'Curious Conversations' podcast: Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz talks about air pollution
Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz joined Virginia Tech’s “Curious Conversations” to talk about air pollution and its misconceptions. He shared his insights related to how plant and human emissions interact, what that means for our shared environment, as well as how he got into this field of study and his hope for the future.
About Isaacman-VanWertz
Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz is associate professor in civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering and an affiliate faculty member of the Global Change Center. His research focuses on understanding the chemical transformations of reactive organic compounds in the atmosphere – their physicochemical properties, their fate in the environment, and their impacts on ecosystems and populations. He is currently researching air quality in Ecuador with a focus on climate change on the Amazon rainforest and its feedback on the atmosphere.
Three takeaways
Air pollution is not limited to the visible emissions humans create, such as smoke stacks, but also includes the pollutants chemically formed from those emissions interacting with plant emissions.
Understanding the interaction between humans and the environment is crucial for taking care of the environment.
As awareness and concern of environmental issues grows throughout our cultures, so too does the hope for positive, large scale changes to take place.
Learn more
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About the podcast
"Curious Conversations" is a series of free-flowing conversations with Virginia Tech researchers that take place at the intersection of world-class research and everyday life. Produced and hosted by Virginia Tech writer and editor Travis Williams, university researchers share their expertise and motivations as well as the practical applications of their work in a format that more closely resembles chats at a cookout than classroom lectures. New episodes are shared each Tuesday.
