Originally published in our March 2024 newsletter (Issue 23)
Matt is studying the health and equity implications of adaptation to air pollution. He is a Ph.D. Candidate working with Associate Professor Rebecca Saari in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Matt previously completed his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his master’s degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Western Ontario. Matt previously worked in engineering consulting, where he specialized in structural restoration and building performance improvements.
Matt’s doctoral research focuses on reducing the public health burden of air pollution by limiting people’s exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5). He combines his knowledge of atmospheric and building sciences to explore PM2.5 exposures. He investigates individual decision-making strategies to assess when, and how effectively, people might change their behavior to reduce their air pollution exposure. He also investigates large-scale strategies to reduce ambient PM2.5 exposure, such as mitigating climate change and improving building quality.
In their recent paper, “Health and Equity Implications of Individual Adaptation to Air Pollution in a Changing Climate”, Matt and his colleagues modeled the frequency of air quality alerts in the United States under potential future climate change scenarios using an integrated economic, earth system, and air quality model. To do so, they defined the metric “air quality alert days per year” (ADY) as the number of local days with an AQI value over 100 driven by PM2.5. Matt and his team found that nationally, the population-weighted average ADY per year increase substantially in the absence of climate change mitigation policy. They found that these increases in ADY were highest in the Eastern half of the country, with varying effects on different demographic groups.
After calculating these increases in ADY, Matt and his collaborators looked at how individuals could adapt to reduce their risk of adverse health effects from PM2.5. To do so, they modeled behavior with four decision-making strategies and calculated the costs and protective health benefits associated with each one. Matt and his collaborators then looked at how climate change mitigation policy would affect ADY and adaptation effectiveness. They found that a mitigation policy that meets the Paris targets would reduce ADY and people’s adaptation costs while also protecting those who are unable to adapt. They summarized that equitably protecting human health from air pollution under climate change requires both mitigation and adaptation promotion.
Matt’s current research takes a closer look at how people and air pollution interact. He is investigating how people’s exposure to ambient PM2.5 is affected by their behavior and circumstances, and how this can inform protective interventions. This aligns with Matt’s goal as a researcher, which is to protect people’s health from air pollution through both societal and individual-level changes.
Highlighted Article:
Sparks, Matt S., et al. “Health and equity implications of individual adaptation to air pollution in a changing climate.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121.5 (2024): e2215685121.