Air Quality
The first week of the Fulbright was mostly spent traveling!
I left Boulder, CO on the morning of Monday, March 5, and arrived in Santiago Tuesday. On Wednesday, I presented my project plan along with other Fulbright students at the commission. Thursday, we met with folks from the U.S. Embassy, and then toured a lovely winery outside of the city. I flew out that evening to Puerto Montt, arrived in Balmaceda the next morning, and then took a bus to Coyhaique, arriving midday on Friday, March 9. I spent the weekend resting and arranging my living space, which is equipped with excellent wi-fi!
Some project highlights:
My advisor is out of town through March 20, and I've felt pretty aimless thus far. He left me a few contacts so I've met with a couple folks to toss around ideas. We've scheduled a day in April where I'll give a talk about my previous research (in Spanish...), a visiting scholar from Italy will talk about watershed restoration, and a representative from the Dirección General de Aguas (like the USGS) will describe water management issues in the region. So far, it seems that water quantity and quality are not problems in the region! Perhaps this will change with the climate, but I think it is fairly notable that I showed up planning to work on water issues, when air quality appears to be a much more threatening public health issue.
Air Quality:
Unfortunately Coyhaique has the worst air quality in the Western Hemisphere:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/datablog/2017/feb/13/most-polluted-cities-world-listed-region
Everyone in the city uses a wood stove for heating, and often for cooking. I read about the wood stove problem beforehand, but had no idea that it is this bad -- in speaking with folks who grew up in Coyhaique, it has only become a problem in the past couple years, as thousands of people have moved into the city from the countryside. The persistence of the smoke is due to a combination of the wood stoves and inversion effects produced by the sheer mountain faces surrounding the city. The weekend was fine because the weather was warm and less folks were burning their stoves, but Friday maxed out at 50ppm, well above the 25ppm limit recommended by the World Health Organization:
http://aqicn.org/city/chile/coyhaique/
Everyone I consult with says winter is the worst, 24/7 smoke, 'a forest fire.' Despite the gas stove in the house I'm living in, some roommates use a wood stove: it is essentially an open fire in the kitchen, usually started by burning cardboard. I never thought I would miss natural gas -- perhaps I will return to Colorado a proponent of fracking.
I left Boulder, CO on the morning of Monday, March 5, and arrived in Santiago Tuesday. On Wednesday, I presented my project plan along with other Fulbright students at the commission. Thursday, we met with folks from the U.S. Embassy, and then toured a lovely winery outside of the city. I flew out that evening to Puerto Montt, arrived in Balmaceda the next morning, and then took a bus to Coyhaique, arriving midday on Friday, March 9. I spent the weekend resting and arranging my living space, which is equipped with excellent wi-fi!
Some project highlights:
My advisor is out of town through March 20, and I've felt pretty aimless thus far. He left me a few contacts so I've met with a couple folks to toss around ideas. We've scheduled a day in April where I'll give a talk about my previous research (in Spanish...), a visiting scholar from Italy will talk about watershed restoration, and a representative from the Dirección General de Aguas (like the USGS) will describe water management issues in the region. So far, it seems that water quantity and quality are not problems in the region! Perhaps this will change with the climate, but I think it is fairly notable that I showed up planning to work on water issues, when air quality appears to be a much more threatening public health issue.
Air Quality:
Unfortunately Coyhaique has the worst air quality in the Western Hemisphere:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/datablog/2017/feb/13/most-polluted-cities-world-listed-region
Everyone in the city uses a wood stove for heating, and often for cooking. I read about the wood stove problem beforehand, but had no idea that it is this bad -- in speaking with folks who grew up in Coyhaique, it has only become a problem in the past couple years, as thousands of people have moved into the city from the countryside. The persistence of the smoke is due to a combination of the wood stoves and inversion effects produced by the sheer mountain faces surrounding the city. The weekend was fine because the weather was warm and less folks were burning their stoves, but Friday maxed out at 50ppm, well above the 25ppm limit recommended by the World Health Organization:
http://aqicn.org/city/chile/coyhaique/
Everyone I consult with says winter is the worst, 24/7 smoke, 'a forest fire.' Despite the gas stove in the house I'm living in, some roommates use a wood stove: it is essentially an open fire in the kitchen, usually started by burning cardboard. I never thought I would miss natural gas -- perhaps I will return to Colorado a proponent of fracking.
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