Ella was a normal nine-year-old girl who went to school, did gymnastics, and liked to spend time with her family. Ella was normal in all ways except one; Ella suffered from asthma-related seizures and cough syncope. Cough syncope is a condition that is normally associated with long-distance drivers who had been driving for decades, so why would a young girl like Ella develop this condition? The answer is simple, Ella lived and went to school near an extremely busy circular road in Lewisham. Unfortunately, Ella passed away in 2013, but her family has used this tragic event as a platform to push for air pollution reform.
       Ella’s family is asserting that the air pollution that their daughter was exposed to on a daily basis weakened her lungs over the course of her short life, leading her to be hospitalized for asthma-related issues and the cough syncope issue many times throughout the last three years of her life. Her family is now working with a human rights lawyer to make it explicit that the cause of death of their daughter is air pollution on her death certificate in order to bring awareness to the issue and to get the government to treat it as a pressing issue. Ella’s hometown, as well as London and other towns in the UK, have been known to breach the guidelines on air pollutants, ignoring the recommended levels of concentrations that are considered safe. A majority of these air pollutants come from cars so the family is trying to bring political awareness to issues that can reduce the number of cars on the roads by prioritizing public transportation. Many other major cities around the world have made similar efforts to try to do this as well, but society has become a car-dependent population making change very difficult.
       Ella’s story is not unique. There have been many studies conducted in countries all over the world that have linked air pollution exposure to the precedence of asthma and asthma-related symptoms of those who live in areas of high concentrations of air pollutants, especially children. Children are the most vulnerable to the negative effects of air pollutants such as NO2, CO2, and PM10 because their immune systems and respiratory systems have not yet fully developed in order to withstand the unclean air. This issue will only continue if nothing is done to reduce the pollutants. Citizens living in major cities should need the same urgency as Ella’s family has for reform so that no other child will have to suffer the fate of Ella.

Anjali Bryan