Developing Youth Environmental Health Literacy and Civic Leadership through Community Air Monitoring in Imperial County, California

Madrigal, Daniel; Claustro, Mariana; Wong, Michelle; Bejarano, Esther; Olmedo, Luis José Imedio; English, Paul

doi:10.3390/ijerph17051537

Cited by 14 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Civic science contexts can help promote environmental health literacy among youths and create connections with environmental research and community action [ 39 ]. Both formal and informal environmental education makes meaningful participation in civic science possible [ 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Environmental Justice in Civic Science: Youth Performance and Experience Measuring Air Pollution Using Moss as a Bio-Indicator in Industrial-Adjacent Neighborhoods

Derrien

Zuidema

Jovan

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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This article reports on an interdisciplinary evaluation of the pilot phase of a community-driven civic science project. The project investigates the distribution of heavy metals in air pollution using moss growing on street trees as a bio-indicator in two industrial-adjacent neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington (USA). One goal of the ongoing project is to meaningfully engage local urban youths (eighth to twelfth grade) in the scientific process as civic scientists, and teach them about environmental health, environmental justice, and urban forestry concepts in a place-based, urban-oriented environmental research project. We describe the collaborative context in which our project developed, evaluate the quality of youth-collected data through analysis of replicate samples, and assess participants’ learning, career interests, and overall appraisal of the pilot. Our results indicate that youth scientists collected usable samples (with acceptable precision among repeated samples), learned project content (with statistically significant increases in scores of test-style survey questions; p = 0.002), and appraised their engagement favorably (with 69% of participants reporting they liked the project). We observed few changes in career interests, however. We discuss our intention to use these preliminary insights to further our community-driven education, research, and action model to address environmental injustices.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Environmental Justice in Civic Science: Youth Performance and Experience Measuring Air Pollution Using Moss as a Bio-Indicator in Industrial-Adjacent Neighborhoods

Derrien

Zuidema

Jovan

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…Previous work has shown that taking a community-based approach to air monitoring in this project increases local environmental health literacy, and provides direct benefits to community partners, such as engaging youth, and increased capacity and knowledge about air quality, data interpretation, and health impacts [36,37]. CCV led an extensive campaign to publicize the Network, presenting information during community events, meetings with school and other local officials, and interviews with news media.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of a Low-Cost Sensor Community Air Monitoring Network in Imperial County, CA

English

Amato

Bejarano

et al. 2020

Sensors

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Air monitoring networks developed by communities have potential to reduce exposures and affect environmental health policy, yet there have been few performance evaluations of networks of these sensors in the field. We developed a network of over 40 air sensors in Imperial County, CA, which is delivering real-time data to local communities on levels of particulate matter. We report here on the performance of the Network to date by comparing the low-cost sensor readings to regulatory monitors for 4 years of operation (2015–2018) on a network-wide basis. Annual mean levels of PM10 did not differ statistically from regulatory annual means, but did for PM2.5 for two out of the 4 years. R2s from ordinary least square regression results ranged from 0.16 to 0.67 for PM10, and increased each year of operation. Sensor variability was higher among the Network monitors than the regulatory monitors. The Network identified a larger number of pollution episodes and identified under-reporting by the regulatory monitors. The participatory approach of the project resulted in increased engagement from local and state agencies and increased local knowledge about air quality, data interpretation, and health impacts. Community air monitoring networks have the potential to provide real-time reliable data to local populations.

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“…Community gardens can also contribute to citizenship through gaining CK about the natural environment and learning skills in cultivating food (Bradley et al, 1999;Broaddus et al, 2015;Delia & Krasny, 2018;Dutta & Chandrasekharan, 2017;Horst et al, 2017;Madrigal et al, 2020). Numerous studies have shown the positive effects gardens have on connecting students to the land and helping students understand the importance of food systems and pro environmental attitudes.…”

Section: Community Gardens' Effect On Content Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Growing Seeds, Minds, and Community: A Case Study Evaluation of the Green Thumb Project’s Youth Internship Program

Burner

Veal

2022

INTERDISCIP J ENV SCI ED

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Urban community gardens are often home to a variety of environmental education programs. One such program centered in a community garden is the Youth Internship Program created by The Green Thumb Project. Through mixed methods techniques and a case study approach, the Youth Internship Program's immediate outcomes were evaluated by assessing 12 participants' changes in career preparedness skills, healthy living attitudes, and content knowledge after participating in the eight-week long curriculum. Outcomes were assessed through the lens of situated learning theory and its relation to place-based environmental education. Through analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data, results indicated that the Youth Internship Program was effective in positively changing all interns' skills, attitudes, and knowledge. Linear regressions showed that skills, attitudes, and knowledge had significant positive relationships with one another. This finding indicated that the themes were interconnected and that learning gains in one area helped interns experience gains in another area. Overall, the data demonstrated that the program was effective in helping interns grow personally, professionally, and academically.

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Developing Youth Environmental Health Literacy and Civic Leadership through Community Air Monitoring in Imperial County, California

Cited by 14 publications

References 15 publications

Toward Environmental Justice in Civic Science: Youth Performance and Experience Measuring Air Pollution Using Moss as a Bio-Indicator in Industrial-Adjacent Neighborhoods

Toward Environmental Justice in Civic Science: Youth Performance and Experience Measuring Air Pollution Using Moss as a Bio-Indicator in Industrial-Adjacent Neighborhoods

Performance of a Low-Cost Sensor Community Air Monitoring Network in Imperial County, CA

Growing Seeds, Minds, and Community: A Case Study Evaluation of the Green Thumb Project’s Youth Internship Program

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