Diesel Health Project: Diesel Health Project Team learns to use a particle counter!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Diesel Health Project Team learns to use a particle counter!

Thanks to Kevin Kennedy, director of the Children's Mercy Hospital Center for Environmental Health, several members of our team, including Leticia Decaigny of the Argentine Betterment Corporation and Global Community Monitor, a bunch of very talented KU students, and I got our first lesson in using particle counters.

This very educational and fun session was hosted by Chris Brown of the University of Kansas Environmental Studies Program on the KU campus, and attended by two very dedicated Federal employees from the Region 7 offices of the Environmental Protection Program.

With gratitude to everyone who braved frigid temperatures and helped make this happen!

We'll schedule a follow-on training session soon.

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About the Diesel Health Project

Goal

The goal of the Diesel Health Project is to protect the health of the community by identifying and documenting environmental and health problems caused by Goods Movement in the Kansas City region, particularly Diesel Exhaust and other pollutants emitted by freight transportation, warehousing, and related activities, and taking action to ensure that the problems are mitigated as early and effectively as possible.

Objectives

To accomplish that goal, our objectives are:

Educate the public, including community, business, and religious leaders, concerning the environmental and health hazards of Diesel Exhaust Particulate Matter and other pollutants, and how they can be mitigated.

Build a coalition of public health, environmental, and other organizations that can share information and combine resources to protect the public from these negative environmental and health hazards,

Advocate for and take other actions to encourage the mitigation of health risks posed by existing and planned freight transportation and warehousing projects in order to protect the public

Enable and empower community members to protect themselves and their families by involving them in Diesel Health Project activities, and helping them obtain the knowledge, skills, and abilities to protect their families.

Identify and document environmental and health problems, by taking the following actions, focusing on the most vulnerable communities and populations:

Monitor Diesel Exhaust Particulate Matter and other air pollution in “at risk” communities, report findings to polluting entities and regulatory agencies, and take action as appropriate to encourage or compel mitigation, and minimize environmental damage and harm to the health of community members.

Working with the community, through surveys or other means, identify, measure, and communicate adverse health effects caused by Diesel Exhaust air pollution.

Document and share findings from the work described above, as well as pertinent environmental, demographic, health, and environmental justice characteristics of the affected communities.

Priorities

Our priorities will be adjusted over time as circumstances require.

Our initial work will be in Kansas City, Edgerton, and Gardner Kansas, with a focus on the "fenceline" communities adjacent to the Fairfax industrial district; the current railroad, trucking, and warehouse facilities in Kansas City; and current and planned railroad, trucking, and warehouse facilities in Edgerton and nearby communities.

Diesel Health News - by the Diesel Health Project

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Diesel Health Project Team learns to use a particle counter!

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