In that moment, as she struggled to breathe, she wasn’t an activist. But as a survivor of a pulmonary embolism, Yeampierre is also among those most vulnerable to poor air quality. As the executive director of UPROSE, an environmental organization serving Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, Yeampierre is well aware of the political and scientific factors that brought the bad air to her doorstep. When Elizabeth Yeampierre stepped out into the wall of smoke, she felt the weight on her chest. I saw an elderly man walking with his cane, a face mask tucked beneath his chin. I saw mothers pushing their toddlers in strollers, neither wearing a mask. I was shocked to see, as I walked through my neighborhood, that I was one of the few people covering their face. In the South Bronx and Harlem, asthma kills and harms residents at some of the country’s highest rates. In New York City, the most vulnerable also include low-income communities of color ( especially Black and Latino children) who face higher levels of pollution year-round and, therefore, suffer from higher rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Even the brain is affected, though scientists don’t completely understand how or why. If particles enter the bloodstream, they may lead to heart attack and stroke. They may also cause lung inflammation, which can spread to other organs. The particles themselves are made up of chemicals that are potentially harmful. With wildfire smoke, the primary pollutant is particulate matter. “We don’t want anyone getting seriously ill or dying from air pollution.”Īir pollution attacks the human body in several ways, Laumbach explained. “People should take action because when concentrations of air pollution reach very unhealthy and hazardous levels, we cannot predict who will be at risk of adverse health effects,” said Robert Laumbach, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at Rutgers University. This is why they need more protection and access to information. These are what public health experts often refer to as “vulnerable groups.” Their bodies can’t handle the same level of exposure to pollution as the rest of us, so they’re more prone to hospitalization and mortality. I also felt for those who can’t avoid the pollution: outdoor workers and people who are unhoused. As I mulled over the numbers, I thought of those who can become especially sick if they breathe in too much of this dirty air: older adults, children, pregnant people, and people with heart and lung disease.
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