A day after the Environmental Protection Agency introduced new air high quality requirements, the advocacy group Moms Clean Air Force held its inaugural “Climate Disruption, Air Pollution, and Young People’s Health” summit this week in Washington.

The EPA says the brand new air high quality requirements will higher shield Americans from particulate matter, or soot, and save lives.

“Air pollution is real. Soot pollution is some of the most dangerous pollution and tightening this standard is not only going to protect our children, and most vulnerable populations — but also healthy people equal a healthy economy,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan instructed ABC News.

“We did this summit so that we could bring together parents and press — people to understand how children need to be put to the center of the climate conversation. We’re talking about toxic chemicals and air pollution and climate disruption,” Dominique Browning, director and co-founder of Moms Clean Air Force instructed ABC News. “And children are uniquely vulnerable to these dangerous, dangerous impacts of these things. So, we need to be creating policy and laws that take into account children’s special needs.”

Regan additionally famous the disproportionate influence air air pollution has on communities of shade. African Americans contract respiratory sickness, together with bronchial asthma, lung illness and lung most cancers, at the next charge than their white counterparts, in line with the National Library of Medicine. The probability of getting these ailments, and their severity, will increase with publicity to air air pollution. It’s a difficulty Regan says the EPA is addressing.

“President Biden has made environmental justice a central pillar to this Administration. He is the first president to talk about environmental justice during the State of the Union,” Regan mentioned.

“And so with that charge, I have created the first national environmental justice and external civil rights program. Over 200 employees at EPA solely focused on ensuring that everything we do on air quality, water quality, cleaning up our lands, is done in a way where we are protecting our most vulnerable, our ej (environment justice) communities, our Black and Brown and tribal communities. So, I’m really excited about the work of this administration. And through the Inflation Reduction Act, over $3 billion … is solely focused on environmental justice and climate equity,” he mentioned.

The occasion, held on the National Press Club, drew docs, authorities officers, psychological well being specialists and environmental advocates for discussions on the intersection between local weather change, air air pollution and public well being.

Regan famous how his company has partnered with organizations, together with Moms Clean Air Force, to create new environmental requirements such because the up to date particulate matter air pollution benchmark introduced Wednesday.

“It’s a very proud announcement that we’ve made, and the partnership with organizations like Clean Moms Air Force, and others, just reinforce the fact that we are trying to protect our children,” Regan instructed ABC News.

Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton, whose work contains the “Too Small to Fail” initiative for early childhood improvement, spoke on the summit. She instructed ABC News that there are various other ways dad and mom can preserve their youngsters protected.

She famous protections towards infectious ailments, accidents and college security drills, including, “But now we have to think about helping keep our kids safe from climate change.”

Clinton highlighted what dad and mom can do about warmth and air air pollution.

“Our kids don’t have the same lung capacity that we do to help kind of take in air, clean air, and so they’re really vulnerable to air pollution,” Clinton mentioned. “And so what are we doing to help clean the air with the ventilation in the space and places that we spend time — and what are we doing to help support, hopefully. there being less pollution in the air in the future?”

Liz Hurtado, nationwide discipline supervisor for Moms Clean Air Force, attended the occasion with one among her youngsters, Lena, a toddler spokesperson for the group.

Hurtado mentioned they have been attending the summit to assist “seek solutions and seek stronger protections” on air air pollution.

Several members of Moms Clean Air Force careworn to ABC News what they known as the group’s nonpartisan standing.

“This doesn’t have to be a political issue. It really does impact everyone, regardless of parties, regardless of any of your differences that we may see out there,” Hurtado mentioned. “It is an issue that impacts us all, whether we realize it or not, and that’s why we really take pride in the education component, really laying that foundation of education on the various ways that it may impact your community or the state that you’re in.”

“There’s no such thing as blue or red when we’re talking about children’s health,” she added.

Patrice Tomcik, nationwide discipline director for Moms Clean Air Force, mentioned local weather change is private for her, noting the influence she says she’s skilled at her dwelling in southwestern Pennsylvania.

“There’s a lot of air pollution, and we’re already seeing a lot of the effects of climate change with stronger storms, more flooding — a lot more flooding,” Tomcik mentioned, claiming oil and gasoline operations in her group are making a well being concern for residents.

“This is happening in my community. And the nearest [oil] well pads are about a half a mile away from my children’s schools,” she mentioned. “When they’re actually doing this drilling for fossil fuels, what is also coming up is climate warming methane, and also other health harming pollutants. And so children who are exposed to these pollutants, such as my son who goes to school near it, it’s really a concern for their health.”

According to its web site, the group at the moment has 1.5 million members, each mothers and dads, working to fight air air pollution.