A Sociological Analysis of Air Pollution in Washington, DC

Addi Vander Velde

Air pollution within Washington, D.C., has significantly decreased within the past 20 years. While this is a positive change, the negative impact of pollution on the communities in Washington, D.C. remains. Air pollution can be deadly and often leads to harmful and life-altering diseases. Poor air quality commonly “irritate(s) the eyes, nose, and throat, causes shortness of breath, aggravates asthma and other respiratory conditions, and affects the heart and cardiovascular system” (Spare the Air). This analysis will explain why the impoverished communities with residents primarily belonging to demographic minority groups have been impacted the most by the poor air quality. Specifically, through looking at their population and pollution statistics, a conclusion will be made on the impact air pollution has on trapping families within the cycle of poverty and inequality.  

To understand the impact of poor air quality, this paper will examine the sociological roots of this issue, apply sociological analysis to the available data, and then propose policy solutions. The main area of interest will be Washington, D.C., as this city has received an F grade for ozone pollution from the American Lung Association (ALA) for the last four years (American Lung Association, 2022). Washington, D.C. is split up into eight Wards. Several Wards will be discussed to identify correlations between the air pollution levels and the number of minority residents in a given area. 

The issue of air quality is pressing enough to be researched by many organizations that collect comprehensive data, which will be used in the sociological analysis section of this paper. Sources used to assess the social problem of air pollution within the Washington, D.C. area include raw data from AGU, DC Policy Center, DC Health Matters, the Department of Energy and Environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the UN Environmental Programme. Along with these sources, peer review articles were used from DCist, GW Hatchet, wTop news, and EOS by AGU. 

Sociological Roots 

Air pollution was first documented around 400 BC, approximately 2,400 years ago, in Greece. Evidence of this can be found in the book Air, Water and Places, which highlights Hippocrates’ belief that multiple illnesses were related to the quality of the air (Fowler,  2020). However, it took nearly 2,328 years for the United States to investigate this relationship between air pollution and illness. Starting in 1948, Donora, Pennsylvania, was encompassed by a haze. Fourteen thousand residents experienced health complications from the haze, and nearly 40 people died. After the event, scientists began to research the impact of air quality on humans’ health, and in 1970, the United States Congress passed the Clean Air Act Amendments. The Clean Air Act sets the standard for the nation's air quality (US Environmental Protection Agency). 

Air pollution comes from four primary sources: mobile sources—cars, buses, planes, trucks, and trains, etc.—, stationary sources—power plants, oil refineries, industrial facilities, factories, etc.—,  area sources—agricultural areas, cities, wood-burning fireplaces, etc.—, and natural sources —wind-blown dust, wildfires, volcanoes, etc. (National Park Service, 2018). Over time, the air quality and pollution levels within the United States have gotten significantly worse. Within the past five years, the Environmental Protection Agency has seen an upward trend in the PM2.5— an air pollutant of fine particulate matter that causes health concerns. 

Poor air quality disproportionally affects certain communities within the country. In the United States, it is found that “poorer people and some racial and ethnic groups are among those who often face higher exposure to pollutants and who may experience greater responses to such pollution” (American Lung Association, 2020). This is apparent in the eight Wards of Washington, D.C., as the Wards with the highest African American populations are consistently reported to have the worst air quality. The District itself was and still is “highly segregated too:  DC ranks as the 22nd most segregated large city in the country” (Solomon, 2021). These segregated neighborhoods within the outer D.C. area have the highest death rates caused by air pollution-related diseases (Fenston, 2021). Within the diagram on the right, the dots represent the death rates attributed to air pollution-related diseases with the darker color representing how many residents die of air pollution-related diseases out of every 100,000 residents. The shaded color of each D.C. section represents the percentage of the area’s population that is African American, with red being the highest percentage—77 to 95 percent—and blue being the lowest percentage—5 to 23 percent. This diagram reveals that the D.C. areas with higher African American populations have the highest death rates caused by air pollution, with around 48 to 90 out of every 100,000 residents dying because of air pollution-related diseases. In comparison, the areas with the lowest African American populations—blue areas with 5 to 23 percent African American residents—have air pollution-caused death rates ranging between 17 and 48 per 100,000 residents. 

With support from the American Geophysical Union (AGU), researcher Maria Castillo studied 51 neighborhoods within Washington, D.C. and found that, “the 10 with the highest PM 2.5-related health risks had 10% lower education and employment rates, 10% more people living in poverty, and $61,000 lower median household incomes compared with their less at-risk counterparts” (Castillo, 2021). This study also found that the ten most impacted neighborhoods had 54 percent more Black residents than the rest of the study (Castillo, 2021).  Within the eight Wards of Washington, D.C., Wards five, seven, and eight are the most impacted. In Ward 5, 54.53 percent of residents are Black/African American. This number is even higher in Ward 7, where 91.49 percent of the population is Black/African American. A similar number is seen in Ward 8, where 91.61 percent of the population is Black/African American. Poor air quality is a compounding factor within the three Wards. With such high levels of air pollution, there is a decrease in life expectancies by around ten years, along with multiple costly healthcare needs that do not have a lasting solution when the effects cannot escape the pollution level.  

Sociological Analysis

Worldwide seven million people die each year due to the health implications of air pollution. In 1970, the United States Congress passed the Clean Air Act; however, polluted air remains one of today's most prominent environmental health risks (UN Environment Programme, 2020). Recent fires within the United States, specifically in the western United States, have been a driving factor in the failure to achieve cleaner air within the United States. In D.C., around half of all air pollutants come from mobile sources within the District, such as cars, trucks, trains, and planes. The other half is from factories, power plants, and other industrial facilities that are often blown in from nearby states. This has led to a thick layer of smog hanging in the air, which causes the poor air quality scores that have been reported for the DMV area.

An example of this data comes from the American Lung Association, which gave the District an F due to the persistence of the smog. Smog comes “when chemicals in the atmosphere react with heat and sunlight. The chemicals which undergo these reactions are known as ‘ozone precursors,’ including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), methane, and nitrogen oxides (NOx)” (Rauch, 2018). The impact of high levels of smog within a community is severe. According to Leyla McCurdy, a senior director at the National Environmental Education Foundation, high ozone levels negatively affect our health, specifically our lungs (Naia, 2014). McCurdy says, “this is because ozone is not very water-soluble, and this acts as an irritant to lung tissue when inhaled” (Naia, 2014). In the diagram on the left, it is shown that the outer D.C. neighborhoods are disproportionately impacted in comparison to the rest of the city. Although D.C. officials have successfully stopped the pollution from growing exponentially in the past ten years, the smog and poor air quality persists, especially in outer D.C. The air pollution level within Washington, D.C. is currently at a level of 40, which is classified as good, but the PM2.5 concentration is still 1.9 times above the World Health Organization’s (WHO) air quality guideline (IQAir, 2022). 

The groups impacted the most by the air quality are the minority and low-income communities within D.C., specifically the African American community. In a study done by NASA Earth Observatory, “Asthma-related emergency room visits were 30 times higher in Southeast than in Northwest (DC)”. The area “Southeast D.C.” includes half of Ward 8 and half of Ward 7, both of which have populations that are at least 90 percent African American (NASA Earth Observatory, 2021)

Racial residential segregation, which has remained a phenomenon within the older and larger cities in the northeast and midwest of the United States, can be seen within the DMV area. This causes the African American population to be disproportionately affected compared to the whiter wards within Northwest D.C., such as Ward 2—which has a 69.52 percent white population—and Ward 3—which has an 81.41 percent white population (DC Health Matters, 2022).  

Within these primarily African American communities, the younger population is most at risk of facing life-threatening air pollution complications. Children are most at risk because they are still growing and developing, and exposure to high or constant levels of air pollution can cause lifelong health problems. According to the UN Environmental Programme, “exposure to air pollution at a young age can hinder lung growth, inhibit brain development and increase the risk of conditions such as asthma.” (UN Environmental Programme, 2020). Along with causing physical and mental burdens to children through the potential development of diseases such as asthma, air pollution also causes a financial burden to their parents. In Southeast Washington, D.C., the median household income is about $86,790 per year compared to Northeast Washington, D.C.'s median household income of $109,443 per year with an annual average income of $175,311 per year (Point2Home, 2019). Having a child with asthma puts the parents within Southeast Washington DC—an area that is already poorer— into debt or further into debt. In a study done by J Urban Health researcher Minal Patel, it was found that parents of children with asthma face severe financial burdens, as the child is more likely to need a trip to the ER, end up in the hospital or the ICU, or miss school due to asthma-related issues. Having a child with asthma puts the minority community within Washington D.C. at a distinct disadvantage compared to their white and wealthier counterparts. This disadvantage would not be possible within the poor air quality around their residential space. The only way to resolve this disadvantage would be to improve the air quality within Southeast D.C..

Policy Solutions

In 1970 the United States Congress passed the Clean Air Act, which has been responsible for preventing 230,000 premature deaths by the year 2020. In addition, the Act has significantly reduced the risk and frequency of respiratory diseases such as chronic bronchitis and asthma exacerbation. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, “the US $65 billion worth of costs associated with implementing the Act’s measures has been more than paid for through reduced medical bills and increased worker productivity. In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates almost $2 trillion in benefits” have been saved (UN Environmental Program, 2020). 

In Washington, D.C., the number of residents killed by air pollution-related diseases has decreased significantly following the passage of the clean air laws in 2000. The fine particle pollution within the District has been reduced by approximately 50 percent, and the death rates related to air pollution have also gone down. This is a big step in the right direction to achieving cleaner air within the community. However, when researchers studied hospital records for air pollution-related diseases, improvements did not occur evenly throughout the city. (Hopkins, 2021). The lower-income and African American communities in Wards five, seven, and eight continue to face unhealthy air, putting them at a critical physical and socioeconomic disadvantage. In a study about how Air Pollutions Plagues D.C. Residents of Color, Paige Hopkins says, “Other factors such as access to healthy food and health care, smoking, and chronic stress compute air pollution issues and related diseases.” This means that the residents within the impacted communities face a lower quality of living due to the air pollution around their homes. This claim is backed up by  Maria Castillo, a research associate at George Washington University, as she agrees that “there is a large and growing body of evidence that makes clear that air pollution hits disadvantaged communities harder because people in these communities are more likely to breathe polluted air and because baseline health disparities make exposure to pollution especially harmful” (Castillo, 2021). To create an equal playing field across Washington, D.C., city officials need to find a way to combat air pollution in ways that will proportionately benefit everyone. 

In looking at ways to correct the air pollution issues within the community, officials should look for specific aspects of the community that contribute to the extreme level of air pollution and work to find greener solutions. Jim Dougherty, a member of the board of directors at the Sierra Clubs, says an example of this is coal-burning power plants. Dougherty adds that the community leaders should also rethink transportation (Naia, 2014). Over the past 12 years, the District has improved on promoting pedestrian options and biking, but Dougherty believes that the real solution is a more widespread alternative to cars (Naia, 2014). Dougherty thinks this can be done if the community “eliminates free parking and gets (people) onto buses and Metro” (Naia, 2014). Due to COVID, the metro and bus systems within the DMV area have been working on reduced hours and reduced train cars and buses, so one way to curb pollution is to encourage the community back onto the buses and metro. 

Because children are more at risk of the lifelong impact of air pollution, one way for the city to help prevent further damage is to create safe spaces within the city for children to walk to school or play at a park with lower traffic levels. Decreasing the traffic in areas highly-concentrated with children would result in lower exposure to harmful toxins from vehicles' exhaust pipes. A study done by the UN Environment Programme found “that compared with adults, children walking on busy roads may be exposed to up to a third more air pollution” (UN Environment Programme, 2020) By creating these areas with cleaner air, children who walk to or from school, go to the park, or play outside their house would be less exposed to air pollution and have a lower chance of contracting life-altering health complications. 

 To close the barrier between the communities within the District, city officials would need to carry out the green policy throughout the whole city, not just in the whiter and wealthier neighborhoods. Along with this, D.C. officials would need to find a way to further reduce pollution throughout the area to achieve the designated safe levels of fine particulate matter in the air. 

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