food waste on campus. Information cues were installed at strategic locations in a canteen to engage university students in food waste prevention. Stickers with food ordering tips were placed in front of the food vendors. Information cards about resource use in food production were placed on dining tables to remind students to finish what they had ordered. Other materials of the save food campaign such as posters and banners carried messages and images to elicit a pro-environmental norm. Students were also encouraged to share their support through social media in order to increase the visibility of the actions. The analysis showed that carefully designed information was effective in changing behaviors. Based on the visual analysis of returned food containers, the share of those who finished all their food nearly doubled after the campaign. The types of food waste on the information cards were also significantly reduced. However, the results showed that voluntary behavior changes are limited to actions requiring little additional effort. Other types of interventions such as rule-based measures, economic incentives and changes in physical settings and how food is served should be considered to further food waste prevention. In addition, reuse and recycling options are needed for fluid and other unavoidable food waste

Characteristics of Soil Amendment Material from Food Waste Disposed of in Bioplastic Bags

Effective food waste management is key to a sustainable future. We herein aimed at assessing the composition and the amount of food waste generated in the Chamchuri (CU) Terrace condominium (floors 18–22) in Bangkok (Thailand), producing soil amendment material from this same food waste and examining the effect of bioplastic bags on composting. The condominium generated 29.01 kg of general waste per day. The food waste (6.26 kg/day) was classified into “available” and “unavailable” food waste, accounting for 3.26 and 3.00 kg/day, respectively. The composting of the food waste lasted 45 days and was undertaken under three experimental conditions: (i) control (no food waste), treatment 1 (T1: food waste), and treatment 2 (T2: food waste along with pieces of bioplastic bags). The physicochemical analysis of the final composts of these treatments revealed that T2 could be used as soil amendment material after enrichment of its macronutrient composition and an increase in fermentation time. Interestingly, the T2 bioplastics were characterized by a lack of holes or were fragmented into pieces larger than 5 mm. In conclusion, food waste management in the CU Terrace condominium can use food waste collected in bioplastic bags as soil amendment material

Characteristics of Soil Amendment Material from Food Waste Disposed of in Bioplastic Bags

Effective food waste management is key to a sustainable future. We herein aimed at assessing the composition and the amount of food waste generated in the Chamchuri (CU) Terrace condominium (floors 18–22) in Bangkok (Thailand), producing soil amendment material from this same food waste and examining the effect of bioplastic bags on composting. The condominium generated 29.01 kg of general waste per day. The food waste (6.26 kg/day) was classified into “available” and “unavailable” food waste, accounting for 3.26 and 3.00 kg/day, respectively. The composting of the food waste lasted 45 days and was undertaken under three experimental conditions: (i) control (no food waste), treatment 1 (T1: food waste), and treatment 2 (T2: food waste along with pieces of bioplastic bags). The physicochemical analysis of the final composts of these treatments revealed that T2 could be used as soil amendment material after enrichment of its macronutrient composition and an increase in fermentation time. Interestingly, the T2 bioplastics were characterized by a lack of holes or were fragmented into pieces larger than 5 mm. In conclusion, food waste management in the CU Terrace condominium can use food waste collected in bioplastic bags as soil amendment material