In recent decades, the way Americans buy things has undergone a radical transformation. E-commerce firms like Amazon have reshaped how people shop and how they receive their purchases, dotting the country with gigantic warehouses for the distribution of merchandise and bringing high volumes of truck traffic to nearby communities.
In a paper published Wednesday, researchers at George Washington University used satellite data to measure the air pollution associated with large warehouses — the first such nationwide study.
The researchers focused in part on nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, a traffic-related air pollutant that is regulated under the Clean Air Act and is linked to asthma and other respiratory diseases. The study, which was funded by NASA, cross-referenced the locations of 150,000 warehouses across the U.S. with satellite observations of NO2 and found that people who live near warehouses are exposed to an average of 20 percent more NO2 than those who don’t. It also found that warehouses are located disproportionately in Black, Hispanic, and Asian neighborhoods ... Read more
