World Asthma Day Detroit - hosted by Climate Action Campaign
2026-05-05 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Detroit Riverwalk, near the Cullen Family Carousel
On Tuesday, May 5, 2025, at 11:00 AM, health professionals, environmental justice advocates, and a Detroit resident living with asthma will gather at William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor to mark World Asthma Day with a clear message: Michiganders are not expendable.
Asthma affects 28 million Americans, causing approximately 3,500 deaths and 1 million emergency room visits every year and 44% of Americans now live in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association’s 2026 State of the Air report. Detroit’s air quality is among the worst in the nation. Detroit’s frontline communities know this crisis firsthand. Black Americans are nearly 1.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with asthma and five times more likely to visit an emergency room because of it. This disparity is driven in part by decades of redlining, predatory zoning, and industrial pollution concentrated in communities of color.
The Trump administration’s Polluters First Agenda is making things worse. By loosening restrictions on soot, tailpipe, climate, and chemical pollution, Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin have created a toxic cocktail of carcinogens that Detroiters are forced to breathe every day while treating their lives as expendable.
This World Asthma Day, speakers will demand that the EPA uphold science, and protect the communities most harmed by pollution. Clean air is not a partisan issue and Americans are not expendable.
WHO:

Kathleen Slonager, RN, AE-C, Executive Director, AAFA Michigan Chapter
Thomasenia Weston, Detroit Resident Impacted by Asthma
Sandra Turner-Handy, Interim Executive Director, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice
Bryan Smigielski, Michigan Campaign Organizer, Sierra Club

About the Climate Action Campaign
Climate Action Campaign (CAC) is a vibrant coalition driving ambitious, durable, equitable federal action to tackle the climate crisis. By cutting carbon pollution and accelerating the transition to clean energy, we will improve public health and create a more resilient economy and a more sustainable future for all.
