US Latinos mobilize to monitor – and improve – local air quality: ‘We have to fix it’
The Guardian
By: Thalia Juarez
At a South Bronx Unite (SBU) community meeting in May, about 20 residents packed into a small room in the Bronx, while others joined online to discuss data from 65 air monitors tracking particle pollution across the borough.
Much of that pollution comes from heavy truck traffic, industrial sites such as waste transfer stations, and local power plants. The Bronx is 55% Latino and 29% Black and has some of the highest rates of asthma in the country.
One of those 65 sensors is mounted on the concrete facade of the building where Grace Gonzalez, 56, lives.
A lifelong Bronx resident, she lives less than half a mile from the Bruckner Expressway, a major truck route, and just a mile from the industrial waterfront. Grace has lived in the building for 56 years and has asthma that has worsened with age, now limiting her ability to go on walks and jog like she used to.
“I try to live a normal life as much as I can,” she said.
