How people respond to wildfire smoke

Source: Stanford University

Summary:Interviews with Northern California residents reveal that social norms and social support are essential for understanding protective health behaviors during wildfire smoke events -- information that could be leveraged to improve public health outcomes.

In a case study of Northern California residents, Stanford researchers explored the psychological factors and social processes that drive responses to wildfire smoke. The research, which ultimately aims to uncover approaches for helping people better protect themselves, shows that social norms and social support are essential for understanding protective health actions during wildfire smoke events. The findings was published within month in the journal Climate Risk Management.

"It's important to understand how people behave so that public health communications professionals can potentially intervene and promote safer behavior that mitigates risk," said lead study author Francisca Santana, a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (EIPER). "This kind of qualitative work is a first step so that we can learn how people are using information and interacting to make decisions. We can then look at where there might be leverage points or opportunities to promote more protective behavior."

Exposure to wildfire smoke can irritate the lungs, cause inflammation, impact the immune system and increase susceptibility to lung infections, including the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's surprising that this fact is known yet people do little to actually understand the effect of wildfire.

According to the senior study author Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, an assistant professor of Earth system science at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth). "It resonated with me, the things that people were doing to try to protect themselves in the absence of access to effective ways to reduce their wildfire smoke exposure," Wong-Parodi said, referring to a resident who breathed through a wet bandana in an attempt to avoid inhaling the toxic smoke particles. "It's urgent that we come up with strategies that are realistic for what people are going through."

Study authors Santana and David Gonzalez, who worked on the study as a PhD student at Stanford, interviewed residents who were affected by wildfire smoke from the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise, California, and subsequent fires in Fresno, Santa Clara and Sacramento counties. They discovered individuals responded to wildfire in three ways: interpreting information together, protecting the vulnerable and questioning protective actions. Their responses were influenced by what they were personally experiencing at that time.

The researchers also found. "Social norms and social support were really influencing how people chose to act on their perceptions of threat," Santana said. "For example, a lot of people talked about observing others wearing masks, and in some cases that observation was enough for them to act by wearing a mask themselves." Their discussions revealed that the shared rules or standards of behavior within a social norms was a common reason for change in individual behaviour.

The study provides a framework for better understanding wildfire responses by examining social processes while acknowledging that cultural and political contexts, as well as factors like demographics, health status and previous exposure to smoke and air pollution, may also influence individual behaviors. In some cases, the researchers found that residents were couldn't protect themselves because they couldn't access N95 masks.

As these events become more common, there could be an opportunity to help prepare communities for future wildfire events, according to the co-authors. For example, programs that are designed to improve household comfort and increase energy efficiency could also include measures to reduce smoke intrusion during wildfire smoke events, Wong-Parodi suggested.

Some of the interviews revealed that residents simply didn't know what to do while experiencing a such devastating event. But even that revealed how processing uncertainty is a social exercise, not just a cognitive one.

Pollution from coal-fired power plants kills thousands in EU

Source: Bloomberg by John Ainger

Coal-fired power is the single largest driver of temperature rise and phasing it out of the world’s electricity supply as soon as possible will be key to meeting the world’s climate goals, scientists say.

Pollution from coal-fired power stations on the EU’s southeastern border are estimated to have caused thousands of deaths in the region due to breaches of legally-binding limits on harmful emissions.

The coal plants operating in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Montenegro were responsible for 19,000 deaths over the past three years, according to projections in a report by CEE Bankwatch Network and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. More than half of those deaths were estimated to be within the EU.

The power stations produced 2.5 times as much harmful sulfur dioxide emissions as all of the 221 coal stations in the EU combined last year, the report said. In the three years since EU air-pollution limits became obligatory to non-EU Balkan countries, the Western Balkans emitted sulfur dioxide at levels that were at least six times the legal limit.

“These 18 coal plants in the Western Balkans are still wreaking havoc in the region and beyond,” said Pippa Gallop, southeast Europe energy adviser at CEE Bankwatch Network in a briefing. “Western Balkan governments bear primary responsibility for this state of affairs, but we also do want to see the EU stepping up action on this issue.”

The report’s projections were modeled using World Health Organization recommendations for the health impact of pollution, while high-resolution population data from censuses and NASA was used to estimate exposure. Europe is facing soaring gas and electricity prices, which damps the incentive to turn off less-efficient and more environmentally-harmful means of production. The EU imports 8% of the electricity produced by the coal plants in the Western Balkans.

The report’s authors commended the EU’s proposed carbon border levy for including electricity imports, though said it should go further by linking funding to pollution and even including emissions in reports that pave the way for accession to the bloc.

“The EU has really got the message about no coal and it’s been increasingly vocal to the countries to stop building new plants and to phase out coal,” Gallop said. “But we’re missing some more short-term measures, which could make a difference to this actual pollution until those coal plants are closed.”

Penallta fire: Petrol pollutes stream and kills fish after blaze

Source: BBC News

Oil and petrol have polluted a stream and killed fish after a blaze at a recycling plant.

The fire took hold at Penallta Industrial Estate, Hengoed, Caerphilly county, at 15:13 BST on Wednesday.

About 200 tonnes of plastic, foam, electrical items, batteries, gas cylinders and machinery caught fire, firefighters said.

A clean-up has been started by Natural Resources Wales (NRW), Spill Response Wales and the fire service.

NRW said "a large amount" of oil and petrol had entered a stream near the site and a number of dead fish had been seen.

• Firefighters tackle blaze at Caerphilly recycling plant

• Building 'severely damaged' by fire in Penallta

People have been warned to avoid contact with water in Nant Cylla, a tributary of the River Rhymney, and nearby water courses whilst the clean-up takes place.

NRW said measures had been taken to absorb oil and petrol run off and dams have been built in nearby brooks. Pipes have been fitted to let clean water through.

David Letellier of NRW said it was "imperative" residents and the environment were protected.

"We'll continue to monitor the impact on air quality and local watercourses over the coming days," he said.

South Wales fire service station commander Mark Kift said crews had worked "tirelessly" to tackle the fire and stop it spreading.

The fire has been put out and firefighters have now left the scene, Mr Kift said.

"The clean-up process is now underway and we would like to remind local residents that the recycling plant remains closed at this time and to follow any guidance from NRW and Public Health Wales regarding the surrounding area."

A spokesperson for the fire service said: "Due to the scale of the fire, the materials alight continued to smoulder and crews worked in partnership to strategize and decide a course of action."

The service's urban search and rescue teams were also deployed to provide support and lighting for crews and partner agencies working overnight.

A range of specialist equipment, including aerial ladder platforms, high volume pumps and numerous fire appliances were used to help tackle the fire and secure the area, the spokesperson added.