Cutting Tailpipe Pollution Starts at Home for New York City
Westside Gazette
By: Ben Jealous
For Leslie Vasquez, an activist with South Bronx Unite, the same word describes the need and the timeline for New York City to act on climate pollution — immediate.
“Communities like the South Bronx, where I work, have suffered far too much and far too long from disproportionate fossil fuel pollution,” she told City Council members in December. “For communities like the South Bronx, asthma rates are already one of the highest in the country and children and teenagers visit emergency rooms with respiratory illnesses at rates twice city’s average. We cannot afford to endure additional respiratory illnesses, and we cannot afford to wait another year without government action.”
The city’s health department has found that New York City has the highest density of particle air pollution of any large American city, and some neighborhoods suffer more than others. Tailpipe emissions contribute to a rate of emergency room visits for asthma tied to particle pollution that is eight times higher in communities that face environmental injustice.
