Down Wind: Pollution and Discrimination
At Midnight one Tuesday, I was working on Calculus when a GroupMe notification drew my attention. Apparently, my suite was on fire. Or at least, the smell of smoke had permeated most of Rutledge and may have been from my suite. Opening the door, I immediately discerned a smoky, almost metallic odor filling the space. It came from the AC vent, so I opened the balcony door to a more intense smoke. Multiple people on the South Forty noticed the smoke, and hypotheses explaining the phenomenon ranged from plausible to ridiculous. One student mentioned the University’s administration physically burning students’ tuition money, but I pinpointed the actual source of smoke to an industrial complex in Granite City, IL using NOAA’s near-surface smoke radar map. Roughly 10 miles northeast from campus, manufacturing plants constantly emit fumes into the atmosphere, a by-product of the steelmaking process. But why could Wash U students suddenly detect this smoke?
Simple. The wind that night shifted from the northeast, covering the city of Clayton in a smoky haze.
The pollutants from these factories normally travel a limited distance before dispersing to levels undetectable by human senses, so rarely do communities that are not close to the factories actively notice this problem. The wind conditions in St. Louis narrow down the locations of exposure to include North County and East St. Louis, two areas with disproportionate levels of economic insecurity compared to the greater metropolitan area. Communities excluded from exposure are more affluent neighborhoods west of Clayton, because the smoke cannot travel far westward without a strong wind from the east.
East St. Louis is only one example of a concerning correlation between socioeconomic status and air pollution exposure.
East St. Louis is only one example of a concerning correlation between socioeconomic status and air pollution exposure. Across the nation, socioeconomic status declines among communities adjacent to these industrial facilities or downwind from them. Large cities like Chicago with three coal-fired power plants lining the South Side, or New York with manufacturing complexes in the Bronx, reveal a fundamental issue of air pollution disproportionately affecting millions of Americans every day.
Politicians and corporations frequently downplay the effect of airborne pollutants on susceptible demographics, blaming unhealthy habits like smoking for most respiratory problems. This reasoning plays on a traditional classist stereotype on how individuals in poorer neighborhoods have a higher incidence of smoking. It makes sense for certain groups to defend industries responsible for air pollution by citing economic factors, but going as far to say that smoking has a greater negative impact in fact false. While smoking is still a major health concern, a Forbes study places air pollution above smoking as the greatest global human health risk, reducing global life expectancy by 1.8 years. Children growing up in polluted socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods have higher risk of developing asthma, obesity, and several respiratory illnesses that require hospitalization. Adults may eventually develop preventable debilitating respiratory conditions and cancers that are costly to deal with.
The effect of air pollution lasts much longer than most people expect. Particles in the air eventually enter homes and can remain trapped, increasing exposure for residents. Returning to the South Forty, I remember how intense the smoke smell was coming out of the AC vents. However, some of my friends living in modern dorms like SoFoHo or Liggett did not smell anything that night. As modern dorms have newer and more advanced central-air conditioning systems, the smoke may not have been detectable. For traditional dorms like Rutledge, which were built in the 1960s before central-air became mainstream in residential housing, the ventilation system cannot effectively filter out the smoke.
Most homes in North County and East St. Louis were built before the 1960s and lack the proper infrastructure to purify polluted air.
Applying this situation to the greater St. Louis area, most homes in North County and East St. Louis were built before the 1960s and lack the proper infrastructure to purify polluted air. Installing and maintaining an air purifier can cost thousands of dollars, which presents a significant expense for homeowners considering the low median home value in East St. Louis and North County. The constant exposure to industrial emissions should gain the attention of the entire community, but these adverse effects are largely ignored in politics and lawmaking.
There is a real health concern for thousands of people St. Louis, and there are several solutions that can reduce the impact on not only humans but also the environment. The most apparent solution is reducing overall emissions, but especially in steelmaking. Coal is still a vital ingredient in steelmaking, so finding more efficient methods for production can benefit the local community and mitigate the climate crisis. Using our knowledge in advocacy can only aid in protecting our health and our ecosystem, because everyone, not just Wash U students or our affluent neighbors, should have the right to breathe in clean air.