A study quantifies inequities in air pollution exposure across racial-ethnic groups. Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a leading environmental health risk factor in the United States, is inequitably distributed among racial-ethnic groups. Consumption of goods and services, which contribute to PM2.5 levels, is also unequal across racial-ethnic groups, but the relationship between inequality in consumption and inequality in exposure has not been previously explored. Jason Hill and colleagues attributed all PM2.5-related emissions in the United States to specific end-use activities and end-user groups. The authors calculated the "pollution inequity" of racial-ethnic groups as the fractional difference between a group's exposure to PM2.5 and its contribution to total PM2.5 exposure. On average, blacks and Hispanics experienced 56% and 63% greater PM2.5 exposure than their contributions, respectively, whereas non-Hispanic whites experienced 17% less exposure than their contribution. Pollution inequity depended at least as much on differences in consumption among groups as on differences in exposure. Differences in the types of goods and services consumed by each group were less important than differences in their overall amount of consumption in determining groups' contributions to PM2.5 exposure. Even though pollution exposure for all three groups declined by approximately 50% during 2003-2015, pollution inequity remains high, according to the authors.
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Article #18-18859: "Inequity in consumption of goods and services adds to racial-ethnic disparities in air pollution exposure," by Christopher W. Tessum et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Jason D. Hill, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN; tel: 612-624-2692, 651-248-4150; e-mail: hill0408@umn.edu
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences