By Youssef Rafik
The air turned orange, and the whole city felt it.
As smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed New Haven in 2023, it sent fine particle pollution soaring to more than 15 times the normal daily level. The sky turned hazy, health officials urged residents to stay inside, and what once seemed like gradual progress toward cleaner air suddenly felt alarmingly fragile.
New Haven’s air quality has improved overall in recent years. But the gains aren’t equally shared—and they’re easily reversed by climate events and policy setbacks. Residents in lower-income areas, often near highways and industrial sites, still breathe some of the dirtiest air in the state.
Dr. Mark Mitchell, a public health physician and founder of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, said these disparities are rooted in planning decisions made decades ago.
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