KINGSTON – For the last two years, Bard College, in conjunction with Kingston, has been monitoring the city’s air, and while pollution diminished when COVID-19 shut down the economy two years ago, there are days now when there is room for improvement.
An air monitor was installed on the roof of the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center on Broadway right before COVID struck, and it has been monitoring particulate matter in the air, said Bard Assistant Professor of Environmental and Urban Studies and Director of the Center for the Environment Sciences and Humanities. Elias Dueker.
“There were observed reductions in air pollution during some parts of the COVID shutdown, but the reality is the cars are still going and in a place like Kingston, we still needed to heat our homes with oil and gas heat and we also have in Kingston, a growing and concerning number of woodburning establishments, both restaurants and in people’s homes,” he said.
Those woodburning furnaces and stoves are terrible for the environment, Dueker said.
