Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
(N/A)
ANN ARBOR,MI 48109
Performing Department
Landscape Architecture
Non Technical Summary
Children's health and well-being are a top priority in America. Our current research funded by the Kresge Foundation suggests that air toxic risks are negatively linked to children's well-being, particularly minority children living in poor neighborhoods. Other research shows that trees can remove air toxics. What we don't know is whether trees influence the relationship between air toxic risks and children's health. This proposal describes a carefully controlled scientific study designed to show that urban forests help address one of the most important public health concerns of our time: air toxic risks and children's health.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Children are vulnerable to air pollution: Their lung function has not been fully developed and their airways are narrower than those of adults. Children who are racially and socioeconomically disadvantaged may face even greater risks of air toxics. America spends an estimated 3.2 billion dollars annually on childhood asthma alone. Even a one (1) percent reduction due to influences of urban forests would lead to significant health cost savings and healthier children. The objectives of this project are: 1. To document the relationship among children's health, air toxic risks and urban forests 2. To determine if urban forests mediate (or moderate) the relationship between air toxic risks and children's health 3. To determine whether the burdens are greatest for poor minority children This project addresses the intent of the 2009 Challenge Cost-Share Grant Program. It seeks to document and widely communicate the links that community forests have with children's environmental health. Ultimately, we would like to report to the general public, Congress, and national organizations (such State Foresters, Local Government Commission, Environmental Action Council, etc.) that children who live near healthy urban forests are significantly less likely to suffer from poor environmental health. 1. National Impacts- Children's health and well-being are of national concern. The US Department of Health and Human Services (Healthy People 2010) is focused on eliminating environmental health disparities among children. In 2006, 6.8 million children were diagnosed with asthma and 2.5 million missed eleven or more days of school due to illness or injury (CDC, 2007). Minority children and those in the lowest income families were more likely to be diagnosed with asthma and twice as likely to have absences from school. It is important document all evidence showing links between urban forests and childhood environmental health problems. 2. Nontraditional Groups: Children's environmental health (e.g., effects of air toxics on children's health) is an under-studied area in urban forest research. Children are also an underrepresented group in air toxics research but they are perhaps the most vulnerable to these risks. Increasing urban forest research in this environmentally vulnerable population is both timely and critical for protecting children's health and well-being. 3. Enormous economic significance: Total healthcare costs for children between the ages of 0-18 exceeded $200 billion (US Health and Human Services, 2004). The average spending for healthcare in children was $2,650. Healthcare costs associated with children's environmental health may be reduced significantly by providing healthy and well managed urban forests in their neighborhoods. These costs can include diagnostic, and treatment services by physicians as well as hospital stays and prescription medicine.
Project Methods
We will conduct this study with nationally available data such as Nation Survey of Children's Health (CDC-NCHS, 2003-2007), Risk Screening Environmental Indicators Geographic Microdata (EPA, 1988-2005), US Census Data (2000), and 2005 National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) Digital Ortho Photo Images. We will merge these data at the zip code level (spatial unit of analysis available in the National Survey of Children's Health). Data We currently possess three datasets needed to conduct this study as described in detail below. Only the National Survey of Children's Health data needs to be acquired. Urban Forest To measure the urban forest, we will classify land cover from the 2005 National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) Digital Ortho Photo Images that cover the study area. Forest canopy derived from these photos will be used to determine the total amount (percent) of forest canopy within each zip code (spatial unit of analysis available in the National Survey of Children's Health). Existing 2005 aerial photos are three-band, natural color digital orthoimages at 1-meter resolution acquired during the growing season of 2005 (June - August). Air Pollution: EPA's Risk Screening Environmental Indicators Geographic Microdata The air toxics risk data were generated by the EPA from toxic air emissions generated by polluting industrial facilities tracked in EPA's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) database. In any given year there are close to 25,000 industrial facilities reporting emissions information to the EPA. For each year from 1988 to 2005, the EPA has used these data to model dispersion and fall out patterns of some 650 toxic chemicals from these facilities, taking into account the types, relative toxicities, timing and volume of releases, wind directions at time of release, stack heights and other factors. For each one-kilometer square in the U.S., a toxicity risk score has been estimated based on the modeling. These risk scores can be separated by type of chemical and source of the release and recombined in order to determine the degree of risk generated by individual chemicals, facilities and/or industries. For our research we intend to examine the geographic distribution of these risks for urban areas in the State of Michigan. Census Data We will use US Census 2000 data to examine the racial and socioeconomic composition of the study areas. Children's Health We will use National Survey of Children's Health to access children's well-being. The survey was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The data was collected in 2003 and 2007 with a sample size of more than 100,000 each year. The survey examines the physical and emotional health of children 1-17 years of age. The survey includes questions related to child and family demographics, children's physical and mental health status, medical homes, access and use of health care services, family interactions, parental health, school and after school performances, and neighborhood and community characteristics.