Advancing Community Resilience to Cumulative Climate Impacts (ACRES)

Managing increased risks of climate-exacerbated chemical exposures

 

Photo credit: Michael Fager

Preventing Climate-Driven Chemical Exposures

In November 2022, the Mystic River Watershed Association and Boston University School of Public Health researchers were awarded a grant by the Environmental Protection Agency to understand health impacts from multiple climate stressors in the Mystic watershed.

Photo credit: BU School of Public Health

Part 1: Community Engagement

Following the essential steps of health impact assessment (HIA), we are partnering with municipal staff, community-based organizations, and other local residents and workers to understand and prioritize local concerns and potential solutions to decrease their cumulative exposure to chemical and non-chemical stressors as climate change worsens.

Photo credit: Mariangelí Echevarría-Ramos

Part 2: Hazards Mapping

We are developing a high-resolution, solutions-oriented, watershed-wide model of cumulative climate hazards (especially heat, inland flooding, and coastal flooding). By leveraging map-based data on chemical exposures and health impacts, we will identify and characterize neighborhoods and subpopulations at high risk from increased climate-related chemical exposure.

Credit: Boston University Research Team

Part 3: Health Impact Assessment

Finally, we will combine high-resolution exposure data with outputs from multi-stressor epidemiologic analyses that will combine Medicare and Medicaid data with place-based exposure data. This analysis will allow us to quantify the health risks from multiple chemical exposures and understand relative health benefits of community-generated solutions.

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Links to Project Materials