"The statistics are alarming. The Environmental Protection Agency reported (pdf) almost a 50 percent increase in asthma rates among black children from 2001 to 2009—that translates to about 1 out of every 6 black children. While it’s easy to blame this spike on high pollen counts during these spring and early-summer months, the real reason for the rise in asthma cases is the increased levels of ozone caused by climate change. The higher ozone levels exacerbate asthma attacks and other respiratory ailments that disproportionately harm African Americans, leading to increased hospitalizations and deaths
Why are these spikes so prevalent in communities of color, you ask? We need look no further than the location of coal-fired power plants that surround and are sometimes embedded in poor and urban communities. It is estimated that 68 percent of African Americans live within 30 miles (pdf) of a coal-fired power plant—a distance that can bring the most harmful effects from these toxic emissions. The high levels of ozone, nitrogen, oxides, acidic aerosol and fine particles in the air in our communities are known to trigger asthma attacks or cause children to develop asthma(pdf)."Read the whole article here.
And, good resource: 2002 Report on Coal-Fired Power Plants and Environmental Racism.
