I love Cleveland. I love the people here and the pride we take in our city. I love our city’s rich history and our ability to innovate in the face of changing industries. I have lived in northeastern Ohio my entire life, and I love that Cleveland is experiencing a renaissance.
However, as someone with asthma and an employee at the American Lung Association, there’s one thing about Cleveland that I don’t love: There’s a crisis quite literally hovering in the air that is more reflective of our past than our progress.
This spring, a report from the American Lung Association revealed that the Cleveland metropolitan area is one of the most polluted metropolitan areas in the country. Last year, Cleveland was ranked 54th worst in the nation for particle pollution, also known as soot. This year, Cleveland ranked 9th worst for the same metric – the most dramatic air quality shift of any metropolitan area in the report…