Plenty of kids in the United States grow up with some form of asthma, whether it be mild, occasional, or potentially life-threatening. One particular intervention went into an environmentally degraded inner city neighborhood and sought to help young children with asthma. The surrounding allergens, pollution and smoke exacerbated their asthma symptoms, so this intervention group stepped in to help. This instance somewhat creates an imagined community, because it causes us to connect at a certain level, whether we have asthma, know someone with asthma, or live by/drive by inner city neighborhoods. Some people may not be cognizant of such poor living conditions and the potential health risks, so in that regard it does create an imagined community. Whether this pulls us in or not is to be determined, but I would say it draws me in because I live with exercise-induced asthma. I know how sensitive certain fumes, allergens, and toxins can be to my breathing, especially during an athletic event. The study showed improvement while under treatment, while also showing improvement up to a year after treatment (relative to the control group, who experienced less improvement). This shows that certain environmental interventions can be beneficial, albeit on a small scale. The goal is to get people all working towards the same goal, which is vastly improving our environment. The difficult thing is to make people care about it, but it will take many small steps such as this one.
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