- Air filter workshops are being organized by the Ecology Center and Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice to combat poor air quality in Detroit.
- Community members, including Shirley Jones, shared their concerns about air pollution and learned to create handmade air purifiers.
- The Clear the Air coalition, including these organizations, advocates for clean air policies and raises awareness about industrial contributions to Detroit’s poor air quality.
Shirley Jones knew she couldn’t wait to act when the Canadian wildfire smoke spread into Detroit last summer. A sufferer of allergies for years, the Ravendale resident had mostly tolerated the pollutants emanating from the nearby Stellantis automotive plant or the trucks that drove along Interstate 94.
“I had to buy one of those expensive air purifiers,” Jones remembered. She also wore an N95 mask at night, hoping both solutions would help reduce the allergens that made their way into her house and lungs.
“This is so bad for me; I was afraid of seeing or smelling the smoke every night,” Jones said.
On a humid Thursday afternoon in Southwest Detroit, Jones and a dozen other community members came together to not only share their concerns over the city’s air pollution but also craft their own temporary solutions.
Between plates of falafel and rice and lively conversations, community members learned how to build handmade air filters and do screen printing at a “climate salon” co-organized by Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice and the Ecology Center.
Using 10″ box fans, recycled cardboard, tape, and pleated air filters, attendees created makeshift purifiers that can last as long as six months and filtrate air within a bedroom or small room.
“Summertime is pretty known for having poor air quality days, especially with the wildfire smoke that has been coming in from Canada since last summer and even before that,” said Salam Beydoun, an organizer with the Ecology Center, who is funding the air filter workshops.
“But it’s not just the wildfire smokes,” Beydoun said. “We’re also bringing awareness to what industries are in Detroit and Dearborn specifically, and how those are contributing to poor air quality, especially with the number of people having asthma being so high in Wayne County.”
DIY air filters are just one part of the climate conversation
Andrew Kaplowitz, climate and energy justice lead at Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, said the climate salons are focused on creating space for community members to come together around issues that impact their daily lives.
“The philosophy behind this is to help us build relationships with each other to understand who might have certain resources that can help us out, who we can ask for support or help from, and build that trust that we need in order to actually show up when someone in the community is demanding environmental justice, abolition, or whatever it might be,” Kaplowitz said.
Both organizations are members of the Clear the Air coalition, a collection of environmental justice groups in Metro Detroit that advocate for policies that protect clean air, including cumulative impact assessments.
Downtown Detroit resident Bahar Disi quickly decided to attend the salon after receiving an invitation from a friend.
“I do have air purifiers at home, but I can always have more, and I want to meet people in the community,” Disi said.
Originally from Iran, Disi said residents in the country’s capital, Tehran, experience chronic air pollution due to emissions from old cars and factories. In the winter, cold air and a lack of wind can trap a thick blanket of smog over the city’s surface, forcing people with allergies like herself to stay indoors or risk breaking out in hives.
For Arlene Garner, the city’s air quality has taken on a personal and professional importance. Both her brother and daughter suffered from asthma throughout their childhood, and at the elementary school where she works, she’s seen children as young as four years old miss weeks of school for asthma hospitalizations.
“We need better air quality, especially for our babies,” Garner said.
The Ecology Center plans to host more air purifier workshops across the city in the forthcoming months. For more information, those interested can visit their website at www.ecocenter.org.
Editor’s note: Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice and Ecology Center is a Planet Detroit Impact Partner. Impact Partners support Planet Detroit’s journalism but do not influence or direct our editorial decisions which are made independently.