94.4 FINAL WEB

FOCUS
The Environmental Issue
where most of the consumption waste is and wide. Accordingly, he joins the gamut implementation remains a challenge.
coming from. We need to create the policy
instruments for the costs to flow to the
right people,” Rao said. Such policies, along
with governments ensuring that clean fuels
are accessible to poorer households, could
reduce exposure to air pollutants.
By providing free stoves to a significant
proportion of India’s population, the Indian
government has shown that it has the capacity
to provide clean energy to poorer households.
It also seems like it has the capacity to
implement targeted emissions policies.
of an increasing force of researchers, who by
writing policy reports, publishing academic
papers, and making data available to nongovernmental
organizations, are increasingly
influencing governmental decisions.
“I like to think of myself as an academic
activist, as having the privilege of generating
[scientific] insights," he said. "I see it as
an obligation on my part to make those
insights available as broadly as possible.”
Clearly, “solving climate change” or
“fixing pollution” is much easier said
Nevertheless, Rao and his team shed
some much-needed light on the social
ramifications of pollution inequity and
mortality. Their work points to targeted
emissions policies and biomass cook stove
replacement policies as necessary, even
inevitable, solutions.
As scientists and climatologists continue
to embrace their roles as policy influencers
and activists, governmental inaction will
no longer remain an option. In this way,
Rao’s ideal world—one in which pollution
But capability doesn’t always translate than done. Even though the technology inequity is vanquished—just might
to action. “Unfortunately, the cliche is that to reduce emissions exists, its equitable become a reality. ■
there needs to be strong political support
for it. There is a cost that has to be paid,”
Rao said. And according to him, that is ART BY BREANNA BROWNSON
not something that scientific research
alone can repair. “Understanding people’s
dependence on the fuels, the nature of the ABOUT THE AUTHORS RISHA CHAKRABORTY AND ARUSHI DOGRA
lack of reliability of the fuel supply, and the
RISHA CHAKRABORTY is a first-year Neuroscience major prospect in Saybrook College. In addition
political economy of the fuel price setting to writing for YSM, Risha plays trumpet for the Yale Precision Marching Band and Undergraduate
and subsidies are essential,” he said.
Jazz Collective, volunteers for HAPPY (Hypertension Awareness and Prevention Program at Yale), and
Because of the results of the model, researches Parkinson’s Disease at Chandra Lab in the School of Medicine.
scientists now know the contributors and ARUSHI DOGRA is a sophomore in Jonathan Edwards College, prospectively majoring in MCDB and
victims of pollution, both geographically HSHM. Outside of YSM, Arushi is on the board of the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project,
and in terms of socioeconomic is involved in Health & Education Advocates for Refugees, and conducts immuno-oncology research in
characteristics. For meaningful change the Katz Lab in the School of Medicine.
to occur, governments and the public THE AUTHORS WOULD LIKE TO THANK Dr. Narasimha Rao for his time and enthusiasm about his research.
must also internalize these findings. Rao’s FURTHER READING
current personal goal is to improve global Rao, N. D., Kiesewetter, G., Min, J., Pachauri, S., Wagner, F. (2021). Household contributions to and impacts
understanding of how to diffuse clean fuels from air pollution in India. Nature Sustainability, 4(10), 859–867.
and sustainable energy technologies fast
14 Yale Scientific Magazine December 2021 www.yalescientific.org