As smoke from Canadian wildfires spread across the eastern U.S. this week, the nation’s most trusted media outlets turned to Peter DeCarlo for expertise on the health risks of particulate matter, protective measures, and long-term impacts of climate change.
An associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, DeCarlo was featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, CNN, PBS NewsHour and local publications The Baltimore Sun and The Baltimore Banner.
DeCarlo also participated in the “Johns Hopkins Briefing: Wildfires and Air Quality” livestream, along with the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Kirsten Koehler and the School of Medicine’s Meredith McCormack (watch below).
DeCarlo is one of the national media’s go-to experts on pollution and air quality. In February, in the wake of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, he appeared in many of the same media outlets, helping residents understand the risks posed by chemical fumes emitted from the fire. At the time, DeCarlo cited the lack of air-quality data and his children as reasons why he would not feel safe returning home if he lived there.
DeCarlo studies atmospheric air pollution with applications to ambient air quality, including atmospheric aerosols and emissions from anthropogenic activities, including natural gas development.