I want to speak with you today on why it is so
important for the Ohio, and nurses everywhere to promote clean renewable energy
and the Clean Power Plan.
Our children's ability to breath depends on reducing
Ohio's carbon pollution. As a registered nurse and healthcare professional, I
believe in primary prevention to reduce asthma and other respiratory illnesses
in Ohio. Moreover, primary prevention means making sure the air we breathe is
clean.
Personally, my husband is affected by poor air
quality with his chronic obstructive lung disease. He can no longer mow the
lawn without frequent breaks. I have seen him wheeze, become short of breath,
and have to stop what he is doing to catch his breath. I have also seen
children struggle to breath because of asthma attacks.
Asthma already affects 257,000 children and 832,000
adults in Ohio. Carbon and other volatile organic compounds, like benzene and
methane, trigger asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses. If the Clean
Power Plan is implemented, 2,800 lives will be saved and 760 cumulative
hospitalizations will be prevented from 2020 - 2030. If Ohio does not work to
reduce carbon pollution, Cleveland will experience 11 more days in the summer
that exceed the EPA's air quality standards with Columbus seeing a 28 percent
drop in the number of clean days per summer
This is not just an Ohio health hazard. According to
Cincinnati Children's Division of Asthma Research, every day in this country,
78,000 children or adults miss school or work daily due to asthma.
Approximately 35,000 children or adults have an asthma attack daily. Emergency
room visits occur daily for 4,600 children or adults due to asthma. Asthma
hospital admission will occur for 1,200 children or adults daily due to asthma,
and 10 children or adults die each day from asthma.(1)
The economic cost is close to 56 billion dollars a
year.(1)
The economic impact to families and loss of
productivity to industry struggling to meet benefits is overwhelming. Everyone's
health will be impacted if Ohio and Senator Portman do not support the Clean
Power Plan. So I would like every nurse who feels led to, call Senator Portman’s
office and support the Clean Power Plan and EPA’s standards for reducing
methane. Future lives depend on it.
By 2030, the Clean Power Plan will prevent 3600 premature
deaths, 1700 non-fatal heart attacks, 90,000 asthma attacks in children, and
300,000 missed workdays.(2)
References and other
resources
(1) http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/research/divisions/a/asthma/default/
(2) https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change
(3) http://www2.epa.gov/cleanpowerplan
(4) http://www.epa.gov/asthma/pdfs/asthma_fact_sheet_en.pdf