Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Tales...Story 6: The Urban Heat Island and Human Health

Narration: Each morning at work Dr. Terri TenHoor checks an Atlanta web site to see how bad pollution levels will be for the day. TenHoor is a pulmonary and critical care physician with North Side Hospital in Atlanta.

DR. TENHOOR: ‘Okay so I go here to Allergy Central . . .”

Narration: TenHoor's daily check on the internet is to see how bad the pollutants are for that day. They could be particulate matter or man made ozone - a primary component of smog. Both are what scientists classify as respiratory irritants.

DR. TENHOOR: The very typical presentation I see a lot is someone comes to me and says that ‘I have a cold’ and ‘I’ve had it for three months or two months’. And I explain tell them you haven’t had a cold. And I tell them lets look for some other things going on - and a lot of time I find reactive airways diseases underlying it.

Narration: For years NASA has been studying Atlanta and measuring the effects of their urban heat island - a formation of hot air found over many cities. The NASA scientist in charge of the project is Dale Quattrochi (Qua-TRO-key). And he points to a mixture of air quality problems as a result of this urban heat island.

DALE QUATTROCHI: Ground level ozone though is a very serious environmental health hazard. It impacts the respiratory system. Heat is one of the constituents that helps to form ozone. And if there is more heat coming up from the city then the overall effect of ozone is enhanced.

Narration: If a city lowers its temperature - less ozone is produced – and there are other benefits. Dave Nowak (No-wack) is a project leader with the US Forest Service. He’s been studying the effects of urban forests on a variety of issues like air quality, water quality and how it affects human health.

DAVE NOWAK: Trees absorb 96% percent of UV radiation; therefore they impact levels of UV Radiation hitting residents in cities. If by changing air temp they change human comfort…by having physical structures out there in gas exchange they affect air quality, building energy use…the whole host of factors that effect human health.

SFX: Phone dial tone, ringing.

DR. TENHOOR: Talking on speaker phone, ‘can you find Peggy Mattson’s chart please’.

Narration: Peggy Mattson has a problem with her right lung that keeps her from taking a full intake of air when she breaths. Her condition is aggravated by metro Atlanta’s pollution levels.

PEGGY MATTSON: I wouldn’t sleep well during the night because I couldn’t breathe, tired, no energy, short of breath, wanting to play you’re your kids and not being able to. Doing every day things was a chore.

Narration: Studies across the US show an association linking urban air pollution to cardiac and respiratory ailments. Page Tolbert, is a researcher at the Rollins school of Public Health in Atlanta. She’s looked at these national studies and says the same holds true for Atlanta.

PAGE TOLBERT: And even though not dramatic, in general those impacts are really important, when you step back and look at an entire city then you really are talking about a major public health problem.

Narration: So it appears that replacing trees and green spaces with concrete and asphalt could seem like progress, but the tradeoff is that it could lead to a population with health problems. Perhaps not immediately, but eventually. For Soundprint, I’m David Barasoain.