The Road to Improving Air Quality Includes Business Location Decisions

For the first time in a generation, our region has had to grapple with consistent air quality issues impacting our daily lives.

By Joan Chase, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at Fund for Our Economic Future as featured content for The City Club of Cleveland blog, here.

August 21 2023

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The City Club’s Forum on Friday “The Air We Breathe: Examining Climate Change’s Impact on Air Quality” unpacked the serious impacts of poor air quality and a myriad of potential mitigations.

Air quality has enormous human and economic costs. As we all learned this summer, the impacts of air quality can be quite personal, from cancelled outdoor concerts and family pool days to sitting up all night with an asthmatic child. But air quality does not just affect family barbeques, it also impacts our economy. The National Weather Service estimates the cost of air pollution related illness to be $150 billion annually and, as Divya Sridhar said on Friday “economic development happens when workers are healthy and happy.” Where we develop and grow our economic activity also substantially affects our overall air quality– and, subsequently, the happiness and health of our workers.

Read the full piece here at City Club of Cleveland.