Running Up for Air - Reflections on a Moving Evening

Peer-to-peer learning is one of the cornerstones of the All The Elements community, and when our Business Development and Partnerships Manager and co-founder of Black Trail Runners, Sabrina Pace-Humphreys, attended a recent event on air quality advocacy work, she wanted to share the effect this evening had on her.

Sabrina was invited to the first 2024 London event of Running Up for Air, an initiative by outdoor clothing brand Patagonia. There was a panel discussion between four experts on different aspects of the subject: 

• Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah CBE (Founder of the Ella Roberta Foundation)

• Dr Mark Hayden (Consultant Paediatrician at Great Ormond Street Hospital and Climate Activist)

• Agamemnon Otero (CEO of Energy Garden) 

• Martin Johnson (Patagonia Trail Running Ambassador)

Rosamund, Mark, Agamemnon and Martin shared their thoughts and experiences on the impact that poor air quality is having on Londoners - a discussion that had an impact on Sabrina…

Sabrina at the Running Up For Air event in May 2024. Photo taken by Liz Seabrook.

One Wednesday evening in May, I had the privilege of being invited to attend an event aimed at a select gathering of changemakers and community leaders, who all care deeply about the health and wellbeing of the communities they serve  – be it professionally, personally or on a voluntary basis. 

Now, what a lot of people don’t know about me is that the very first job I had out of college was working for an Air Quality Monitoring company based in my hometown. When I later ran my award-winning PR company, I worked on communications campaigns for this company for many years. 

So, I went into this event thinking I knew about this topic…. 

But, in all honesty, I found out I had no idea.

What I should have known the moment that the panellists were introduced by the host – friend of All The Elements, and co-leader of The Summit, Phil Young – was that there would be many mic drop moments at this event. 

Moments that had me typing notes into my phone, feeling emotional and wanting to  immediately report back to my community, my family and friends about the urgent need for us to do something, anything, to address the issue of air quality.

Many of us community leaders, members of All The Elements, serve historically marginalised groups. The data some of us collect shows us that many of our members live in urban areas (and postcodes within those urban areas) that are disproportionately affected by air pollution.

Yes, our mission is to diversify the outdoors – and when we think of the outdoors our minds can often skip to the green and pleasant countryside – but our people must still work, rest and play in their ends. So, it makes sense to me that as community leaders, we must play our part in being the messengers, the translators. We must think of new ways to help the communities we serve to make that connection between lived experience <> community <> the environment. 

After the event, I saw that the Running Up for Air initiative does this. 

There was a plethora of stories, information and statistics that were shared by esteemed panellists during this event: Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah CBE, Dr Mark Hayden, Agamemnon Otero and Martin Johnson had the room captivated. 

Just some of the information and statistics I wanted to re-share are:

• That air pollution is the largest environmental threat to human health worldwide

• That air pollution disproportionately affects those from disadvantaged and economically vulnerable communities

• That air pollution is the fourth most deadly health risk worldwide

• That air pollution isn’t just about asthma

• That air pollution develops chronic health conditions such as asthma, lung cancer and high blood pressure which can lead to heart disease, stroke and dementia

• That air pollution can cause Type 2 diabetes

• That spikes in air pollution cause heart arrhythmia 

• That air pollution is the invisible killer

But what silenced us all in the audience wasn’t just the statistics, but the powerful stories of lived experience and the on-going work for cleaner air. 

During this event Rosamund told us about her daughter Ella. About the intelligent, talented and caring girl she was and how, even when medical professionals told her that Ella wouldn’t survive numerous acute medical episodes, she would defy belief. How she is the only person in the world to have air pollution listed as a cause of death on her birth certificate and how, through the Ella Roberta Foundation, Ros continues to fight for a world where everyone can breathe air that is free from toxic pollution – regardless of where they live, their economic status or their ethnic background. 

Mark spoke about the statistics when it comes to the link between air pollution and chronic health problems leading to heart disease, stroke, cancer and dementia - but also how addressing the issue of air pollution can provide a cost benefit of 10-30 times the return on investment. 

And Agamemnon spoke of his work at Energy Garden and teaming up with researchers Dr Tilly Collins and Huw Woodward from Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London on research and funding that supports real-world trials and what action they are taking now.

When asked what some of the biggest challenges to the issue of air pollution is – apart from governments not doing enough (apt on a day a UK general election was called) – the answer was that “despair is the biggest challenge”. We in the audience were reminded not to lose hope, that individual and collective action works, and we can all do our bit. 

My personal thought is that, if we want our work in diversifying the outdoors to continue for generations to come, then we must work to build further that real connection between people, place and environmental advocacy.  

It’s nice to know that movements like Patagonia Running Up for Air can help us do that work. There are events every year in both in the UK and around the world, such as the Running Up For Air: Clean Air Vert Challenge this month, with dozens of races organised, and money being raised for #airquality advocacy. 

In terms of future action, I have so many thoughts in my head. Thoughts such as “how can we, as All The Elements, better support our community in the development of ideas and generation of resources linked to these ideas”. I want us to give you the capacity to better inform, engage and enable members to foster a greater sense of personal and community ownership when it comes to environmental issues such as air pollution. Stay tuned!

Things you can do next…

• Watch the Running Up For Air film on the Patagonia website.

• Listen to Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah speak about breathing air and breathing justice during an interview on the Black Earth podcast.

• Find out about Clean Air Day, the UK's largest air pollution campaign.

• Read more about the aim for clean air net zero.