Calculating Air Pollution’s Death Toll, Across State Lines

February 14, 2020

Michael Brauer, a 2017 Wall Scholar, was quoted by the New York Times about the findings of a new study concerning air pollution crossing state lines in the United States. The recent study out of the United States demonstrated the borderlessness of air pollution. It found that in most states, about half of the premature deaths caused by poor air quality are linked to pollutants that blow in from other states. Brauer, who was not part of the US study, commented on the importance of effective legislation in decreasing pollution from larger sources like power plants, and the work that needs to be done to reduce pollution from smaller sources like commercial buildings and homes.

While at the Peter Wall Institute, Brauer focused on developing an improved understanding of health relationships between urban form and urban services as well as the potential to derive future health co-benefits related to urban design.