Code Red: City and state officials must act now on multiple fronts to protect air quality
As a pediatrician and parent who thinks a lot about the impacts of air pollution on children’s ability to breathe, this is is an especially frightening moment, writes Paul Devine Bottone.
From I-95 in South Philly, the skyline was barely visible as we drove past empty stadiums and parking lots. The low visibility is due to a blanket of smoke from trees burning across Canada a thousand miles away, a new — and deeply unwelcome — annual tradition here in the Northeast thanks to our rapidly changing climate.
We were on the highway because we happened to be driving our 2-year-old son to my parents’ home outside of Boston, and I felt deep relief to be taking his young lungs from an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 182 (“Unhealthy”) to merely 94 (“Moderate”).
As a pediatrician and parent who thinks a lot about the impacts of air pollution on children’s ability to breathe, it is an especially frightening moment.
It is also a maddening one for those who care about health or justice.
Air pollution causes enormous harm to human health. And yet, the Trump administration has made a concerted push to worsen American air quality by attacking anti-pollution policies and slashing funding for the agencies responsible for their enforcement.
Under direction from industry lobbyists, the administration — assisted by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court — is pushing aggressively to weaken the Clean Air Act, which is often identified as the piece of U.S. legislation that has saved the most lives.
At the same time, the administration is demanding a 50% cut in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, which maintains airnow.gov, after dramatically cutting funding for weather and climate research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last year.
These actions serve only political donors and wealthy shareholders, at the expense of communities and the environment.
In spite of the layers of smoke blocking out the sun, the injustices of the current moment are easy to see. I am lucky to be headed to clearer skies this weekend, but this is only one example of good fortune that is unavailable to many.
As temperatures climb above 90 degrees Fahrenheit for the fourth day in a row, after two other record-breaking heat waves this year, those without air conditioning are forced to choose between sweltering with the windows closed or a house filled with smoke from faraway wildfires.
Communities with lower levels of air conditioning are also more likely to be Black and Latino communities that have higher heat burden from a lack of neighborhood trees and greenery and an excess of paved surfaces.
Add to this the ongoing burdens of polluting industrial infrastructure in these same areas — thrown into sharp relief by the scrapyard fire Wednesday within the environmental justice communities of Darby and Southwest Philadelphia — and it is an overwhelming assault focused on the health of our most vulnerable populations.
It is past time to demand more of the elected officials who serve us. While the federal government and GOP majority in the State Senate have abandoned even performative interest in protecting the environment and its inhabitants, our city agencies must act.
Right now, Philadelphians can provide support for cleaner air in our region on several fronts.
Philadelphia Gas Works, our city-owned utility, is pushing to build an even larger liquefied natural gas plant in the Port Richmond neighborhood, where cancer rates are already among the highest in the city.
The City Planning Commission is discussing possible locations for new data centers, strongly considering Grays Ferry’s Bellwether District, in spite of the decades of pollution and associated diseases from the Philadelphia Energy Solutions gas plant.
And the city has just moved a step closer to renewing its contracts to incinerate its trash just a few miles down the highway from the scrapyard fire that poured smoke across the region this week.
All of these actions prioritize short-term costs over long-term benefits to citizens, neighborhoods, and the planet.
Whether you contact your mayor or City Council member, submit remarks online, or testify at a hearing, let our decision makers know that this literal Code Red demands big ideas, difficult decisions, and dramatic action — before the city’s commitments to health and justice are as hard to make out as its skyline views.
Paul Devine Bottone is a pediatrician and father in Philadelphia.