News

The Center for the Environment Sciences and Humanities at Bard College is pleased to announce the findings of the Kingston Air Quality Initiative (KAQI) after four consecutive years of research and data collection.

KAQI began in January 2020 as a partnership between Bard’s Community Sciences Lab and the City of Kingston Conservation Advisory Council’s Air Quality Subcommittee. Since then, Kingston residents and Bard College students, staff, and faculty have facilitated both indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring projects throughout the Hudson Valley. The first air quality study of its kind in Kingston, KAQI’s monitoring efforts focus on a regional assessment of air pollution as measured from the rooftop of the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center on Broadway in Kingston.

“As a compact urban city, with a large percentage of our community living in either disadvantaged communities designated areas and/or potential environmental justice areas, we are acutely aware of the localized impacts of air pollution on our community members and quality of life,”said Julie L. Noble, sustainability coordinator for the city of Kingston. “The partnership we have had with Bard has been tremendously positive for us, providing sound, local data that we have been able to share, in real time, with our residents, to help them stay safe, plan accordingly, and make better choices for their own health and for the health of our environment.”

Additionally, Bard’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities, through the Community Sciences Lab, is excited to announce that the success of KAQI has led to an expansion of air quality initiatives in the Hudson Valley, including the recent establishment of a second regional air quality station in partnership with the Poughkeepsie Library, as well as plans to install a third station in Newburgh in partnership with Mount Saint Mary College. A collaborative ever-expanding network of hyper-local air quality monitors, called Purple Airs, between Bard College, SUNY-Albany, and the EPA will also yield further research results, and libraries across the Hudson Valley are encouraged to join the growing Hudson Valley Library Air Quality Network. These neighborhood-scale monitors will allow the Community Sciences Lab to more accurately assess air pollution and its effects on people on a neighborhood level.

KAQI’s main monitoring efforts focus on a regional assessment of air pollution from fine particulate matter (PM2.5), made up of microscopic particles from burnt fuel that are released into the air from oil burners, gas burners, automobiles, cooking, grilling, and both indoor and outdoor wood burning. PM2.5 particles are so tiny, they stay suspended in the air for long periods of time, allowing them to travel long distances before depositing. When these particles are inhaled, they can enter the bloodstream through the lungs, creating or worsening health issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that “small particulate pollution has health impacts even at very low concentrations – indeed no threshold has been identified below which no damage to health is observed.”

After four years of comprehensive monitoring in Kingston, we continue to uncover valuable insights into our air quality and its connection to our daily activities and decisions as citizens. 2023 stands out from the past four years—after three years of decreasing daily average levels of pm2.5 from 2020-2022, we saw an increase in 2023 (figure 1). Annual mean pm2.5 was higher in 2023 than the three other years currently on record. Some of this increase is directly attributable to the wildfire smoke we experienced from Canada in June 2023, which may be a new reality for the Hudson Valley as fires continue to ravage Canadian forests.

One consistent observation over the past four years is the seasonal trend of higher particulate concentration in the winter and summer months, likely attributable to wood and fuel used for heating and recreation. Despite improvements in vehicular and industrial emissions, we are overall seeing consistently higher pollution levels. This trend underscores the ongoing need for more aggressive sustainable heating practices and transportation solutions to combat air pollution in Kingston.


Another critical factor and ongoing research subject is atmospheric inversions and their implications for ground-level air pollution in Kingston. These events occur when the temperature of the atmosphere increases with altitude and surface level air parcels are unable to rise up, trapping air pollution at ground level. Given Kingston's location in the Hudson Valley, where air circulation is restricted, awareness of these events is crucial for informed decision-making to mitigate air pollution. To assist with this, KAQI has developed a new inversion dashboard tool, providing real-time updates every 12 hours on potential atmospheric inversion days, which may be accessed at: https://cesh.shinyapps.io/New-York-Daily-Inversions/

This tool empowers individuals to assess how their actions, such as wood burning or car usage, may impact ground-level air pollution on any given day, allowing residents to proactively choose cleaner alternatives during inversion events and contribute to improved air quality in Kingston.

As we continue to research the complexities of air quality management, it's essential for Kingston residents to stay informed and engaged. By adopting sustainable practices, supporting clean energy initiatives, and advocating for policies that prioritize air quality, we can work together to create a healthier environment for all.

More details about KAQI’s findings can be found at the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities website: https://cesh.bard.edu/kingston-air-quality-initiative-kaqi/

"I have personally suffered, and know other members who suffer, the negative health effects of woodsmoke pollution in their own neighborhoods in Kingston,” said Lorraine Farina, founding member of the Hudson Valley Air Quality Coalition. “Respiratory and cardiac effects are not limited to times when there are Canadian wildfires in our area. The concept of "home" equates to safety and security for most people, but when people cannot protect themselves from woodsmoke invading their homes, there is a feeling of defenselessness. While we have no control over woodsmoke pollution (and the attendant PM 2.5) coming from afar, we have the power to enact and enforce policies that address locally-produced woodsmoke pollution to protect our health."

“This unprecedented partnership with the city of Kingston is a model for Hudson Valley cities building resiliency in the face of climate change,” said Eli Dueker, associate professor of environmental studies and biology, and director of the Bard Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities. “By monitoring our own air quality, we, as a community, can together make decisions about the air we breathe. As last year’s Canadian wildfire smoke reminded us, we cannot take clean air for granted. The air we breathe relates directly to our health, and it is important that we as a community ensure that everyone has access to clean, healthy air. Each of us can contribute to this effort, by making decisions about what we contribute to the air, including respecting city laws related to outdoor woodburning in city limits, decreasing indoor woodburning (particularly during inversion events), biking and walking more, and participating in city-led efforts to move to sustainable (and less polluting) energy sources as we further climate-proof our city.”

The Center for the Environment Sciences and Humanities at Bard College, in collaboration with KAQI, has been working on a handful of air quality related projects centralized around community needs and concerns. These include:

• Developing a publicly-accessible atmospheric inversion monitoring system for the Kingston area.
• Neighborhood-level air quality monitoring, through the fast-developing Hudson Valley Library Air Quality Network. Using outdoor real-time air quality monitoring devices stationed at public libraries, air quality data is free and accessible online. If any libraries are interested in joining, please reach out to [email protected].
• In partnership with SUNY-Albany and the EPA, conducting indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring in homes with woodsmoke, mold and structurally-related air quality challenges.

For more information or ways to get involved, please visit https://cesh.bard.edu/kingston-air-quality-initiative-kaqi/