Running to prevent lung disease
I have asthma, and I work in wind energy.

· Common (1 in 12 adults and 1 in 11 children have it);
· Expensive (asthma costs the U.S. $56 billion each year);
· Debilitating (each year, children miss more than 10 million school days, and adults miss more than 14 million work days); and
· Deadly (about 9 people die from asthma each day).
Air quality plays a significant role in lung disease and the severity of asthma symptoms, and so it plays a significant role in my life and work. According to the CDC, air pollution in the U.S. “poses a public health threat affecting potentially millions of people throughout the country.” It is associated with not only asthma, but other health problems including heart problems, pneumonia, and bronchitis. At the American Wind Energy Association, I support tens of thousands of workers in an industry that generates clean, reliable, affordable, renewable wind power; wind turbine-generated electricity doesn't dirty our air, or emit pollutants like other energy sources. My job is good and gratifying – I sleep well at night (and breathe a little easier, too).
If you’d like to support my run and the American Lung Association, please visit my race page. Your monetary donation will help provide lung disease management education to children, and generate the awareness needed to increase resources for advanced research projects. You can also improve air quality by supporting the wind energy industry by becoming a Wind Power Advocate through AWEA’s Power of Wind.
Thank you for supporting me, wind energy, and the American Lung Association.
Renee Flowers
Marketing Manager, AWEA
American wind power: Leading the way to a cleaner future, July 22, 2013
Colorado: Report confirms health, environmental benefits of wind power, November 5, 2012
Moms Clean Air Force blogger urges PTC extension, September 20, 2012
Wind energy key for Keystone State, former Pa. official says, July 26, 2012