My brother-in-law is just 60 but has had Lewy body dementia for at least several years. He can no longer drive, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to trust him on a bicycle. He has recently fallen off his bike three times. My sister has had to reduce her work hours to part time to take care of him. It is hard to watch someone so young already have such challenges. I suspect we all know someone who has had to deal with one form of dementia or another.
I thought about my brother-in-law this past week because of a study released suggesting a link between dementia and exposure to microscopic particle pollution. According to the American Lung Assn., particle pollution forms directly, seen as ash and soot, or indirectly, as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide convert into particles once they reach the outside air. The latter are so tiny they can blow hundreds of miles from the source. The source is air emissions from burning fossil fuels—mostly from coal-burning power plants. Natural gas, oil, and biomass power plants also emit significant air pollutants.
Many are particularly vulnerable to particle pollution—people with lung diseases, children and teens, older adults, those with cardiovascular disease or diabetes, people with lower incomes because they tend to live closer to the source of air pollution, people who work or exercise outdoors, and people who live or work near busy highways.
Tens of thousands of Americans die from dementia-related diseases each year. The World Health Organization estimates that globally 7 million people die from exposure to fine particles every year.
One More Reason to Support Efficiency
The dementia study just adds to the long list of studies affirming the negative impacts of particle pollution. It also hammers home the need for all of us to invest in and support clean energy and energy efficiency.
As surveys and articles here on Green Lodging News have shown, hoteliers are becoming increasingly savvy about reducing their environmental impacts. All in all, however, we still have a very long way to go. As an industry we are still very dependent on dirty energy. I realize it is just one of those things that is difficult to control.
For several years I have been collecting and posting the names of lodging establishments that have invested in on-site clean energy. Those properties are listed in our “Renewable Energy All Stars section. The list continues to get longer. Just this past week a new solar array began powering the Courtyard by Marriott-Lancaster in Pennsylvania. The Courtyard is the first Marriott-branded hotel in the United States with 100 percent of its electricity needs generated from solar power. It is also believed to be the first solar array in the country installed for the sole purpose of generating 100 percent of the electricity needs of a hotel.
Green Lodging News just reported on the Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort in Aruba becoming the first hotel in the Caribbean to achieve carbon neutrality. Over the years, the resort’s Green Team, with full owner support and substantial investment, accomplished extensive emission reductions within its operation. Through its extensive CarbonNeutral initiatives, Bucuti & Tara reduced its carbon emissions to the maximum possible level within the resort. The small remaining gap is offset with carbon credits through its local Vader Piet wind farm.
The Pennsylvania hotel and the Aruba property are just two examples of the thousands of hotels across the world that are moving toward zero carbon impact—even if slowly.
As mentioned above, where you get your energy from does matter from an overall public health perspective. The case against dirty energy continues to grow. What will scientists learn next about what we have been doing to ourselves all these many years?
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