Prioritizing Smoke Hazards in Wildfire Policy

Wildfires have increased dramatically in recent years, in part due to climate change. While more than 90% of wildfire-attributable deaths are due to smoke, less than 1% of wildfire funding goes to mitigating smoke hazards, with most government funding spent on preventing and extinguishing flames. Policymakers are remaking wildfire policy right now, and Dr. Hayden’s team, including Dr. Corinna Noel and two MPH students, Farida Yusuf and Hannah Morris, are conducting research funded by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability to get government stakeholders the information needed to act.

The U.S. and Canada have seen unprecedented numbers and sizes of wildfires along with unforeseen reductions in outdoor air quality this year, and wildfires will only increase across North America in the coming years. For decades, policies focused on suppressing wildfires have also led to less healthy ecosystems, while creating more fuel for future fires. The team aims to save lives by generating evidence and recommendations that strengthen wildfire policy to include and prioritize smoke hazard mitigation.

Wildfire smoke is so harmful due in large part to tiny particulate matter called PM2.5—or “particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns.” When people breathe in PM2.5, the particles spread from the lungs into the bloodstream, contributing to multiple adverse side effects including worsened outcomes from respiratory infections, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, and low birth weight.

To link wildfire smoke exposure and mortality, the team is using epidemiologic methods to estimate excess deaths attributable to smoke during wildfires nationwide between 2006 and 2020. The study examines wildfire smoke-related health disparities using geospatial analysis. Prior research has estimated wildfire-smoke deaths for individual fires in isolated locations, not nationwide, or used health impact calculations derived for general air pollution, which is less toxic than wildfire smoke.

The project is engaged with communities across New York State, and a separate Atkinson Center grant is supporting work that will ensure all 62 New York counties have at least one air-quality sensor that reports to the official governmental Fire and Smoke Map.

Dr. Hayden’s team is also working with policy partners in Washington, D.C. and in Sacramento, California to accelerate the translation of research to action. Before joining Cornell Public Health in 2022, Dr. Hayden was Division Chief for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, where he led the California Earthquake Early Warning Program. He earned a PhD in Geology from the California Institute of Technology, and a Master of Arts in Earth Sciences from Boston University.

Climate Change and Malnutrition in Zimbabwe

Child malnutrition is likely exacerbated by climate change and related weather events, which increase food insecurity, change the nutrient content of foods, and decrease dietary diversity. In a project newly funded by the Wellcome Trust, Dr. Smith’s team aims to understand the effects of climate change on child malnutrition in Zimbabwe and generate community-driven climate change policy based on their findings. Creation of community and policy action that incorporates village, district, provincial, and national participation, with input from agricultural and health professionals, will inform Zimbabwe’s National Climate Response Strategy. By bringing together community knowledge and collective expertise on climate mapping, infant and young child nutrition, epidemiology, social science, and policy, Dr. Smith’s team will leverage ten years of historical data to generate evidence linking climate change to malnutrition and co-develop mitigation strategies with communities.

Socioecological Dimensions of Home Buyouts After Flooding

Climate change-driven flooding has led to an unprecedented need for home buyouts. Given historic problems with the national Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) buyout process, a team of researchers including Dr. Amelia Greiner Safi and led by Dr. Linda Shi assessed buyout programs in five states for the inclusion of social and ecological considerations, such as: helping impacted homeowners move, whether different facets of vulnerability were included in buyout decisions, and advancing land restoration goals post-buyout. The Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and The Nature Conservancy funded this research. The resulting publication includes recommendations for agencies working on buyouts across the U.S., and hopes to influence The Nature Conservancy’s North American adaptation strategy and to inform FEMA and state policies.

Written by Audrey Baker, adapted from text by Alistair Hayden, Laura Smith, & Amelia Greiner Safi