What person, group or organization is being profiled, and why are they of interest to this project?
The Clean Air Council is being profiled. This organization is a very active non-gov group focused on air quality in the Greater Philadelphia region. The organization works for community awareness, research involvement, and ultimately, policy change in air pollution governance. They take interest in problems with outdoor/indoor air quality, the adverse effects of waste, transportation, climate change, and environmental health, and strive towards public involvement. The following annotation will have more details on their work.
What have they done – through research, or a public health program or education forum, for example-- that illustrates how they have worked to improve air pollution governance and environmental public health?
They run annual Greenfest, Run for Clean Air, and Dine Out for the Environment events to advocate for air pollution focus in Philadelphia, for raising awareness in people, who enjoy community activities, about a problem in their neighborhood, and fund raising.
They provide access to information on their website about how to get involved with their current initiatives, to have locals campaign for policy change.
They established the first air quality index (AQI). Enables people to see Philadelphia's current air quality conditions and forecast, with levels assigned as good, moderate, unhealthy for sensitive groups, and unhealthy.
Currently working against shale drilling and oil industry in the Philadelphia region. Participate in legal cases against pipelines and "shale gas related infrastructure," formed the Protect Our Children Coalition to protect schools and children from this industry, and worked towards developing the first EPA law for methane leak regulation in the natural gas development process. In relation to the Marcellus Shale oil drilling, the Council has pushed the PA DEP to intensify their legal obligations in permitting for oil industry process and to include better air quality control equipment and practices in the processes of oil drilling in permits. The Council pressed the DEP to enforce EPA definitions (of single-source determination) that are not being applied in the state of Pennsylvania. The organization produces Health Impact Assessments on possible sources of pollution, like the Shell Chemical Appalachia Petrochemical Complex, another contributor to the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania.-The Council works to educate the public on identifying and changing governance on burning of biomass for energy purposes, in order to stop excess pollution.
They advocate for energy efficiency laws for building codes and for renewable energy practices in the region like wind energy and solar power (Solarize Philly! initiative), with the organization Sustainable Energy Education Program (SEEP). The Council would like to see a smart grid in action, to minimize energy waste in the Philadelphia region.
Transportation pollution initiatives include making trucks in Pennsylvania idle-free, forming IdleFreePhilly.org, to report idling trucks easily, and joining a council on the subject within Pennsylvania, IdleFreePA. The Council backs electric vehicle use, retrofitting older vehicles, and making cities bike accessible. Grants are being given by the Council to retrofit diesel power equipment, to avoid air pollution emissions. The Commuter Connection PA was established to encourage people to use alternative transportation, like walking, biking, and "multi-modal transportation". The program works with companies to connect employees with transportation options other than via automobile, using personalized maps and social media. Not part of this new program, there are other projects to make new trails, like the Cobbs Creek Connector Trail, which is a part of the longest urban bike trail, the East Coast Greenway (ECG), connecting cities in Pennsylvania. Aiming to combat walker-unfriendly roads, the Council established a group called First Feet Philly. This not only fights for walking opportunity within Philadelphia, but also active behavior in its people.
The organization encourages recycling, proper disposal of hazardous waste within the home, and education on the link between electronic waste and environmental health.
Port Richmond is a neighborhood in Philadelphia, one of many on the coast of the Delaware River. The Clean Air Council has put focus on port emissions and the costs of freight pollution in these areas. This port encourages shipments and delivery, therefore marine and automotive transportation contributes to pollution, in addition to diesel powered large machinery. The Clean Air Council addresses equity problems associated with the port emissions. Those who live by the ports along the Delaware River have access to a large spectrum of air pollution sources, from frequent transport and construction processes. The organization teamed with the University of Pennsylvania to test the particulate matter concentrations in the area. In the words of the Clean Air Council,“ultimately, the assessment will be used to advocate for improved emission controls at area ports; to promote changes in policy, to have input into Philadelphia’s upcoming comprehensive plan and zoning code revision efforts; to reflect public health concerns; and to provide a model for participatory health assessments”
To address environmental health inequalities in other ways, fighting for cheaper energy access for low-income people in the region in the First Energy-Allegheny merger case.
Partnering again with Drexel University, the organization conducted surveys on asthma prone regions with high pollution rates.
The Clean Air Council supports community-based science with the Port Richmond schools study, about vehicle emissions effect on air quality of schools. This also participates in their initiative towards better respiratory conditions for children.
The organization addresses global warming by working to have greenhouse gas emissions decrease, depletion of coal use and change in energy policy on the state and federal level. They work for lower CO2 emission limits.
What timeline of events illustrates how this way of addressing environmental public health has developed?
1967: The Delaware Valley Citizens' for Clean Air formed by 11 Lung Associations of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware communities.
1970's: Created the FIRST air quality index, for the Delaware Valley Region, which became the standard for EPA air pollution reporting.
1986: The Citizen’s Council for Clean Air fought the state of Pennsylvania for not having an emissions inspection program for automobiles, which is a necessity under the Clean Air Act. This lawsuit brought emissions testing to Pennsylvania and established the Clean Air Council as a powerful organization in Pennsylvania, in the Pennsylvania v. Delaware Valley Citizen’s Council for Clean Air case.
1980's post huge lawsuit: Hosted a 5K Run for Clean Air to gather the people of Philadelphia and developed a center for information on indoor air pollution. The center for information advocated for establishment of the Worker and Community Right to Know law (about health and safety of the working environment) and obligatory recycling act.
It helped Philadelphia pass both the Worker and Community Right to Know and mandatory curbside recycling laws."
1991: Branched off from the Lung Associations, renaming the organization as the Clean Air Council.1999: Established the first wind farm in Pennsylvania.
2000's-2010's: "8,000 members, a $1.1 million annual budget and 20 staff members."
2010: Established a 'Strategic Plan,' using stakeholder input, scientific data, and guidance from the Institute for Conservation Leadership, for air pollution control in the Mid-Atlantic area (Future report annotation).
Does this person, group or organization claim to have a new or unique way of addressing environmental public health? Does this approach point to or suggest problems with other approaches?
The Clean Air Council has a very established vision , which drives all of the initiatives of the organization. This is different from many NGO's with scattered and disorganized initiatives. Could be why the organization has been so successful.
What data have they collected or used to support their approach to environmental public health? What visualizations of this data have been created?
For particular initiatives, like the Port Richmond project, data is collected by the Council in collaboration with other organizations or research institutions.
The organization has drawn on EPA research and data.
What research has the organization produce or drawon on in their initiatives – in the last year, and over the last decade?
For particular initiatives, like the Port Richmond project and asthma survey project , data is collected by the Council in collaboration with other organizations or research institutions.
What kinds of technology and infrastructure do they rely on in the production of environmental health care?
Air pollution monitors are a very important technology that makes the Clean Air Council able to produce change in environmental healthcare. Also, community access to federal and state environmental regulations and industrial emissions data enables the Council to put organizations on trial for incompliance of standards or to make regulations better.
What social ecology does this person, group or organization work within, and how did it shaped their way of conceiving and engaging asthma?
20 people make up the professional staff, while over 8,000 people are involved as members. The organization is a collaboration between concerned community members and professionals.
The organization often partners with others to make change.
The collaboration shapes the action by providing lots of different inputs, viewpoints and skill sets.
What events or data seem to have motivated their ways of thinking about and engaging environmental health?
AQI data, EPA data, and environmental health research have alerted the Clean Air Council on the severity of air pollution effects on communities and then environment. Air pollution disasters, like deaths caused by smog and destruction by acid rain, and climate change also could have pushed action by the Clean Air Council.
What funding enables their work and possibly shapes their way of thinking about environmental health?
Non-profit, gets grants and fund-raises. Grant receiving means that their work must be justified with a reason. Therefore, every project must be established and organized.
What in the history of this person, group or organization likely shaped the way they conceived or and engage environmental health?
Changing from collaboration to solo organization must have shaped the way they worked with environmental health. Possibly, the organizations forming the collaboration had different, opposing ambitions. Joining as one solid unit centralized the focus of the Clean Air Council.
The budget has increased from $22,000 to $1.1 million dollars. The amount of money to work with shaped the activity and power of the organization.
What does this person, group or organization seem to find methodologically challenging or concerning in dealing with environmental health?
Getting involvement and awareness in the community is a clear interest of this organization.
What kinds of governance are (implicitly or explicitly) called for in the way they think about environmental health?
Cleaner energy and transportation, transparency in industrial practices, more regulation standards and proper emissions testing, updates to older, more polluting technologies, less oil, coal and gas use for energy, energy efficiency laws.
How can The Asthma Files enable or supplement this way of thinking about environmental health, and the work of this person, group or organization?
The organization has a broad areas of really developed interests. They have advocated for and made change in federal and state regulations, and educated the public on important issues for their health and welfare. The Asthma Files can use this outlook to broaden their direction, and fight for more policy change than has been made
The Asthma Files can use the asthma data collected by the Clean Air Council's asthma projects, or use them as a model for projects to conduct.
- The Clean Air Council is being profiled. This organization is a very active non-gov group focused on air quality in the Greater Philadelphia region. The organization works for community awareness, research involvement, and ultimately, policy change in air pollution governance. They take interest in problems with outdoor/indoor air quality, the adverse effects of waste, transportation, climate change, and environmental health, and strive towards public involvement. The following annotation will have more details on their work.
- http://www.cleanair.org/
What have they done – through research, or a public health program or education forum, for example-- that illustrates how they have worked to improve air pollution governance and environmental public health?What timeline of events illustrates how this way of addressing environmental public health has developed?
- 1967: The Delaware Valley Citizens' for Clean Air formed by 11 Lung Associations of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware communities.
- 1970's: Created the FIRST air quality index, for the Delaware Valley Region, which became the standard for EPA air pollution reporting.
- 1986: The Citizen’s Council for Clean Air fought the state of Pennsylvania for not having an emissions inspection program for automobiles, which is a necessity under the Clean Air Act. This lawsuit brought emissions testing to Pennsylvania and established the Clean Air Council as a powerful organization in Pennsylvania, in the Pennsylvania v. Delaware Valley Citizen’s Council for Clean Air case.
- 1980's post huge lawsuit: Hosted a 5K Run for Clean Air to gather the people of Philadelphia and developed a center for information on indoor air pollution. The center for information advocated for establishment of the Worker and Community Right to Know law (about health and safety of the working environment) and obligatory recycling act.
- It helped Philadelphia pass both the Worker and Community Right to Know and mandatory curbside recycling laws."
- 1991: Branched off from the Lung Associations, renaming the organization as the Clean Air Council.1999: Established the first wind farm in Pennsylvania.
- 2000's-2010's: "8,000 members, a $1.1 million annual budget and 20 staff members."
- 2010: Established a 'Strategic Plan,' using stakeholder input, scientific data, and guidance from the Institute for Conservation Leadership, for air pollution control in the Mid-Atlantic area (Future report annotation).
- 2015: Clean Air Council sues Sunoco over Mariner East 2 Pipeline Plan (Future news annotation)
Does this person, group or organization claim to have a new or unique way of addressing environmental public health? Does this approach point to or suggest problems with other approaches?- The Clean Air Council has a very established vision , which drives all of the initiatives of the organization. This is different from many NGO's with scattered and disorganized initiatives. Could be why the organization has been so successful.
What data have they collected or used to support their approach to environmental public health? What visualizations of this data have been created?- For energy change: CLEAN AIR COUNCIL: SURVEY SHOWS “POLITICAL DIVIDE” ON ENERGY ISSUES IS A MYTH, AMERICANS CAN WORK TOGETHER TO REACH CLEANER ENERGY FUTURE
- AQI data
- For particular initiatives, like the Port Richmond project, data is collected by the Council in collaboration with other organizations or research institutions.
- The organization has drawn on EPA research and data.
What research has the organization produce or drawon on in their initiatives – in the last year, and over the last decade?- Resources given for information, data sets, and research on indoor/outdoor air pollution, climate change, environmental health, transportation and waste
- For particular initiatives, like the Port Richmond project and asthma survey project , data is collected by the Council in collaboration with other organizations or research institutions.
What kinds of technology and infrastructure do they rely on in the production of environmental health care?- Air pollution monitors are a very important technology that makes the Clean Air Council able to produce change in environmental healthcare. Also, community access to federal and state environmental regulations and industrial emissions data enables the Council to put organizations on trial for incompliance of standards or to make regulations better.
What social ecology does this person, group or organization work within, and how did it shaped their way of conceiving and engaging asthma?- 20 people make up the professional staff, while over 8,000 people are involved as members. The organization is a collaboration between concerned community members and professionals.
- The organization often partners with others to make change.
- The collaboration shapes the action by providing lots of different inputs, viewpoints and skill sets.
What events or data seem to have motivated their ways of thinking about and engaging environmental health?- AQI data, EPA data, and environmental health research have alerted the Clean Air Council on the severity of air pollution effects on communities and then environment. Air pollution disasters, like deaths caused by smog and destruction by acid rain, and climate change also could have pushed action by the Clean Air Council.
What funding enables their work and possibly shapes their way of thinking about environmental health?- Non-profit, gets grants and fund-raises. Grant receiving means that their work must be justified with a reason. Therefore, every project must be established and organized.
What in the history of this person, group or organization likely shaped the way they conceived or and engage environmental health?- Changing from collaboration to solo organization must have shaped the way they worked with environmental health. Possibly, the organizations forming the collaboration had different, opposing ambitions. Joining as one solid unit centralized the focus of the Clean Air Council.
- The budget has increased from $22,000 to $1.1 million dollars. The amount of money to work with shaped the activity and power of the organization.
What does this person, group or organization seem to find methodologically challenging or concerning in dealing with environmental health?- Getting involvement and awareness in the community is a clear interest of this organization.
What kinds of governance are (implicitly or explicitly) called for in the way they think about environmental health?- Cleaner energy and transportation, transparency in industrial practices, more regulation standards and proper emissions testing, updates to older, more polluting technologies, less oil, coal and gas use for energy, energy efficiency laws.
How can The Asthma Files enable or supplement this way of thinking about environmental health, and the work of this person, group or organization?