I’m taking a lap around the gym and feel my airways closing. I start gasping for air, and try to walk back to the rest of my class. The other kids watch me as I struggle to breathe, leaning against the wall, tears streaming down my face—a fear I’ve come to know too well. I worry – again – that I might die.
By now, I’ve become all too familiar with near-death moments and rushed trips to the ER, having endured around 20 asthma attacks in my life. It also steals something more: the chance to just be a kid. Playing with my friends is nearly impossible, and when I try, it comes at the expense of my lungs. Nights are no easier. My mother sleeps beside me with an asthma machine by her side. She listens for the sounds of my struggling lungs, ready to place a mask on my face while I sleep. Not only that, but as a result from my toxic environment and asthma medication I suffered from severe eczema.
Trash-lined streets, rundown buildings, and polluted air were constant reminders of the unhealthy spaces I called home. I have vivid memories of my mother pinning me down to apply ointments to my raw open, burning skin. They never worked, only leaving me in pain. Scars now cover my legs, reminders of the places I once bled nonstop from eczema.
My environment was suffocating me. The air I breathed and the spaces I lived and learned in seemed to conspire against my health, robbing me of the chance to simply be a child. This is the harsh reality that many people of color face across the country. Beyond being an environmental issue, it’s a profound injustice—one that drives disproportionate levels of health problems in communities of color and those living in lower socioeconomic conditions.
I was born and raised in the Bronx, in the Belmont district. I gained admission to Westover School for high school, a boarding school in Middlebury, Connecticut. After high school, I continued my education at Connecticut College and am now a junior studying International Relations and on the women’s squash team. I am, without a doubt, a privileged poor.
I have studied and learned that in this country, there is not only systemic racism but also inequality in something as simple as the air we breathe and the places we live.
Connecticut is no different from the rest of the country when it comes to pollution levels, which are adversely affecting some communities more than others. Climate change is happening, and working-class people are facing the brunt of it, where disproportionate levels of health problems occur among communities of color and lower socioeconomic status.
The transportation sector, fossil fuel combustion, and industrial emissions are the leading contributors in Connecticut. Wealth is concentrated in suburban communities, and urban/rural neighborhoods are faced with pollution. These communities are facing more pollution in their water, air and less greenery. Our national wealth disparity is transparent and Connecticut is a clear example of things such as red-lining and systematical injustice that are factors adding onto this dilemma.
According to nonprofit Save the Sound, “Legal action is often a necessary complement to grassroots action to stop projects that will expose citizens to unhealthy levels of pollution on the basis of their race, religion, or economic status.”.
A research study by Yale shows Hartford on the report’s list of the top 25 most polluted cities. It consistently fails to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone. The study goes into detail of PM2.5, which are pollutants made up of solid or liquid particles particularly dangerous to human health penetrating deep into the lungs and bloodstream. These levels PM2.5 have been recorded in places such as Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield, New Haven, and New London counties.
Everyone is at risk, this pollutant does not discriminate. Even low levels are dangerous as they’re linked to lung cancer, worsen chronic heart and lung diseases such as asthma, and aggravate conditions like heart attacks, heart rhythm disorders, heart failure, respiratory symptoms, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and long-term exposure can harm the brain, increasing the risk of dementia. Chronic exposure can also harm pregnant women and toddlers, with linked cases of impaired brain development, pre-term birth, low birth weight, and more. This is why it is important.
Organizations such as Save The Sound have done incredible work within their communities to implement change. Despite still waiting on sharing benefits of green restoration, effective wastewater infrastructure, and clean energy economy, they have been able to implement meaningful change, such as at the Olin Powder Farm a transformation of contaminated site to native park, or via the Mount Vernon Boys and Girls Club empowering their community on water pollution, monitor and document water pollution, and pushing local leaders to clean water.
At Mill River they are working on replacing an abandoned segment of road with green infrastructure park to filter stormwater and absorb flood waters but also be a classroom for nearby schools to improve access to the Mill River and New Haven Parks Systems Fair Haven. The Wheeler St project fights to protect The Annex, the most environmentally overburdened neighborhood in all of Connecticut and pollutants that endanger the Quinnipiac River. Work on stormwater and resilience over the past decade has focused on green infrastructure work within Bridgeport and New Haven which includes nearly 100 bioswales and plans to expand edible and traditional rain gardens overall helping these communities have better shade, lower summer temperatures, and reduce polluted stormwater and sewage overflows and more.
The fight for clean air, healthy environments, and environmental justice is not just a local issue—it’s a national crisis rooted in systemic inequality. Growing up in an unhealthy environment taught me firsthand how pollution, poverty, and systemic racism intersect to harm the most vulnerable communities. From the polluted air of the Bronx to the inequities in Connecticut’s neighborhoods, it is clear that change is desperately needed. No child should have to struggle for their next breath or face chronic health issues because of where they live. Clean air and healthy environments are basic human rights. Organizations like Save the Sound and research institutions like Yale have shown that meaningful solutions are possible, from green infrastructure to renewable energy initiatives. These efforts not only restore environments but also empower communities to take action.
More must be done. Legal action, grassroots activism, and systemic change are essential to ensure every child, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, has the opportunity to grow up in a safe and healthy environment. This fight is about more than just addressing pollution. It’s time to ensure that clean air and healthy lives are rights afforded to everyone, not just the privileged few.
Kimberly Lucero is a junior at Connecticut College.