City News

From Your Cleveland Heights City Government

Day 4, May 9, 2024

Today’s Air Quality Awareness Week theme is “Air Quality and Environmental Justice.”

Air quality is a moving picture: one moment, it’s blue skies; the next, a haze is settling over the city because of conditions in the atmosphere or ozone created by sunlight and heat mixing with pollution.

One area where air quality is a steady concern in Cleveland Heights are neighborhoods where social factors like household income and the age and condition of the built environment lead to greater exposure to poor indoor and outdoor air quality and higher rates of asthma, COPD, lead poisoning, and methane gas exposure from HVAC and stoves.

At last night’s Cleveland Heights Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP) Visioning Workshop, a full house of attendees heard two startling statistics about the inequity of the social and built environment and air quality:

Eight Census Tracts in Cleveland Heights are above the 90^th percentile for asthma rates, and

17 Census Tracts are above the 90^th percentile for lead exposure rates.

This is a major equity concern that Cleveland Heights needs to address.

What is Environmental Justice?

Environmental justice means the just treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of income, race, color, national origin, Tribal affiliation, or disability, in agency decision-making and other Federal activities that affect human health and the environment so that people:

(i) are fully protected from disproportionate and adverse human health and environmental effects (including risks) and hazards, including those related to climate change, the cumulative impacts of environmental and other burdens, and the legacy of racism or other structural or systemic barriers; and

(ii) have equitable access to a healthy, sustainable, and resilient environment in which to live, play, work, learn, grow, worship, and engage in cultural and subsistence practices.

–U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Legacy Management

How Cleveland Heights is addressing environmental justice

Cleveland Heights has a number of programs that help address the inequity of indoor air quality, including:

Its Paint Program within its Building Department that helps low-to-moderate income (LMI) homeowners address housing code violations such as peeling and exposed lead paint.

A partnership funded through HUD Community Development Block Grants with the Home Repair Resource Center, a non-profit organization that, among its services, helps seniors and homeowners on a fixed income address lead and other housing repairs.

The Cleveland Heights Client Action and Resiliency Plan will identify opportunities for addressing the lasting impact of poor air quality, including the city’s largest contribution to climate change—heating and powering the built environment.

President Biden’s Climate Bill is a promising source for addressing equity in air quality. The Climate Bill includes $173 Million to Make Homes More Energy Efficient and Climate Resilient for Low-Income Americans. Helping seniors and LMI populations access these funds could help Cleveland Heights residents breathe a little easier.

To share your thoughts on air quality and environmental justice, please consider taking the City’s Climate Action Day Survey and the city’s newly released Air Quality Survey.

AirNow.gov

AirNow.gov is a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Park Service, NASA, Centers for Disease Control, and tribal, state, and local air quality agencies that track and report air quality.

AirNow.gov uses the official U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI), a color-coded index designed to communicate whether air quality is healthy or unhealthy for you. When you know the AQI in your area, you can take steps to protect your health.

View previous Air Quality Awareness Week emails

DAY 1, May 6, 2024

DAY 2, May 7, 2024

DAY 3, May 8, 2024

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