Communication at the intersection of environment, health, and inequality (2022)

It should come as no surprise that air pollution is bad for public health and well-being. Globally, air pollution accounts for over 6 million premature deaths related to heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In recent years, environmental non-profit organizations, such as the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), have turned their attention to this issue. Their hope is to develop outreach messaging strategies that can raise awareness of racial disparities linked to air pollution and enhance support for clear air solutions. But communicating about racial disparities to stakeholders is easier said than done. How can practitioners most strategically communicate about the racially disparate impacts of air pollution to engage all relevant publics? This study aims to address this question in our research, which will experimentally compare two different message frames about air pollution impacts.