Citizen Science: Air Quality Near Schools
Can journalists be citizen scientists? That was the heart of the piece we did about the emission of toxins close to schools. USA Today reporter Blake Morrison compiled existing information from the US Environmental Protection Agency and made correlations between school proximities and the sources of pollution. The story resonated with many people in the Bay Area because Morrison ranked a number of schools in the top percentile for pollution exposure, specifically schools in west Berkeley. (Youth Radio, our partner for this story, covered pollution in west Berkeley in April 2006). The news struck a chord for me because my best friend teaches at one of those schools– in fact, she brought the story to my attention.
While there are definite personal connections to the story, I appreciate the fact that a non-professional “citizen scientist” was the person who helped synthesize this picture of schools in danger from air pollution. While Morrison did his own testing in conjunction with university researchers, he made the correlations himself, and he worked with fellow reporters to spot-check toxin levels.
A subsequent story in the San Francisco Chronicle questioned the validity of Morrison’s research. Elisabeth Jewel, spokesperson for Pacific Steel Castings, “dismissed outright any findings reached through community testing efforts as amateurish. ‘It’s frustrating from our perspective because there is no basis in science whatsoever,’ she said.” It comes as no surprise that a potentially culpable company’s spokesperson would call into question charges of being a polluter, but to attempt to nullify any work a “citizen scientist” does to understand and investigate the world around them (and in this case, one based on a science agency’s findings!) strikes me as dangerous.
Science is not an exclusive discipline that few can participate in, and the “Science in Action” team thought this story captured the idea that anyone can be a part of and inform the processes of science.
-Eric
A look at the connection between science and art offered by scientist Rich Mooi and artist Tiffany Bozic. (90 sec)
