Happy October! This month, I will be setting off to the American College of Chest Physicians meeting. When the news seems really dark, especially for those worried about the quality of our air and the health of our communities, it can be wonderful to look to the helpers and see how many around us are working for cleaner air and better health. Today’s post is about the great work of the MKE Fresh Air Collective, and how knowledge of air quality can empower communities and help them focus on real ways to improve health.
I first met Danika Hill Paulus in 2024 when I was hosting a live podcast taping of Air Health Our Health at Chest. In that year, the organization was awarding a Chest Community Impact grant to my other podcast guest Langston Verdin, MPH to make a mural in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Why is an organization of lung and ICU doctors funding a Wisconsin art project?
We discuss all that and more in their podcast episode for this post. We focus on how knowledge about the air we breathe is empowering, and how one community is working towards cleaner air for all.
Langston Verdin has three kids. One of them has asthma, and he worked at the Children’s hospital trying to understand why kids were ending up at the hospital with asthma. He began to wonder about air quality as a potential driver. At the same time in 2019, the horrific Australian wildfires were dominating the news, and he saw the monitoring available in Australia that his own city lacked. He reached out to them and founded MKE Fresh Air Collective in 2019. They started by deploying sensors throughout the community and in locations the community requested.
The Breath of Promise mural is extra special- it’s paint can absorb air pollution, and on top of the mural is a sensor that alerts local elected officials whenever the air quality is unhealthy, including information about what they can do to improve it.
MKE Fresh Air Collective does this and so much more- they engage in education, advocacy, partner with research and education, and now also have a focus on indoor air quality including distributing radon kits.
Knowledge is power. We can’t improve what we can’t see, and the air often contains invisible components that affect our health. I appreciate the MKE Fresh Air Collective’s focus on the health of kids, the importance of healthy outdoor spaces by putting a mural in a park, and the responsiveness to community concerns. Science should work for the people it is serving, and the MKE Fresh Air Collective embraces that.
I am delighted that I will be seeing Langston at Chest again this year. If any of you listening will be in attendance, be sure to look for us there!
TLDR= Don't Light Things on Fire and Breathe them into your Lungs
What can you do?
- Become air aware- understand how to see air quality in your area, whether with IQ Air or AirNow or other programs that help you understand air quality
- Listen to the “What’s in an Index” episode with a pediatric pulmonologist to understand what we know and what we don’t know on how to use the AQI.
- Review the State of the Air report from the American Lung Association- if air quality in your area is unhealthy, reach out to your city, county and state elected officials to ask them to do what they can to improve it.
- Consider a donation to the American Lung Association or the American College of Chest Physicians- both working to help people breathe clean air and live healthier lives.
- If you are coming to Chest, please e-mail me at airhealthourhealth@gmail.com. I’d love to see you!
Images from MKE Fresh Air Collective
