Declare Your Right to Breathe

Join the “Blow a Bubble for Clean Air” campaign on Facebook

Contacts

Brian Smith, Earthjustice, (510) 550-6714

Earthjustice launched a Facebook campaign today encouraging Americans to declare their right to breathe clean air by blowing a bubblegum bubble and posting that image as their profile picture.

The Facebook action is part of Earthjustice’s “Right to Breathe” campaign, which gives Americans the knowledge and tools to defend the Clean Air Act from attacks by polluters and their friends in Congress. To date, more than 55,000 Americans have taken action in defense of clean air.

“By blowing a bubble for clean air, Americans are taking a simple but symbolic step to show they support strong clean air laws,” said Georgia McIntosh, Vice President of Communications with Earthjustice. “The time has come for all Americans to let Washington know that our right to breathe clean air is not negotiable.”

Rev. Susan Conrad of Oakland, California who joined the Facebook bubble blowing campaign and sent a letter to her elected officials in Congress said, “I commute to work every day on a bicycle, so I depend on clean air and want my representative to know how important this issue is for me. Besides, blowing a bubble was fun and creative—I hadn’t done that in years.”

Clean Air Ambassadors Head to DC!
The Right to Breathe campaign and its Facebook component coincides with the national “50 States United For Healthy Air” gathering in Washington, D.C. which begins today. The event brings more than 70 doctors, nurses, faith and tribal leaders, social justice advocates and community organizers from every state to urge Congress, the EPA and the Obama Administration to implement and enforce the strongest possible clean air health standards.

Air Pollution: A Known Killer
The Clean Air Act requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set and enforce strong health protections that save tens of thousands of lives every year. Since the Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970, the EPA has enforced the law and helped reduce asthma, heart disease, and other illnesses, and saved Americans billions of dollars in medical expenses and missed days of school and work. Studies have shown that for every dollar spent cleaning up the air, there is a $40 dollar return in health benefits.

In August 2010, the EPA finalized strong protections from the toxic air released by cement plants, which will save as many as 2,500 lives every year. The agency also proposed plans to regulate harmful coal ash dumps and toxic air pollution from boilers and incinerators, power plants, and other industrial facilities. Despite these gains, some in Congress are aiming to restrict the EPA’s ability to fight air pollution, and public health and environmental organizations are working together to stop their efforts.

For more information, please visit the links below:

Facebook Bubble Blowing Page
Right to Breathe Campaign
50 States United For Healthy Air Event

About Earthjustice

Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.