Rochester to take part in climate research focusing on underserved areas
March 12, 2023
Rochester is among four cities in upstate New York that will take part in research investigating the health effects of climate change on underserved communities.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted $1.3 million to Philadelphia’s Drexel University to study how higher temperatures in some urban environments affect children across areas of New York state.
Brady Fergusson is the director of public engagement for the Climate Solutions Accelerator of the Genesee Finger Lakes Region, a nonprofit working toward a “more equitable and environmentally sustainable community” by addressing the effects of climate change.
He says an example of an injustice involving climate change in the Rochester area is that communities with the highest rates of asthma today were redlined 100 years ago.
“Redlining is illegal now,” he says. “Still, that legacy has carried over, and it coincides with climate change because there's that urban heat island effect.”
An urban heat island is an inner-city neighborhood that is much warmer than surrounding areas, due to more pavement and denser buildings.
“And we're going to see those increase and last longer, and have them be even hotter,” Fergusson says.
According to the EPA, the widespread health and environmental impacts of climate change can result in vulnerable communities — those regularly exposed to harmful pollutants — lacking the resources to manage environmental stressors.
They are therefore much more likely to endure long-term damage from the repercussions of climate change and exacerbate pre-existing health conditions.
As one example, Fergusson says that although the effects of climate change will be difficult for anyone with respiratory issues, it will be significantly worse for those in underserved communities.
“For people who live in those urban heat islands — where the temperature could be 15 to 20 degrees hotter than a place not that far away, a place where there's more trees, a place where there are not so many buildings, not so much vehicle traffic,” he says, “that could mean a big difference in what kind of health effect that has on somebody.”
Drexel’s award money is part of a much larger grant examining how climate change may compound adverse environmental conditions for at-risk communities. The university is one of 16 institutions receiving funds from the EPA, which recently announced the $21 million dollars in grant funding to support this project.
The research will use participatory approaches to embolden the targeted communities with, as the EPA puts it, “science-based, resilience-building solutions” that protect the most vulnerable.
“We can do something about climate change,” Fergusson says. “We can make a difference on this issue. It's not hopeless.”
To learn more about the efforts of Climate Change Accelerator, and to get involved, Fergusson will be giving a talk – in conjunction with the Rochester Area Vegan Society – at 7 p.m. March 19 at Brighton Town Park Lodge, 777 Westfall Road, following a plant-based potluck.