Welcome to the new and improved Moms Make News—a biweekly digest of our media hits. Check out our press page to see more of our media hits and follow @Moms_Press on Twitter for updates from our small, but mighty, Media and Public Engagement duo—Sasha Tenenbaum and Sarah McBride.
A new study links breathing diesel exhaust to impaired brain function. In an interview with Health Day, our Senior Policy Analyst Elizabeth Bechard highlights that this study has concerning implications for children’s health, since “20 million children ride buses to school every day and the vast majority of these buses are fueled by diesel.”
- We already knew that diesel pollution can disrupt children’s cognition and academic performance, but Elizabeth says that this study may help us understand why.
- This is an environmental justice issue—low-wealth, Black, and Hispanic people disproportionately live near highways.
- You can protect your kids from diesel pollution by avoiding heavily trafficked roads when possible, keeping windows rolled up while driving on busy roads, and making sure that car air filters are doing their job.
You can also find this article in Medicine Net, US News & World Report, MSN (in Spanish), and 150+ other outlets.
IN OTHER NEWS…
Calling for cleaner cars: At a press conference last month, Michigan organizer Elizabeth Hauptman joined other environmental and public health advocates to urge EPA to set strong vehicle pollution standards.
- WCMU Public Radio quotes Elizabeth: “These new standards will help reduce fossil fuel use, strengthen our energy independence, protect public health, national security, while also saving parents at the pump.”
- This presser was mentioned on local Michigan ABC and CBS affiliate TV stations.
Not-so-advanced recycling: Plastics Recycling Update and Resource Recycling report on a letter that 78 organizations sent to New Mexico Governor Grisham, asking her not to rebrand plastic incineration as “advanced recycling.” Moms Clean Air Force was one of them.
- This isn’t just about names. To classify incineration as “advanced recycling” would offer industry an opportunity to burn plastic without having to invest in the pollution controls that are required for incinerators under the Clean Air Act.
- New Mexico organizer Ana Rios (above) is quoted in both of these outlets. She highlights that communities “already overburdened by toxic air pollution and environmental injustice are the very ones who will be subjected to the additional harms.”
Kids for clean air: Oscar Hauptman, Michigan organizer Elizabeth Hauptman’s son, is profiled by New Yorkers for Clean Power.
- He’s proof that kids can make a difference. Oscar is only 11 years old, but he’s already testified at several EPA hearings. He draws from his experience with asthma to urge the agency to finalize pollution protections that would help kids like him breathe more easily.
The reruns: A couple of the news hits you read about last week ran in more outlets.
- Ohio organizer Tracy Sabetta’s quotes in Public News Service also ran on WRDL FM.
- An Arizona PBS article quoting our former Public Health Policy Director Molly Rauch ran in the Arizona Daily Sun.
SPREAD THE WORD
Our @Moms_Press Twitter handle is dedicated to sharing our media hits and interacting with reporters. Help us reach more people by following us and retweeting our posts about this week’s press hits!
- Elizabeth Bechard in US. News & World Report. https://twitter.com/Moms_Press/status/1620444482197155842
- Elizabeth Hauptman in WCMU. https://twitter.com/Moms_Press/status/1619017531045609472
- Ana Rios in Resource Recycling. https://twitter.com/Moms_Press/status/1620784550346649602
- Oscar Hauptman in New Yorkers for Clean Power. https://twitter.com/Moms_Press/status/1620090284825804801