Healthy Air for People and Climate
Philip J. Landrigan MD says we can fight pollution to protect our health and stop pollution to protect the health of the climate.
The Healthy Air for All program is based on that call for action.
Healthy Air for All does community organization and education that connects pollution to everyone’s health and introduces tools for mitigation— people protecting themselves and their loved ones, especially the children and the elderly.
That will be the springboard for action with a broad coalition demanding change to prevent pollution at the source.
Pollution and Health on the North Shore
A beautiful blue sky may be full of harmful pollution.
We need to measure and track pollution in order to protect ourselves. Sudi and Ron Smoller (Breathe Clean North Shore and MCAN) worked with the Commonwealth, Sharon Cameron, and the City of Peabody to obtain and install seven Purple Air air quality monitors.
These AQ monitors track levels of tiny, invisible PM2.5 particles, (particulate matter of size 2.5 microns) so small that they get into the lung and into the blood. The smallest particle that can be seen unaided is about 1000 times larger than an 2.5 micron particle.
[MAP: DEATHS/1000 ALL CAUSES]
Landrigan and his colleagues mapped the connection between pollution levels and deaths from pollution-related disease across the Commonwealth.
Peabody has high levels of PM2.5 and one of the worst pollution-related health outcomes in the Commonwealth.
Estimated deaths due to pollution in Peabody and nearby municipalities per 10,000 in 2019 were Peabody 6.6, Danvers 5.7, Beverly 4.5, and Salem 3.6.
Adrienne Allen, MD, MPH reports that her North Shore patients say, “I am short of breath, I can't walk.”
The state 2021 Roadmap for Climate Policy required an environmental impact study on nearby environmental justice areas for projects like the Peabody Peaker, a gas and oil fueled plant on standby to provide electricity to the grid during peak demand and sited within one mile of environmental justice communities. Parts of Danvers, Beverly, and Salem also fall within the 1-mile environmental justice impact area for new projects. Nevertheless, the Peabody Peaker had gotten most of the required permits before anyone in the community knew about it. There had been no transparency and no consideration of health and climate impacts of the proposed plant. The Commonwealth did not require an environmental impact study done despite public pressure.
Sharon Cameron, Director of Public Health for the City of Peabody Health Department, said that the Peabody Peaker could add “...an additional 12 tons per year of small particulates. [and almost] 51,000 tons of CO2 . “The City of Peabody has 41.5% of its population living in an Environmental Justice block.”
MCAN supported a public health study by Kathryn Rodgers, MPH, showing that pollution-related disease disease rates were higher near the site of the Peabody Peaker than the rest of the state.
Sources of Pollution: Traffic
The main source of PM2.5 pollution is from traffic and all forms of transportation. Peabody is crossed by Routes 1, 95, and 128 and extensive commuter traffic.
Sources of pollution: wildfire smoke
Sources of pollution: cooking with gas
Protests & Advocacy
Stop the Peabody Peaker
In 2015, the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) proposed to build a 55 MW gas and oil peaker power plant, the Peabody Peaker. In the Spring of 2021, we found out about “Project 2015A.”
The movement to stop the Peabody Peaker sought to protect immigrants and other environmental justice people already burdened by pollution and disease from new pollution. We worked to get the state to apply new rules on pollution in environmental justice areas, require an environmental impact report, and prevent construction.
We worked to stop the Peabody Peaker from being built using demonstrations, a hunger strike, education, and advocacy.
Advocates, including state legislators Senator Lovely and Representative Kerans, came to demonstrate.
We failed to effectively mobilize the large immigrant and environmental justice population or get broad community support. The state did not respond. They went with the old regulations.
The Mass Municipal Wholesale Electric Corporation (MMWEC) built the plant in the facility of the Peabody Municipal Light Plant.
Education & Mitigation
People of the North Shore
Mitigation: Know your air quality
To do more, we can educate about the health benefits of mitigating against harm by pollution. We can reach out to both the environmental justice and the middle class communities on the North Shore. Communicating a new idea and bridging among groups is challenging. We will need to listen to, motivate, and partner with each group on their own terms. Each group can then mobilize for mitigation and systemic change.
We can track pollution in the air and intervene to protect ourselves, our families, and our communities.
We can succeed by working together, the rich and the poor, the middle class and the environmental justice community.
Mitigation: N95 mask
Mitigation: Room air purifiers/filters
Room air purifiers cost from $80-$300. N95 respirator masks cost about $1 each and can be reused. DIY filters can be assembled for a little over $100.
Healthy Air for All, People and Planet