We are always interested when the media covers local issues we are working on, especially national coverage.  Recently the New York Times published a story that opened with a family based in Oakland, California and their difficulty in affording prescription asthma medication.  The United States on average spends far more per capita on prescription inhalers than any other developed country.  People living in West Oakland, encircled by three freeways and the port, are well aware of this cost because they are disproportionally affected by this disease due to pollution.  In a nation where prescription costs for inhalers are extremely high, and where you live drastically increases your chances of getting asthma, your options are limited.  This is what Adapt Oakland hopes to mitigate, by constructing dense urban forestry in between the source of the pollution and the residential neighborhood we can reduce the environmental health costs inflicted on West Oakland residents.