By Andy Chow
The clickety clack of an XBOX controller can be heard in Dalton Aufdenkamp鈥檚 living room along with the 15-year-old chatting with other gamers in his headset.
It鈥檚 a sunny day and not too hot for August. But Dalton makes sure all the windows are shut, the doors are closed and the air conditioner is running.
That鈥檚 because, outside of Dalton鈥檚 house, it鈥檚 a hazy, humid day and cars and trucks pass by the neighborhood, which sits along I-77 just south of Akron.
This is the kind of day that can be dangerous for kids like Dalton, who have asthma.
His mother, Clara Aufdenkamp, can relate. She鈥檚 lived with the same respiratory illness for 54 years, making sure to teach Dalton all the tips he needs to know to stay safe. 鈥淵ou learn what you can do and can鈥檛 do. You just learn to adjust to it. You don鈥檛 let it control your life,鈥� said Aufdenkamp.
But she鈥檚 still a mother and like many parents, she plans for the worst case scenario: 鈥淚鈥檓 gonna get the phone call from school that he was in gym, he went into full alert, he鈥檚 on his way to the emergency room. Or he鈥檚 passed out鈥ecause he couldn鈥檛 breathe.鈥�
The Aufdenkamp family is not alone. Several studies show people living in the 44301 zip code, along with other neighborhoods in Akron, Canton and Cleveland, are at an increased risk of respiratory problems because of the higher levels of air pollution.
鈥淚t鈥檚 often described as being like a fish out of water,鈥� said Dr. Sumita Khatri who specializes in respiratory illnesses at the Cleveland Clinic.
She says there鈥檚 no question that people in this part of the state have a harder time breathing because of the higher volume of particulate matter.
There are more than two million people who live in Cuyahoga, Summit and Stark counties, and about 10% of those people -- kids and adults -- have asthma. 鈥淲e are a function of who we are, how we鈥檙e made up genetically and also the environment that we鈥檙e in. And so although to some degree everyone is affected by air pollution from a health standpoint there are also people who are especially sensitive and susceptible,鈥� she said.
Khatri is backed by studies from the New England Journal of Medicine and the American Lung Association which had the Cleveland, Akron, Canton region in the top 10 for people most at-risk to particle pollution, year round.
She attributes that to the large volume of vehicles, heavy traffic stagnation and manufacturing plants.
In response to the problem, mostly Democratic and some Republican state lawmakers have advocated for stronger support for renewable energy and clean vehicles.
But Greg Lawson with The Buckeye Institute, a conservative think tank, argues that the region鈥檚 respiratory struggles shouldn鈥檛 just be tied to air pollution but other factors as well, such as poverty. 鈥淎 lot of times you have situations where the upkeep is not as good, you may have sewage issues, you may have mold issues and, as an asthmatic, mold and things like that can be absolutely devastating,鈥� he said.
Back in Akron, Clara Aufdenkamp commends the steps local industrial plants have taken to clean their operations. She cites a dramatic transformation from the dark soot she used to see coming from a nearby rubber and tire factory to the cleaner emissions she sees today.
And while studies have shown that the air in Clara Aufdenkamp鈥檚 region makes it harder to breathe, this is the neighborhood she grew up in and she refuses to let pollution dictate where she lives. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to have pollution anywhere you go. And you can choose how you adapt your life to that and that鈥檚 what I鈥檝e been taught and what I鈥檝e been teaching him is that you adapt, you don鈥檛 let anything control you,鈥� she said.
This issue is likely to take center stage at the Statehouse as lawmakers plan to once again revisit the possibility of repealing Ohio鈥檚 efficient and renewable energy mandates.