Teenagers unite to fight air pollution in honour of Ella
A CLASSMATE of the schoolgirl whose death was the first to be blamed on filthy air has joined with other teenagers to end killer pollution.
Anjali Raman-Middleton, 17, said the Choked Up campaign she helped found was the legacy of Ella AdooKissi-Debrah, nine, who died in February 2013 after an asthma attack.
In a landmark ruling last month, a coroner ruled excessive air pollution contributed to her death.
Choked Up is demanding our right to breath clean air is protected by law.
Anjali, who grew up less than five minutes away from the jammed South Circular Road where Ella lived in south London, said: “One of the reasons I wanted to work on air pollution was because of Ella – and because of the neighbourhood I live in.”
She described feeling scared about the air pollution near her home, adding: “I know that it was able to kill one of my classmates.
“I wonder what effects it’s having on other people as well because obviously air pollution affects everyone but it doesn’t affect everyone equally.” She met the campaign’s other founders Destiny Boka-Batesa, Kaydine Rogers and Nyeleti BrauerMaxaeia on a training course with Advocacy Academy, a charity that encourages youngsters to tackle social issues in their communities.
Destiny, 17, said they were inspired to get involved after watching their
younger sister asthma attacks.
They said: “The similarities between her [Ella] and my sister are so uncanny. We don’t live in the same area but it kind of sprung up the same feelings of helplessness and the same worry I had.”
The student, from south London, fears many people are “indifferent” to air pollution because it is
stricken
by
severe invisible. They said: “You can’t really see it unless it’s right in your face in the form of smog.
“Also, not a lot of people are able to create a link between race and class and loads of intersectional issues which relate to that and things like air pollution.
“That indifference is a huge worry because the moment people stop caring – or not care in the first place – about issues like air pollution that disproportionately affects people like me is the moment our communities fall.
“It’s completely unfair that we’re having to live at the expense of other people’s indifference.”
Choked Up is calling on the Government to enshrine the right to breathe clean air in law.
Their long-term goal is to secure a new clean air act that follows the World Health Organisation’s targets.
Destiny said it was “infuriating” pollution is preventable if only people stood up and those in power listened.
They said officials should “take on active measures to protect us and our lives because we’re just as valid as the next person”.