Disproportionate Pollution

Mary Collins analyzes air pollution and how it affects certain communities more than others. Host Heather Lynch and Collins, an associate professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, discuss this disproportionality and the economically-driven reasoning that justifies it. Collins also discusses cadmium and other heavy metals as airborne pollutants and how researchers in the applied sciences should take the time to build relationships within the population they are studying to create better solutions.

Learn more with:

• “Characterizing disproportionality in facility-level toxic releases in US manufacturing, 1998–2012” by Mary B. Collins, Simone Pulver, Dustin Hill, & Benjamin Manski
• Governor Newsom’s Permit Suspensions
• “Linking metal (Pb, Hg, Cd) industrial air pollution risk to blood metal levels and cardiovascular functioning and structure among children in Syracuse, NY” by Dustin Hill, Michael Petroni, David A. Larsen, Kestutis Bendinska, Kevin Heffernan, Nader Atallah-Yunes, Patrick J. Parsons, Christopher D. Palmer, James A. MacKenzie, Mary B. Collins, & Brooks B. Gump 

Skip ahead to the chapter that interests you:

• 00:00 Introduction to Pollution
• 01:58 The Disproportionality Perspective
• 06:03 The Role of Social Capital in Disproportionality
• 13:27 Solutions for Disproportionality
• 18:51 Cadmium as an Air Pollutant
• 24:35 The Relationship between Employment and Pollution
• 27:05 Collaborative Problem Solving
• 29:59 Conclusion and Preview for Next Episode

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C4E Presents is a production of Stony Brook’s Collaborative for the Earth.

Host: Heather Lynch

Editor: J.D. Allen

Producer: Rachel Lea 

Program manager: Jennifer Gilday