Join Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah and Tsitsi Mareika Chirkure for a webinar about the basic human right to clean air for everyone.
Together, Rosamund and Tsitsi discuss the ongoing work of the Ella Roberta Foundation, a charity founded by Rosamund to fight against air pollution, working towards 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”.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants, resulting in the deaths of 7 million people per year. More than 90% of air pollution deaths occur in low or middle income countries, and access to clean air and green space within countries is also distributed in a way that privileges those at the top of the socio-economic pyramid.
In this conversation, Rosamund and Tsitsi consider where art, activism and scientific imagery might intersect to enact strategies that challenge our inherited cultures of apartheid.
Rosamund Kissi-Debrah is the founder, director, and trustee of the Ella Roberta Foundation. She is one of the most prominent advocates for clean air worldwide, a powerful voice in the air pollution debate. She started campaigning as soon as she realised its role in the death of her daughter, Ella Roberta Adoo-Kissi-Debrah. Rosamund and her legal team made history when a Coroner found a direct link between her daughter’s death and the air quality near her home, 25 metres from the south circular, one of London’s busiest roads. Ella’s death certificate was amended to have air pollution listed as cause of death, potentially changing the legal landscape to enable other people to do the same. Rosamund is now campaigning for the Clean Air Bill, also known as “Ella’s Law”, which would establish clean air for all across the UK. Sign and share the petition here to show your support
Tsitsi Mareika Chirikure is a projects coordinator, event organiser and African literature advocate. With a passion for reading and creating space for discussion, Tsitsi is the founder of Mkay_Reads, a platform where she explores literature, primarily from the African continent and its diasporas. She is the co-founder of the collective Isusu Ffena which hosts events centred around African and Afropean perspectives in art, philosophy, activism and beyond. Tsitsi is a Bosch Alumni Network member and a Baden-Wuerttemberg Scholarship alumni. At Radical Ecology she works as a project’s coordinator on Musical Passage and Open City.
This is the final event of the Towards a Framework for Environmental Justice: Webinar Series hosted by Radical Ecology. This series brings together leading artists, thinkers, and strategists to shed light on the creative tools for resisting inherited cultures of apartheid. Our aim is to explore artistic responses to a wide range of critical issues of our time, including the escalating climate crisis, forced migration, and the ecologies of empire. Through these discussions, we hope to encourage intersections between art, activism, and scientific inquiry, moving across disciplines and silos to cultivate a tangible sense of emergence. We are eager to look out, listen deeply within, and speculate upon new stories for transformative action.