Environmental justice in the context of commuters’ exposure to co and pm10 in bangalore, india

ABSTRACT The Information Technology (IT) industry in the globalizing city of Bangalore has transformed the socio-economic characteristics of the city. The intent of this study, developed

from an environmental justice framework, was to determine whether air pollutant exposure while commuting to and from work is related to a commuter’s income characteristics and whether

differences are larger for the IT economy when compared with a traditional manufacturing-oriented economy of the city. The study measured exposures to CO and PM10 using personal samplers for

a sample of employees of a traditional public sector manufacturing industry (_n_=20) and an IT industry (_n_=26). This approach overcomes the methodological limitations of previous

environmental justice studies. Socio-economic characteristics were obtained from a questionnaire-based survey of 436 employees in two firms. The results do not support the environmental

justice hypothesis for commuting in Bangalore mainly because longer commuting times of higher-income groups offsets the benefits of lower pollutant concentrations. The study nevertheless

demonstrates the use of personal exposure for environmental justice assessments. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your

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2000; 1: 78–85. Article  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The lead author gratefully acknowledges the research grant and the exposure-monitoring equipment provided by

the East West Center in Honolulu to perform the field work related to the study. This manuscript was prepared during the lead author’s Fulbright–Nehru Environmental Leadership Program

supported by the United States–India Educational Foundation. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * East-West Center, Honolulu, HI, USA Ashwin Sabapathy & Sumeet Saksena *

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Saunders Hall, Honolulu, HI, USA Ashwin Sabapathy & Peter Flachsbart Authors * Ashwin Sabapathy View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Sumeet Saksena View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Peter

Flachsbart View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Ashwin Sabapathy. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING

INTERESTS The authors declare no conflict of interest. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Sabapathy, A., Saksena, S. & Flachsbart, P.

Environmental justice in the context of commuters’ exposure to CO and PM10 in Bangalore, India. _J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol_ 25, 200–207 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2014.34

Download citation * Received: 28 September 2013 * Accepted: 07 January 2014 * Published: 21 May 2014 * Issue Date: March 2015 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2014.34 SHARE THIS ARTICLE

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by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative KEYWORDS * personal exposure * exposure modeling * particulate matter