Hello, and welcome to all things air. My name is Kieran Sheth, and I am a science communication and environmental justice intern for the US Forest Service. In this podcast, we dive into air quality, air control, and basically all things air. From talking to different specialists in the air program to researchers, This is your outlet for the world around you. In our first podcast episode, I am talking to Alexia Prosperi, an air quality specialist covering the southern tier forest of region nine and how her background has influenced her experience. Enjoy the podcast.

Awesome. So, you know, let's just jump right into, like, how did you start to get involved with the AIR program in the first place?

So I came into the forest service through a fellowship program, and initially, I was a fire training specialist, but my background is in meteorology and climate. So when I was looking to change my positions, I was looking for something that fit that background a little bit more. And I had heard about the opening event with the air team, and I had also got contacted by them to help with some of their smoke forecasting since they had that vacancy. And it just seemed like a good fit both for stuff that I was interested in and based off my educational background and then just moved forward from there. And I've been involved with them since July of twenty twenty one.

Well, that's really great. And how did you know you sort of get involved with, you know, climate and meteorology in the first place?

So for meteorology, I I live in the Chicago suburbs, and everybody here watches the news and watches their meteorologists because we have crazy weather here. And so my, yeah, my favorite meteorologist growing up was Jerry Taft, even though everybody else liked Tom Stealing. It's not that I didn't like him, but I was a Jerry Taft girl myself and, you know, watching him do the weather and stuff like that was really interesting. I always was sitting in front of the TV at six fifteen even when I was, like, four or five years old, just excited to hear what he had to say.

And then, you know, when I started looking for what to study in college, I was like, oh, wait. You can study meteorology? That was pretty naive, to be honest. But, once I saw that that was a career path, I I looked into it and found some schools and then started to study meteorology.

And while I was there, we had one one climate course, and everybody hated it. You know, everybody was like, oh, I wanna learn about tornadoes and other stuff. And I was like, wait. This climate course is, like, mind blowing.

I was super interested in it. So that professor in that course kind of got me onto the the climate change path and really sparked my interest, and I've been interested in it ever since.

Well, that's amazing. You know, I've I'm pretty interested in, you know, climate myself, and it's kind of cool to see how, you know, how you got your start in that and how you kinda have, like, a favorite meteorologist growing up and how that person kind of, you know, kinda transformed your career sort of and, like, led you on this path. You know?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And I think that, you know, it's it's like fifty fifty almost in a meteorology world. Some people just know from, like, when they're really young, and then some people don't really figure it out until they're older. But it's really cool to hear different people's pathways to get to the same thing. And, you know, mine is something that was part of me since I was a kid, and I'm I'm happy that I'm still able to do that in my career.

Definitely. Definitely. And now, like, do you mind, like, tell me, like, you know, since you work for the AIR program and you can, you know, try kind of transitioned into that sort of field, what is, like, the most interesting or best thing about working for the AIR program in your opinion? There may be a lot, but that's okay.

There is a lot. So the best thing, at least to this point, has just been how passionate the people are, to be honest. You know, it's there's a lot of cool things about the job that I'll talk about a little bit more, but it's really just crazy and so fun to work with people that are so passionate about what they do. You know, it's it's not it's not just a job for a lot of the people that I work with.

It's something that they care about and that they're, like, actually invested in, which is really exciting for me, especially as a new team member. It's just something that really motivates me to put my best foot forward. You know, these every person on the team that I've met has been really great, really welcoming. But then when you start sitting in meetings with them, it's just like, wow.

They have so much knowledge, and they're so excited to share it, but also just excited to explore more and see see what else we can do as a team.

It's it's great.

You know, that's really amazing.

And, you know, it's it's very nice that you talk about, you know, this kind of team bonding within the air program because I know that other agencies or other companies don't really have that camaraderie. You know, everybody's kind of isolated and doing their own thing. How, you know, collaborative would you say the air program is in terms, you know, of research or communication or things like that?

Yeah. Yeah. I'd say it's very collaborative. It's a pretty small team overall, especially compared to some of the other groups within the forest service.

But we work together all the time. So in my region, I cover region nine and I cover the southern tier forests. And in region nine, we have three air specialists, and all three of us work together all the time. We've got email strings and team messages that are just constantly going with them.

So within our region, we work together a lot, but then with the WO program, so the the head office, we work with them very closely as well, work with other regions to just share knowledge. You know, there's not like a, oh, region nine found this out. We wanna keep it to ourselves. It's all about sharing that information and making the air program as a whole as great as it could possibly be.

We all work together pretty pretty constantly.

Yeah. For sure. Definitely. And, you know, I was kinda wondering about this, you know, how there are different, like, sections or different, areas where you guys cover.

How do you like, does each section kind of use the data from that you gather in your section to kind of inform each other? Like, how do you build upon each other's, you know, research and things like that?

Yeah. So it's a lot of information sharing, and it really kinda depends on where you are. So out in the eastern region, also known as region nine, we do a lot of work with region eight, which is a southern region, which is basically, like, the southeast.

And so we do a lot of work together because our area is a little bit different than it is out west. Now west is, you know, there's a lot more wildfire. So they're a lot more focused on smoke management. We're out here.

We do dabble a little bit more in some policy stuff. There's a lot more emissions in general out here from things such as factories and other sources. So we get to dabble in a little bit of everything, which is really interesting, but it makes it more important for us to work with the southern regions so that we're, you know, staying on the same team, especially since our forests and our states butt up against each other. So we wanna make sure that we're giving the same message to people that we might both be working with.

So we work with them quite a bit. And even if it's just like a, hey, just wanna let you know that I'm reviewing this or I'm working on this, just even that just, like, little bit of communication goes a long way and it's we have a really good collaboration with them and with a lot of the other regions too. It's just that with the proximity, we work really closely with region eight.

Yeah. I also think it's very interesting how like, you were mentioning how the geography of, you know, the area kind of informs, you know, what specific research, each you know, section of the air program does, you know, and how they communicate that research with, you know, the other sections, or the other areas. I think that's super interesting.

Yeah.

And, you know, I think that goes hand in hand with, you know, your interest in climate change, and things like that. So I was wondering, do you mind talking about, you know, kind of what sparked your interest in climate change, and your views on it? I know this may be a kind of a loaded question for for you.

Sure. Yeah. Yeah. I can get into that a little bit more. So, like I said, in undergrad, I studied meteorology, and I really enjoyed it.

I did research for one summer, and it was really cool, and it was somewhat climate change related. And I kinda realized that that wasn't necessarily the path I want to go down. You know, research is really cool, but I I talked to my parents and be like, oh, yeah. This is what I did and what I found out today.

It was just, like, way over their head, and they and they didn't really care, which is totally fine. You know, I can't say I blame I can blame them, but, you know, I decided that I wanted to do something that seemed a little bit more, like, relevant. And it seemed like especially at this time and that time, climate change was a really important topic, and it wasn't it's not really something that's well understood or well communicated, because I think you get people that are really excited and they wanna share the best new information, but they don't necessarily take into account how that information gets shared with everyday people and how to communicate that with people who may not have that science background.

And so I went to grad school, and I went to an applied climate program, which is probably about, I don't know, I'd say eighty percent, like, climate studies and twenty percent how to communicate that information.

And I I really enjoyed that. So I liked the applied nature nature of the program a lot, and I kinda realized that that's what I wanted to do and, you know, just learning about how to communicate uncertainty.

I think that that's kind of, like, where my opinions on climate change are is, like, yes. I believe it's happening. I accept that it's happening because, you know, I understand the science behind it, and I understand the consensus behind it as well. But there's also something I think we miss as a science community is explaining that there is uncertainty related to that and there's certain contingencies that, some of the, like, forecasts or models depend on. And so I think that that's a part that I am excited about and excited about moving forward is just communicating the science and making it clear that we for example, we know that there's going to be warming in the climate in the future.

But there's also a range of warming. It's not like it's gonna be three point six degrees Fahrenheit, and that's it. Like, it's not we're not writing that off and or anything like that. You know, we're providing a range, and this is why we're doing it.

Not because we don't know, but because there's a bunch of different things that could happen. You know, it could have all the volcanoes in the world can blow up and that's gonna impact the climate or that could not happen, you know, even with development of technology and stuff like that. There's just a lot of uncertainty in the future, and I think that that's really what I think is exciting about climate change. It keeps you know, it's we know the basics, but we don't communicate it well. And there's also just so much more research that can go into that to make it better, both from a scientific perspective and also from just how we communicate it.

Yeah. For sure. I know. I think this goes sort of hand in hand with your work in the air program, just learning how to communicate that kind of information out to the general public.

And I know that's a super important role. I feel like just because a lot of people don't know the inner workings of, you know, the research and the science that goes on behind the scenes. They just focus on, you know, the information that they're getting from the news.

And so I was just wondering, you know, what have been, like, some of, like, the best, like, methods of communication that you've kind of seen and, you know, kinda getting that information out to the general public? Have you seen, like, there's one method that's, like, better than others? Because I think people would definitely, like, love to know, you know, the best ways to, you know, inform other people.

Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. I don't think there's, like, a a golden ticket answer to that. A lot of it depends on who you're working with, but something that I found, at least, you know, it's it's a small thing, but even just having open conversations about it, you know, it's it's one of those things where it's very easy to be like, oh, you don't accept climate change?

Like, what's wrong with you? And that's not that's not the approach that I think we should be taking. You know, everybody has their own opinions, but there's reasons that they have them and that we should listen to them and, you know, try to have a conversation about it as opposed to something where it's like, no, you're wrong, and then just spitting facts. You know, it's one of those things where we have an opportunity to, engage with somebody and potentially change their views, but we have to approach it more as a conversation that's going back and forth as opposed to, like, a professor teaching students.

It's just I think all about that approach should be open minded. You know, you might you might not change a person's opinion or the people's opinion if you're talking to multiple at the end of the day. But if you at least approach it as an open conversation with an open mind, I think that there is a better likelihood that you'll share information with them that might get them thinking. And then somewhere down the road, maybe they'll start to change their mind.

Yeah. For sure. Definitely.

And I think that's our society today, it's just having, you know, those open conversations with people and just I guess, like, the most you can do at this point is just informing them.

And then after that, it's, you know, kind of up to them to, you know, make their own decision based on the information that they have. You know?

Exactly. Yeah. And even just having those open conversations really about anything, it's it's rare these days, like you said. So trying to trying to be the person that brings that to the table in a conversation, that openness, I think, is a good start.

Definitely. For sure. And now just transitioning a little bit back to your work in the air program.

You know, what has been this may also be a very loaded question, but cause you may have many different answers for this, but you know, what has been the most interesting or exciting or most like informative project that you've worked on so far? Something that really got you like, wow. This is, like, really, really what I wanna do with my life.

Yeah. Yeah. So one of the first things that comes to mind is just the smoke forecasting that we do. So in region nine, we do a lot of prescribed fire.

And for those fires, we try to provide the people doing the burning with the smoke forecast, and all of them are different. It's it's really fun, and that's something that I guess time I meteorology back down into.

You know, it's the models are already different based off what she put into them. And so it's kind of fun to see what that output ends up being based on, you know, the fuel information, the weather models, even sometimes the time of day will make an impact. And if the day is clear on on a burning day, you can even see if your, model verifies because you can see some smoke on satellite. And so that's that's really fun and interesting and totally nerdy, but I thoroughly enjoy it.

And it's also something too that, you know, that smoke forecast can make a difference. It can if the people doing the burning are seeing that the smoke is gonna be heavy or very dense or it's not gonna disperse very well and they're close to a population, then that can change their whole plan, just based off of the forecast that we're providing. So it's it's important work and, of course, smoke that's on the ground and near the surface can have impacts on human health. So, you know, even just keeping in mind that the forecast matter is not just to the burn bosses, but also to local residents and people that are living by the forest.

It's it's also got a level of meaningfulness to it too, which I try to keep in mind, and I just I really enjoyed that part. It's fun.

Yeah. And I know I feel like a lot of people don't know, you know, kind of the, I guess, the process of, you know, prescribed fires and, you know, doing that smoke management that you were talking about. So can you just give a little bit of background on, you know, prescribed fires and, you know, what that actually does for people because I feel like a lot of people just hear the word fire and they automatically jump to a bad conclusion. But, you know, prescribes fires are something completely different. So do you mind, like, kind of, like, jumping into that and explaining, you know, that concept to a lot of people because I feel like they don't know.

Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. I can give a little bit of background on it. At least to my knowledge, I'm not I'm not an expert by any means in prescribed fire, but I can share what I do know.

So, typically, there's kind of, like, two types of fire. It's almost like good fire and bad fire. And a lot of times, prescribed fire is looked at as good fire because of the control that we have over it. Typically, there is a her a whole burn plan that's put in place when these prescribed fires take place.

They look at the fuel moisture, the type of fuel it is, and information like that can tell the burn bosses and the smoke forecaster such as myself, what kind of smoke is anticipated. And then when you look at the weather conditions, you can determine how it'll disperse. So depending on the winds and humidity and certain other information, it'll give you a rough idea of what's gonna happen to that smoke when you're burning. And so because of that control and because of the, like, people actually igniting that fire and watching it on a consistent basis, you have control over the smoke, which is, at least in terms of air quality, what's gonna have the biggest impact on people.

And so you're not only put, like, protecting the environment by producing prescribed burns, but you're also having a better opportunity of protecting people because if you put a wildfire in that same area, something that's burning uncontrollably, that smoke is going to be worse because it's not necessarily controlled.

So a huge aspect of it for us and why we really care about the smart fix smoke forecast is because we have a better idea of what's gonna happen to that smoke because, essentially, we are doing a controlled burn.

So it's it's it's all about control really with the prescribed fires. And, when you have a wildfire, you don't necessarily have that level of control, and the smoke can very easily get out of hand. And in addition to smoke, you also have to be concerned with visibility on roads and stuff like that. And if it's if that smoke isn't dispersing, then you can have some really big problems on your hands. So prescribed fire is definitely a way to mitigate that, especially in certain areas where there's more more people, because if there's if you've done prescribed fire and there's nothing there to burn anymore, then if you do have a wildfire, it acts as a natural steel break. So that fire has a better chance of stopping at that line as opposed to continuing on towards houses or other, areas of investment or other people or anything like that.

No. Definitely. That's actually really, really informative because I personally did not know a lot a lot of that information, especially, like, on the smoke management things that you guys do. And, you know, that brings to mind, like, you know, how do you guys kinda communicate your findings of, like, the smoke management and things like that to the general public? Like, are they informed about the prescribed fires, or do they really even know what's happening? Or is it just something that goes on, like, kinda, like, behind the scenes?

I think it really just depends on the forest. A lot of the forest are the ones that'll be communicating with the public, but, you know, some sub forest, especially ones that are closer to areas of population, they are more tied in with those people or, like, with local government Mhmm. Or, others that can communicate with the local members of the community. But other forests are very remote. And so even if you do some burning, people might not even know that it's going on. So it really just kinda depends on the forest and the relationship that they have with the community around them.

Oh, nice. Yeah. That's really that's super cool because, personally, I didn't. I've never really heard of, you know, prescribed fires, especially in my area. Well, mainly because I live in kind of like a suburbia.

But Yeah. But, even in, you know, out west where I have a lot of relatives live and things like that, I I personally do not know how close, you know, the local government was with, like, you know, the forest service and everything like that with, you know, informing the public about prescribed fires.

You know, because it is something that, you know, does impact them, like, to a certain extent like you were talking about before.

Exactly.

Yeah. And so yep. Sorry. Go ahead.

Oh, no. You're good. Sorry. I probably cut you off there. But I was just gonna say it is it is important to have that relationship with the local community because, you know, you're trying to protect them and help them, but you also, you know, wanna respect what their thinking is.

So, you know, if they're, oh, well, like, I don't understand the smoke. Why are you doing this? That's an opportunity to communicate with them. You know, it's, again, back to having an open discussion and open mind.

They may not understand why you're doing it, so taking the time to explain that can really change their mind. You know, sometimes there's just a lack of understanding on either side, and so being willing to have that conversation. And I know a lot of our fores are. They're just opening the time up for a discussion and even just doing something as little as that can make a huge difference.

You know, definitely. And, you know, transitioning back into, you know, air quality and your work with that, how do you think, you know, the air quality and the work that you do can kind of, impact, you know, ecosystems in the future and things like that? Because I know that, you know, you do the work on the smoke forecasting and, you know, including, like, regional haze and things like that. So, you know, what are your thoughts on, you know, kind of the future of, you know, climate change and, you know, its relationship with air quality?

Yeah. So it's gonna be kind of an interesting future. Like I mentioned before with the uncertainty, there's kind of a lot of contingencies that go into air quality. So, to get a little bit more specific on that, with warming, it's anticipated that air pollution will increase over most of the United States, but, like, contingency related to that is precipitation.

So areas that have more precipitation in the future might actually see an increase in their air quality, so better air quality, just because as it rains that negative, air pollution is kind of taken out of the air. Whereas it's more arid or it's drier or there's less of, a change in the weather, so, like, the patterns are more stagnant, then it's more likely that the air pollution will be worse, which is obviously not what you wanna hear. So it really there's a lot of, like, little contingencies that, will impact air quality.

But then there's also, similar similar situation with visibility, which, like you mentioned, regional haze is another thing that we look at. So, through the Clean Air Act, there's kind of requirements to improve visibility specifically in some, federal areas that have been deemed to be class one areas. So they're just really big areas of land that have these federal protections for their visibility.

And so a big contributor to negative visibility with that is emissions. And through the Clean Air Act, we're seeing some of those emissions decrease, which is good. But we also, with the changing climate, might start to see some of the more natural contributors to that, increase. And so, you know, that's another, like, well, it could be on either side of the table depending on what exactly happens. So, with visibility and with air quality itself, it's, there will be changes. There's no doubt about that.

And in all likelihood, air pollution will probably increase. Visibility seems to be a little bit more uncertain, but, it's it's kind of fun to look into, and it's one of those things that, of course, with most things scientific, there's just needs to be a little bit more research done.

For sure. Definitely. Yeah. And, you know, you were kinda talking about, you know, the, you know, the future of air quality and things like that and, you know, the uncertainty that lies behind it.

And I think that a lot of uncertainty kinda stems from, not I wouldn't say not being informed enough, but not having enough knowledge, I assume. And so I was just wondering, like, what is, like, something what are some things that you think that could be done to, you know, improve the knowledge that people have aside from, you know, like, open communication? Because I feel like that can only get you to a certain extent, if you know what I mean.

Sure. Sure. Yeah. You know, I think it's it's a challenge. You know, a lot of people, they dedicate their life to the science, and that's great. And then other scientists will understand it, place, that that could change is just with education. I know that very few schools across the nation actually teach about climate change, in their curriculum.

And so I think even starting to integrate that in, you know, it is it is critically important, especially for younger kids to know that considering that that's going to be their their lives in the future.

So I think, you know, starting to touch on it in schools at various levels, in various details. Just get that idea kind of percolating in people's mind that there is this thing called climate change, and this is generally what it could lead to. But it also kind of, I don't know, inspires to be like, well, if this is what's gonna happen, what can we do to change that?

And, you know, kids these days always blow my mind with how much how motivated they are to make change and stuff like that. But I think that, you know, climate change and teaching that in schools and a lot of places can make a make a difference. Just sharing that knowledge at a young age can at least give people an idea of what's to come as opposed to it coming out of nowhere or at some point later them being told that climate change is real after they've kind of developed different ideas or never thought about it before.

Just almost like learning learning a language. It's a little bit easier when you're younger to kind of understand that and get that thought going as opposed to doing it at a later age and trying to learn it from scratch.

Yeah. For sure. And it's I think it's, very community that you brought up, you know, informing the younger especially through education. Because when I was in middle school or even high school, my school did not really do anything to teach me, you know, about air quality or climate change or anything like that.

Obviously, you know, I heard that it was going on through the news, and that was, you know, kind of my only outlet and, you know, reading articles on, you know, sporadically. But, you know, my school did not do a lot to teach me about air quality or climate change, and I feel like that's the case with a lot of schools across the country. And and, you know, if if kids are growing up, I feel like uneducated about this kind of stuff, then, you know, then they're the next generation that, are of policy makers, essentially. So, you know, I think it's it's even more important that they have, you know, that that ability to understand, what's going on, especially in climate change.

You know? And I've been a part of some communication efforts, to try to, increase that awareness, so to say, to a certain extent. And, you know, that's only been in my local community, but I think this is something that, you know, needs to be done, like, you know, on a national level at the same time just because I think it's it's an issue that everybody should be made aware of.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Especially that last part that you said. You know, it's it's something that, unfortunately, isn't gonna be going away.

It's something that we'll need to adapt to with time, and it's important that we know that and that we share that with with our children, that are growing up so that we, you know, can hopefully make a difference in the future and stuff like that. It's, you know I'm fairly young myself. I don't remember learning anything about that in school until I got to college. And, you know, at that point, I was like, I'd heard of, like, the hockey stick method, which is, I guess, was one of Al Gore's metrics of explaining climate warming.

And I didn't really understand it. So I was like, oh, that doesn't make any sense. That's not real. And then, you know, I got to school, like, college.

You know, I'm older at that point and had the ability to create my own thoughts. And I took that climate course, and I was like, wow. Like, this is so interesting and, like, I don't understand how people don't accept climate change after the stuff that I learned in that course. It was really eye opening for me, and I didn't get that experience until college.

And I think that, you know, some people, if you if you wait that long and they're not as open minded or if they're, you know, not not willing to learn about something new or a different perspective, then that that idea might be lost on them. And it's it goes beyond climate change too. There's a lot of other other parts of life that that can apply to you, but specifically talking about climate change, you know, it's it's an important issue, and we wanna make sure it's at the forefront of people's minds, especially the young minds that we can somewhat shape.

Yeah. Definitely. I think that goes hand in hand, you know, with people kind of learning a little bit more about the AIR program and things that they do to, you know, in terms of research, in terms of communication because, you know, we are the ones who are tracking air quality throughout the United States. And, you know, I think, that the research that they do has a direct impact in, you know, informing different researchers and different scientists and different kinds of communicators about, you know, climate change and then the ways to communicate out that to the public.

Mhmm. Definitely. Yeah. So I think that, you know, the role that the air program does is kind of, like, sometimes overlooked, but, you know, it shouldn't be because it, you know, has a direct impact on the public.

Right. Exactly. And I mean, at the end of the day, like, we all breathe, like, whether whether we're thinking about it or not. So, you know, it's, we might be a small program, but we're we have a huge impact on the average everyday person, because we're all we're all doing the breathing thing. So it's it is pretty important, and it's it's exciting to be a part of that from my perspective.

That concludes the first podcast in this series. Thank you so much to all who listened, and thank you to Alexia for taking out the time to speak with me today. We will see you next time on All Things Air.