Whether it be walking the dog or climbing mountains, shooting basketball or biking all terrains, GASP considers you an athlete. We are concerned for your health, and we want to make sure your voice is heard!
Why athletes you may wonder? Well, as it turns out, athletes are particularly sensitive to the poor air quality in our region. It’s a matter of exposure: when you exercise, you breathe more deeply and you breathe more often. And depending on the intensity of your exercise, you may even be breathing through your mouth rather than your nose, bypassing the sticky hairs and mucus in your nose that can filter out dangerous particles. You might even by exercising near busy roadways, during rush hour, or on an air quality action day. All of these factors contribute to your wellbeing.
Enter Athletes United for Healthy Air. This newly revamped program is designed by you, for you. For the next month, Athletes United is searching its constituency for answers. What are you most concerned about and how can we address those concerns? Tell us all about it in our survey:
With your input, Athletes United for Healthy Air will design programming that advocates solutions to the specific challenges that the athletes of Southwestern Pennsylvania face. Starting with this blog post, we hope to educate and empower athletes like you to champion healthy air for themselves, their teams, and their communities.
Breathing in so much pollution is scary and maddening, and it’s severely unhealthy. But, as an athlete, your body and mind are perfectly poised to fight off air pollution’s ill effects. Exercise your body and exercise your voice. It all starts here. Join the movement with Athletes United for Healthy Air.
Read more about Athletes United for Healthy Air here.
—Emily Persico, Student Conservation association Sustainability Fellow