Air Pollution
Peaceful Protests and Lung Health
Respiratory Health Association supports protesters and those who are speaking out for a society where everyone is welcome. At the same time, we recognize that participating in activities with large crowds, particularly in the cold, can pose risks for those living with respiratory diseases as well as others.
During recent protests in several communities, tear gas has been used to control crowds or simply as a show of force. The National Institutes of Health warns that exposure to tear gas, including pepper spray, causes immediate, intense respiratory irritation, including coughing, chest tightness, choking, and wheezing. While symptoms typically subside within 10 to 20 minutes, severe or prolonged exposure, especially in enclosed spaces, can cause acute respiratory distress, chemical burns in the airways, pulmonary edema, and long-term lung function reduction.
People with existing lung diseases may be at greater risk. For example, people with asthma may experience severe bronchospasm, making it difficult to breathe. Tear gas may also trigger an asthma attack and lead to respiratory failure or death.
Exposure to tear gas, pepper spray, or other irritants may increase the risk of spreading or contracting airborne diseases, such as the flu and COVID 19, because they increase coughing.
Should you choose to protest, RHA recommends you take the following steps to ensure you are prepared:
- Minimize the amount of time you are in contact with tear gas by moving away as quickly as possible.
- You should also minimize your exposure by covering your eyes, mouth, nose, and skin as much as possible. Wearing a well fitted mask, such as an N95 or KN95, or a scarf or bandana over your nose and mouth may help reduce the amount of gas entering your airways. Wearing goggles can help protect your eyes.
- If you use a rescue inhaler, make sure you bring it and keep it easily accessible.
- Tear gas is a fine chemical powder that binds to moisture and tends to settle closer to the ground. If you are exposed, move to higher ground when possible.
- Protest with people you already spend time with, such as family members or roommates, to reduce the risk of contracting a respiratory illness.
- Do not attend a protest if you are sick.
Emergency Plan
Should you find yourself in a potentially dangerous situation, be sure you are prepared for next steps.
- Always travel with a family member or friend.
- Have a reliable emergency phone number on hand.
- Develop an exit plan before you begin and share that plan with others you are protesting with.
- Bring any necessary medical supplies or other essential items.
Over 137 Million Americans Live in Communities with Unhealthy Air
Air quality is essential to lung health. Breathing polluted air can irritate your lungs and may cause shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, asthma flare-ups, and chest pain. It also puts you at risk for lung cancer, heart attacks, stroke, and even death.
Despite recent progress, air pollution remains a serious environmental and health problem. Chicagoland continues to violate federal air quality standards for harmful ozone and face threats from particulate matter pollution. Over 70% of Illinoisans live in areas that fail to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
Individuals can minimize their exposure and contributions to air pollution, but the greatest opportunity for clean air progress is through local, state, and national policy change. Exhaust from diesel engines alone led to more than 5,000 asthma attacks, nearly 200 heart attacks, and 416 premature deaths across the state in 2023 alone.
Climate Change
Climate change is a serious threat to human health. As global warming accelerates, climate disruptions pose a serious and increasing threat to people with lung disease and to the general population.
Climate change is expected to contribute to increases in each of the following:
- Extreme weather events, including heat waves, extreme precipitation, and droughts
- Air pollution from wildfires and wildfire smoke
- Aeroallergens, including pollens, mold and fungus
- Insect and water borne diseases
RHA is currently recruiting health care and public health partners to lend their voices to policy discussions and educate caretakers and individuals with lung disease on how climate change will impact respiratory health.
Fossil-Fueled Power Plants
Coal-burning power plants remain the single largest sources of soot air pollution in the United States. From 1999 to 2020, coal power generation is estimated to have caused 25,000 deaths in Illinois due to air pollution. An RHA report with researchers from UW-Madison found that transitioning to clean energy sources like wind and solar could prevent nearly 2,000 lung-related health issues, such as asthma flare-ups, in Illinois each year.
While pollution controls on coal and gas power plants can reduce lung-damaging air pollution, they cannot eliminate it entirely. Burning fossil fuels also contributes significantly to greenhouse gases that accelerate global warming.
By increasing the use of clean, renewable energy sources like wind and solar, and reducing power demand through energy efficiency strategies, Illinois can continue to reduce and eventually eliminate air pollution from fossil-fueled power plants.
Vehicle Pollution
Each year, diesel-powered vehicles and heavy equipment release thousands of tons of pollution across Illinois. These vehicles, often operated at street level, emit concentrated air pollution directly into communities where people live and breathe. Diesel pollution poses serious health risks, contributing to asthma attacks, heart attacks, lung cancer, strokes, and, in severe cases, premature death. While diesel pollution is harmful to everyone, it poses the greatest threat to children, seniors, workers exposed to it, and people with lung diseases.
Illinoisans pay for the damage caused by diesel pollution through medical and hospital bills, costly medicine, and missed days of work or school. In fact, every Chicago metro counties rank among the top 6% of the most polluted counties in the nation. Cook County is among the top 1%.
Despite making up only 7% of vehicles on Illinois roads, trucks, buses, and delivery vans account for 67% of smog-forming pollution, 59% of particulate matter (PM) emissions, and 36% of transportation-related greenhouse gases.
Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles can eliminate the air pollution that conventional and hybrid vehicles running on gasoline and diesel emit. RHA advocates for a complete transition to electric vehicles, including cars, trucks, school buses, and transit bus fleets.
Studies show that low-income and minority communities, which already face higher rates of lung disease, are disproportionately exposed to diesel exhaust pollution due to their proximity to major roadways and industrial or freight areas. People experiencing poverty are exposed to 35% more air pollution than the average American; People of color are exposed to 28% more than average; and Black people are exposed to 54% more air pollution than average.
RHA has successfully urged local leaders to commit to fully electrifying the transit bus system in the Chicago region by 2040. RHA has also advocated for increased funding for electric vehicles through state, federal, and utility sources, as well as clean air court settlements. We remain dedicated to supporting vehicle electrification policies and securing resources as key strategies in achieving a zero-emission transportation system that improves air quality for everyone.
Air Pollution Webinars
Clean Energy 101: What Is It and What Does It Mean for Illinois?
What is clean energy? Why is it important? Experts in the field answer these questions and explain how clean energy sources differ from fossil fuels, how using clean energy is beneficial for everyone’s health and the future of the planet, and ways communities can get involved in transitioning to clean energy.
Transportation, Air Pollution, and Lung Health
The webinar covers how Respiratory Health Association and its community partners are assessing the impacts of pollution in neighborhoods around Chicago, as well as the health impacts of air pollution, how equity and disparities are effected by pollution, and how electric vehicles and infrastructure benefit health and improve air quality.
Asthma, Clean Air, and the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act:
Illinois Virtual Respiratory Education Event
In this policy roundtable, we discussed opportunities to influence the use of zero-emission/clean air funding, made available under the recent state law, to maximize health benefits and minimize impacts on people living with chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and other lung diseases.
Topics addressed included the asthma landscape in Illinois and the Chicago region, the impact of air pollution on health outcomes in multiple communities, and how provisions within the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) provide opportunities to decrease air pollutants in communities with high asthma rates.
Please note: this event is available in both English and Spanish.