Population aging and economic development setbacks may outpace the health benefits of less air pollution and slowed climate change, according to a Penn State-led researcher team examining air quality and the factors most likely to impact future premature deaths.
Population aging and economic development setbacks may outpace the health benefits of less air pollution and slowed climate change, according to a Penn State-led researcher team examining air quality and the factors most likely to impact future premature deaths.
The team used past and projected data to model five future scenarios estimating premature deaths due to air pollution and identified areas of the world that could be the most impacted. They published their findings today (Oct. 24) in the journal Nature Sustainability.
“When we think about the pollution impacts on future populations, exposure to ambient particulate matter — or air pollution — caused by fossil fuel emissions, is the greatest threat to global health,” said principal investigator Wei Peng, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering and of international affairs in the Penn State School of International Affairs. “The health burden is unevenly distributed across countries and disproportionately borne by the global south. To make credible projections of future global health, we created an integrated modeling framework that combines air quality simulations with macro-level sociodemographic drivers like global population and economic development.”
Read more at: Penn State University
Members of the Druid Peak Pack in Yellowstone National Park engage in a game of chase. (Photo credit: Daniel Stahler/NPS)
