New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene 1. What person, group or organization is being profiled, and why are they of interest to this project? The organization being profiled is the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. They are of interest to this project because they study what is in our air, as well as the elevated levels of air pollution that could lead to health problems. This information is then used for the purpose of creating policies and practices that help protect us from heart and lung conditions.
2. What have they done – through research, or a public health program or education forum, for example-- that illustrates how they have worked to improve air pollution governance and environmental public health? They have worked on ways for people to protect themselves against harmful outdoor air, as well as indoor air. They have done research on “bad air” days, as well as how people can protect themselves and others from such days. They have also done research with the NYC Community Air survey in order to determine the impact that pollutants from traffic, for example, has on the air quality in different neighborhoods. With regards to indoor air, they have done research on indoor mold, indoor moisture, as well as ways in which people can alter their homes in order to improve their indoor air quality.
3. What timeline of events illustrates how this way of addressing environmental public health has developed? Some events that have been significant to addressing environmental public health in NYC have been 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy.
4. Does this person, group or organization claim to have a new or unique way of addressing environmental public health? Does this approach point to or suggest problems with other approaches? Their approach seems to focus on both indoor and outdoor health, which is different from other organizations that more so focus on outdoor health. This organization is also different because its research is home to the city impacted by 9/11 and hurricane Sandy—two events that have forced the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to continuously check air quality in those affected areas.
5. What data have they collected or used to support their approach to environmental public health? What visualizations of this data have been created? They have collected data through the NYC Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) in order to understand how air quality is different across NYC. The NYCCAS has been monitoring fine particles, nitrogen oxides, element carbon, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and the health problems that they cause. There is also the Environmental Public Health Tracking Portal, which is used to collect local data from many different sources in order to inform public health policy, determine which research should be conducted, as well as to track progress in meeting environmental health and sustainability goals.
6. What research has the organization produce or drawn on in their initiatives – in the last year, and over the last decade? Recognizing the large number of children impacted by asthma in NYC, the organization furthered their work with asthma. They use a program called, “Open Airways for Schools”, which consists of an educational curriculum for children with asthma.
7. What kinds of technology and infrastructure do they rely on in the production of environmental health care? The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview.
8. What social ecology does this person, group or organization work within, and how did it shaped their way of conceiving and engaging asthma? The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
9. What events or data seem to have motivated their ways of thinking about and engaging environmental health? The levels of people at risk with heart and lung conditions in NYC and its correlation with elevated levels of air pollution seems to have motivated their ways of thinking and engaging environmental health.
10. What funding enables their work and possibly shapes their way of thinking about environmental health? The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
11. What in the history of this person, group or organization likely shaped the way they conceived or and engage environmental health? 9/11 is likely an attribute that has shaped the way the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene engages in environmental health. The aftermath of this event stressed the impact that air pollution can have on lung and heart diseases.
12. What does this person, group or organization seem to find methodologically challenging or concerning in dealing with environmental health? The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
13. What kinds of governance are (implicitly or explicitly) called for in the way they think about environmental health? The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
14. How can The Asthma Files enable or supplement this way of thinking about environmental health, and the work of this person, group or organization? The Asthma Files can further investigate the program, “Open Airways for School” and the impact that it has on the children’s asthma education. It would also be interesting to see how many schools have actually adopted this program.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation 1. What person, group or organization is being profiled, and why are they of interest to this project? The New York Department of Environmental Conservation is being profiled for their work with air quality monitoring.
2. What have they done – through research, or a public health program or education forum, for example-- that illustrates how they have worked to improve air pollution governance and environmental public health? The DEC is continually measuring levels of pollutants in the air and collecting filter samples to send to the lab for analysis. They also solicit public comments whenever a New York State Implementation Plan (SIPs) is being proposed for revision; these SIPs actually account for pollution that contributes to visibility impairment. The DEC also does work that promotes a sustainable future. For example they work to reduce CO2 emissions through market-based emissions trading, they work on greenhouse gas inventory and reduction, and also on growing New York’s clean energy economy.
3. What timeline of events illustrates how this way of addressing environmental public health has developed?
4. Does this person, group or organization claim to have a new or unique way of addressing environmental public health? Does this approach point to or suggest problems with other approaches?
5. What data have they collected or used to support their approach to environmental public health? What visualizations of this data have been created? The DEC is continually measuring levels of pollutants in the air; they do so in more than 50 sites across the state. When ozone is at high levels that can be harmful to human health, the results are recorded in real time and put on the DEC’s website and broadcast media. The Real time direct reading measurements also include sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, PM2.5, and meteorological data. The filter samples are collected and sent to the lab for analysis.
6. What research has the organization produce or drawn on in their initiatives – in the last year, and over the last decade? They have worked on the New York State Energy Plan, reducing greenhouse gas emission and improving climate resilience in order to make for climate smart communities, and they have also continued to monitor air quality.
7. What kinds of technology and infrastructure do they rely on in the production of environmental health care? Thermo Electro Model 43C Pulsed Fluorescence is needed for Sulfur dioxide measurement, RFNA-0977-025 is needed for oxides of Nitrogen, RFCA-0981-054 for Carbon Monoxide, EQOA-0880-047 for Ozone, RFPS-0498-118 for PM2.5, and many other methods of instrumentation.
8. What social ecology does this person, group or organization work within, and how did it shaped their way of conceiving and engaging asthma?
9. What events or data seem to have motivated their ways of thinking about and engaging environmental health? The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview.
10. What funding enables their work and possibly shapes their way of thinking about environmental health? The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
11. What in the history of this person, group or organization likely shaped the way they conceived or and engage environmental health? The threat to New York’s natural resources and environment, as well as the threat to the health and safety of people of the state, is likely to have shaped the way in which they conceive environmental health.
12. What does this person, group or organization seem to find methodologically challenging or concerning in dealing with environmental health? The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
13. What kinds of governance are (implicitly or explicitly) called for in the way they think about environmental health? The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
14. How can The Asthma Files enable or supplement this way of thinking about environmental health, and the work of this person, group or organization? The Asthma Files can enable this way of thinking by keeping the goal of environmental quality, public health, and social well-being in mind simultaneously, which is something that the DEC strives to achieve. The Asthma files can also look into the DEC’s Environmental Education Camps for kids ages 11-17, as well as the impact that the camp has on the health/environmental education of the children.
1. What person, group or organization is being profiled, and why are they of interest to this project?
The organization being profiled is the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. They are of interest to this project because they study what is in our air, as well as the elevated levels of air pollution that could lead to health problems. This information is then used for the purpose of creating policies and practices that help protect us from heart and lung conditions.
2. What have they done – through research, or a public health program or education forum, for example-- that illustrates how they have worked to improve air pollution governance and environmental public health?
They have worked on ways for people to protect themselves against harmful outdoor air, as well as indoor air. They have done research on “bad air” days, as well as how people can protect themselves and others from such days. They have also done research with the NYC Community Air survey in order to determine the impact that pollutants from traffic, for example, has on the air quality in different neighborhoods. With regards to indoor air, they have done research on indoor mold, indoor moisture, as well as ways in which people can alter their homes in order to improve their indoor air quality.
3. What timeline of events illustrates how this way of addressing environmental public health has developed?
Some events that have been significant to addressing environmental public health in NYC have been 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy.
4. Does this person, group or organization claim to have a new or unique way of addressing environmental public health? Does this approach point to or suggest problems with other approaches?
Their approach seems to focus on both indoor and outdoor health, which is different from other organizations that more so focus on outdoor health. This organization is also different because its research is home to the city impacted by 9/11 and hurricane Sandy—two events that have forced the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to continuously check air quality in those affected areas.
5. What data have they collected or used to support their approach to environmental public health? What visualizations of this data have been created?
They have collected data through the NYC Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) in order to understand how air quality is different across NYC. The NYCCAS has been monitoring fine particles, nitrogen oxides, element carbon, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and the health problems that they cause.
There is also the Environmental Public Health Tracking Portal, which is used to collect local data from many different sources in order to inform public health policy, determine which research should be conducted, as well as to track progress in meeting environmental health and sustainability goals.
6. What research has the organization produce or drawn on in their initiatives – in the last year, and over the last decade?
Recognizing the large number of children impacted by asthma in NYC, the organization furthered their work with asthma. They use a program called, “Open Airways for Schools”, which consists of an educational curriculum for children with asthma.
7. What kinds of technology and infrastructure do they rely on in the production of environmental health care?
The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview.
8. What social ecology does this person, group or organization work within, and how did it shaped their way of conceiving and engaging asthma?
The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
9. What events or data seem to have motivated their ways of thinking about and engaging environmental health?
The levels of people at risk with heart and lung conditions in NYC and its correlation with elevated levels of air pollution seems to have motivated their ways of thinking and engaging environmental health.
10. What funding enables their work and possibly shapes their way of thinking about environmental health?
The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
11. What in the history of this person, group or organization likely shaped the way they conceived or and engage environmental health?
9/11 is likely an attribute that has shaped the way the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene engages in environmental health. The aftermath of this event stressed the impact that air pollution can have on lung and heart diseases.
12. What does this person, group or organization seem to find methodologically challenging or concerning in dealing with environmental health?
The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
13. What kinds of governance are (implicitly or explicitly) called for in the way they think about environmental health?
The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
14. How can The Asthma Files enable or supplement this way of thinking about environmental health, and the work of this person, group or organization?
The Asthma Files can further investigate the program, “Open Airways for School” and the impact that it has on the children’s asthma education. It would also be interesting to see how many schools have actually adopted this program.
Reference
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Retrieved from http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/living/childcare-permit.shtml.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation
1. What person, group or organization is being profiled, and why are they of interest to this project?
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation is being profiled for their work with air quality monitoring.
2. What have they done – through research, or a public health program or education forum, for example-- that illustrates how they have worked to improve air pollution governance and environmental public health?
The DEC is continually measuring levels of pollutants in the air and collecting filter samples to send to the lab for analysis. They also solicit public comments whenever a New York State Implementation Plan (SIPs) is being proposed for revision; these SIPs actually account for pollution that contributes to visibility impairment.
The DEC also does work that promotes a sustainable future. For example they work to reduce CO2 emissions through market-based emissions trading, they work on greenhouse gas inventory and reduction, and also on growing New York’s clean energy economy.
3. What timeline of events illustrates how this way of addressing environmental public health has developed?
4. Does this person, group or organization claim to have a new or unique way of addressing environmental public health? Does this approach point to or suggest problems with other approaches?
5. What data have they collected or used to support their approach to environmental public health? What visualizations of this data have been created?
The DEC is continually measuring levels of pollutants in the air; they do so in more than 50 sites across the state. When ozone is at high levels that can be harmful to human health, the results are recorded in real time and put on the DEC’s website and broadcast media. The Real time direct reading measurements also include sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, PM2.5, and meteorological data. The filter samples are collected and sent to the lab for analysis.
6. What research has the organization produce or drawn on in their initiatives – in the last year, and over the last decade?
They have worked on the New York State Energy Plan, reducing greenhouse gas emission and improving climate resilience in order to make for climate smart communities, and they have also continued to monitor air quality.
7. What kinds of technology and infrastructure do they rely on in the production of environmental health care?
Thermo Electro Model 43C Pulsed Fluorescence is needed for Sulfur dioxide measurement, RFNA-0977-025 is needed for oxides of Nitrogen, RFCA-0981-054 for Carbon Monoxide, EQOA-0880-047 for Ozone, RFPS-0498-118 for PM2.5, and many other methods of instrumentation.
8. What social ecology does this person, group or organization work within, and how did it shaped their way of conceiving and engaging asthma?
9. What events or data seem to have motivated their ways of thinking about and engaging environmental health?
The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview.
10. What funding enables their work and possibly shapes their way of thinking about environmental health?
The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
11. What in the history of this person, group or organization likely shaped the way they conceived or and engage environmental health?
The threat to New York’s natural resources and environment, as well as the threat to the health and safety of people of the state, is likely to have shaped the way in which they conceive environmental health.
12. What does this person, group or organization seem to find methodologically challenging or concerning in dealing with environmental health?
The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
13. What kinds of governance are (implicitly or explicitly) called for in the way they think about environmental health?
The answering of this question would require further research, as well as a possible interview
14. How can The Asthma Files enable or supplement this way of thinking about environmental health, and the work of this person, group or organization?
The Asthma Files can enable this way of thinking by keeping the goal of environmental quality, public health, and social well-being in mind simultaneously, which is something that the DEC strives to achieve. The Asthma files can also look into the DEC’s Environmental Education Camps for kids ages 11-17, as well as the impact that the camp has on the health/environmental education of the children.
Reference
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved from http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8406.html.