by June Blotnick
Today marks the beginning of National Air Quality Awareness Week sponsored by the EPA, the CDC, and other partners. The theme this year is Better Air, Better Health and the goal is to promote air quality awareness and encourage people to check the Air Quality Index (AQI) daily. I encourage you to visit their website for more information and resources for at-home environmental education.
For Clean Air Carolina, every week is air quality awareness week. If there ever was a time over the last decade to be aware of the importance of breathing clean, healthy air, this is it. As the world essentially conducts the largest global air pollution experiment in real-time, we’re getting a glimpse of what our world could look like if we turn off the faucet of fossil fuels.
While air pollution is never listed on the death certificate, researchers are raising the alarm about the links between polluted air, the transmission of disease, long-term environmental injustices, and death during this crisis. Let’s all take a moment during this year’s Air Quality Awareness Week and commit to taking action to reduce your personal contribution to pollution and increase your advocacy actions for better air and better health.
