Ruth Brooker, a Bishopston-based campaigner for clean air in Bristol schools, recently attended a Healthy Indoor Air conference in New York.
Described as a ‘high-level side event, to be held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly’, the conference on 23 September, brought together leading global figures and experts in Indoor Air Quality, representing all regions of the world and from a variety of backgrounds.
“There were high-level speakers from government, UN agencies, academia, healthcare, education, policy, sustainability, and industry attending this event to share insights, experience, and diverse perspectives on how they are approaching indoor air quality” said Ruth.
Speakers at the UN event, outlined many reasons why indoor air quality is so important. These ranged from poor airflow in buildings, spread of disease, damp, mould and pollution from outside air to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are chemicals released as gases from certain solids and liquids, including building materials, furnishings and household products.
During the event attendees were invited to sign a Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air. (see photo below).
Those who signed included H.E. Mr. Ervin Ibrahimović, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro and Anne-Claire Amprou, the French Ambassador for Global Health.
Ruth Brooker also signed the pledge on behalf of Bristol based Clean Air For Kids, putting Bristol at the heart of a new coalition of global leaders, policymakers, scientists, academics, health experts, and advocates collectively known as Air Club.
According to Air Club, we spend 90% of our time indoors. The members of Air Club believe that breathing clean and healthy indoor air shouldn’t be a luxury – it should be a fundamental human right for everyone around the world, and they are working to make this aspiration a reality.
Ruth, who describes herself as an “accidental and unexpectedly passionate advocate for better indoor air quality in public spaces” set up Clean Air For Kids, a not-for-profit company, after realising the benefits of clean indoor air following her son’s diagnosis with leukaemia.
“My son Joshua was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2019, when he was just two years old” said Ruth. “Joshua was three months into an intensive chemotherapy phase when the pandemic hit in 2020. Taking him into hospital for essential treatment at that time, felt like being on a war footing. I planned my exact route into the unit with military precision, so that I could do it as quickly as possible, with minimum risk of contracting covid.
“When I learned that covid is primarily transmitted via an airborne route, that obviously heightened my awareness of how other diseases are spread.
“When Joshua got to 3-4yrs old and was still on maintenance chemotherapy he had to return to class and deserved to be able to, for the sake of his education and socialising.
“However, he remained immunosuppressed due to the chemotherapy treatment and that winter (in 2022) chicken pox, Strep A, covid and flu were all circulating amongst his classmates. How could I send him in?
“I started searching for answers on how I could help make it safer.”
Ruth set about researching and began to monitor CO2 levels in the classroom, chatting to staff and building DIY air filters.
“If CO2 levels are high in the classroom, that means that the ventilation is not adequate” said Ruth. “If children are taught in poorly ventilated classrooms then many diseases such as RSV, flu, norovirus, strep A, whooping cough, covid and measles can spread easily.
“There are other indoor air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These are gaseous chemicals found in many common household items, such as building materials, soft furnishings, cleaning products, cosmetics and art & craft materials – these compounds can be reduced by using good ventilation and air filters.
“Cleaning the air in schools by improving ventilation and using air filtration devices will help to reduce sickness absences for pupils and staff, helping schools meet their targets. There are other direct benefits to schools, such as saving money on supply teachers and giving pupils a better learning experience. It’s with this aim that I set up Clean Air For Kids.”
Ruth’s clean air mission has the backing of an impressive array of expert advisors including aerosol scientist Dr. Allen Haddrell, a research fellow at the University of Bristol.
There is also cross-party support for the campaign from Bristol Councillors.
“I want to be sure that Clean Air For Kids benefits from all of that combined expertise and knowledge. We can really put Bristol on the map as a leader in the clean Indoor Air Quality movement and then hopefully show the rest of the UK how they can reduce sickness absence, improve performance and save schools money on supply teachers – money that can then be spent on enrichment activities for students.”
Anyone wishing to join the Clean Indoor Air mission can visit the ‘actions’ and ‘help us’ sections of the website.
cleanairforkids.co.uk
