Shared Stories
We all have a reason to fight for clean air. Check out some personal stories below that highlight the need for healthy, safe air, and click here to submit your own.
I had never notice how bad the air quality was in East Tennessee until returning from a beach trip to Myrtle Beach. My husband and I were hit like a baseball with allergies as soon as we entered the mountains near our home. Read more...
— Diana, TN
Like many people, I am concerned about the environment and its impact on human health. For the past ten years, I've lived in one of the most polluted parts of one of the most polluted cities in America: Long Beach, Calif. There have been days I've smelled gas in the air. Each week, black soot accumulates on my car and my windowsills. Read more...
— Theresa , CA
It’s not easy for me to talk about how an asthma attack took my young daughter’s life. Because I don’t want another family to have to ever have to endure our pain, keeping Morgan’s memory alive sometimes means reliving the unspeakable heartbreak that still lingers from the day she was taken from us. Read more...
— Walter, RI
With the wind patterns blowing San Francisco smog to the Central Valley; herbicides and pesticides being sprayed; and constant heat and dust, Fresno is a toxic soup 8 months of the year. I have developed bronchiectasis (scar tissue in the lungs) from recurrent bouts pneumonia. Many of my students are afflicted with asthma and chronic bronchitis.
There seems to be no awareness on the part of big farming or San Franciscans. Read more...
— Ruth Helen, CA
When ozone pollution is high, I get a migraine headache! OUCH! Read more...
— Nancy, TX
As a mother, there is nothing more difficult than watching your child struggle to breathe. My two young children and I suffer from asthma. Read more...
— Rachael, MA
I am 63 and was diagnosed 4 years ago with COPD. I have never smoked, nor worked in an environment that would cause lung disease. For the past 22 years, I've lived in a county that has consistently earned an "F" on its annual air-quality report cards. Read more...
— Barbara, MT
I live in Rockwood, Tennessee, and I have developed a serious breathing problem since I have moved here. I live next to two companies that are polluting the air I breathe. One burns nickel and the other burns copper. Read more...
— kimberly, TN
Both my daughters have severe asthma. I’ve had to call 9-1-1 so many times when they couldn’t breathe that when the fire trucks came to school for a special event, the paramedics knew their names. Read more...
— Tiamy, OH
In 1996, my father had a faulty tuberculosis test, which led to a biopsy of his lung where stage IV lung cancer was found. Initially, he was given only a year to live, but he beat those odds and remained stable for five years. After a case of the shingles, the cancer had recurred and metastasized throughout his body. Read more...
— Michelle, PA
