DAILY AIR QUALITY READING
Why Does Our City Need Data?
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We are advocating for spatial and temporal tracking, and additional monitor placement regarding air quality data in communities that are out of attainment standards. The placement of the current EGLE-EPA monitor does not adequately represent air quality in Kalamazoo. Temporal and spatial tracking needs to be addressed, evidenced by figure 5. Based upon the results of the EGLE-EPA findings and our findings, our team firmly believes that additional monitor sites utilized for spatial and temporal tracking are imperative to increasing public health benefits.
The EPA stated that Kalamazoo had a specific amount of good and moderate days during 2024 (Figure 1). It is understood that daily averages can be displayed as “Good” on the AQI summary even though 30 minutes to 8 hour averages on a given day were at unhealthy levels (see figure 2 and 3). However, people do not experience air and its effect on their health on a daily to yearly average. On the EPA’s website it states “Hundreds of scientific studies have found that breathing in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) over the course of hours to days (short-term) and months to years (long-term) can lead to a variety of health effects, including harmful effects on blood vessels and the heart.” Our team aims to use our research to promote temporal (time) data and suggest to the city, state, and EPA to include sharing averages throughout the day, not only a 24 hour average. |
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
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Data Analysis of Air Monitors
Air quality data regarding Canadian Wildfire smoke impacting Kalamazoo air is coming soon!
Thank you to Binney, 269 Air Quality's Data Analyst Lead for creating the graphs and figures above.
"Dr. E. Binney Girdler is a Professor of Biology and Director of the Environmental Studies Program at Kalamazoo College. She received a Masters in Environmental Studies from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University. She has taught at Kalamazoo College since 2001 and has developed courses such as Environmental (In)Justice and Science & Social Justice. To support that work, she received a two-year faculty fellowship from the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Dr. Girdler is currently a member of the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) faculty committee at K College, and is one of the founding board members of the Institute for Public Scholarship. She has investigated both brownfield remediation and air quality for the Institute, and is currently the lead data analyst for the air quality monitoring project."
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