Air and Environmental Health in the (Post-)COVID-19 World

Air pollution poses a major threat to human and nonhuman health. That air contains various objects that pollute it has never been a concurrent concern of everyone on this planetwe inhale and exhale without even thinking of what travels into and out of our lungs. The COVID- 19 pandemic, however, has dramatically challenged this attitude. Through the virus, the pandemic has transformed the ways we understand air, giving it agency as a visible, existent, and vital substance. These new meanings of air and their crucial contribution to the environmental humanities are the primary concerns of this project. This project explores air from two distinct perspectives: pollution and pandemics. While air pollution has been an issue for centuries, it is through the COVID-19 pandemic that humanity worldwide has acutely and concurrently recognized the physical presence of air. The largely airborne virus has made air dangerous, whereas such phenomena as masks, social distancing, and significantly reduced social interactionkey tools in fighting the spread of the virusfurther emphasize the polluted nature of air. This interpretation parallels environmental views on air pollution as a critical global threat. Moreover, the project examines the role of racism in perpetuating current environmental and health crises and, through race, engages with the problem of environmental justice. The project examines the changing meanings of air through environmental and medical humanities, literary and cultural studies, race studies, and history.