Air quality disparities mapper: An open-source web application for environmental justice
A team of researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has developed an innovative web-based tool that provides accessible insights into disparities in exposure to fine particulate airborne matter, known as PM2.5.
PM2.5 has long been recognized as a significant health concern, with strong links to increased mortality and morbidity. It often disproportionately affects minority and low-income communities.
While existing research has illuminated these disparities, it has largely focused on describing and explaining them. What has been missing is a comprehensive assessment of exposure disparities to the main components of PM2.5 and a means of communicating these disparities in a way that is easily digestible for the general public. Further, PM2.5 composition is location-specific and reduction plans need to account for which emitting sectors are of highest priority in each area.