Uncovering Air Pollution

How do you know if the air you breathe is safe? It often depends on where you live–not just what town or city, but what neighborhood, what street. In this episode, Amy talks with Langston Verdin, founder of MKE Fresh Air Collective, a community-led air quality monitoring project in Milwaukee. Hear what he’s been finding out about the air we breathe and what it could mean for our health.

One of the most dangerous kinds of pollution in terms of health outcomes is in the air. Fine particulate matter air pollution is made up of tiny airborne particles that are 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. They can settle deep in the lungs, even make their way into the bloodstream, and are associated with asthma attacks and higher risk of heart attacks, strokes and premature death.

According to an analysis from Clean Wisconsin – Wisconsin has the 3^rd largest racial disparity in the country when it comes to exposure to these tiny particles. The particles come from burning fossil fuels, usually at coal and gas power plants, industrial facilities, or on busy roads with lots of cars, buses and heavy trucks.

With all of those sources around, how do we know when the air is safe and when it’s not? It’s vital information that Langston Verdin, founder of MKE Fresh Air Collective, wants everybody to have. The collective has been working to install neighborhood air monitors across the city. Amy meets Langston at the site of his very first air monitor, at his old duplex in Washington Heights.