Air Quality Research Center

Air Quality Research Center Director, Tony Wexler, spoke with Mark Kaufman of Mashable about the smoke and poor air quality in Sydney from the Australia fires. Sydney's pollution levels were more than 11 times the hazardous level. 

In his article, Sydney, engulfed in smoke, has a ghastly air quality problem, Kaufman shares:

Californians are on high-alert due to fast moving winds and wildfires. The recent wind has caused several Californian fires to spread quickly leading to evacuations. PG&E has been cutting power in various locations to prevent possible fires due to these high winds. With various subsidies and insurance coverages, home builders do not worry about possible climate change issues related to where they are building.

Tad Friend, in his piece on Impossible Foods, a startup that makes imitation meat in the hope of solving climate change, writes, “Every four pounds of beef you eat contributes to as much global warming as flying from New York to London” (“Value Meal,” September 30th). As a professor who studies the environmental impact of livestock production, I was surprised that Friend relied on such a high per-pound emissions rate for beef, since most estimates are much lower.

Director Tony Wexler was interviewed by Beond.tv recently about how climate change is causing an increased presence of wildfires in California and across the US. Watch the full interview that aired on KDOC here.