1. What person, group or organization is being profiled, and why are they of interest to this project?
The Texas Department of Transportation (https://www.txdot.gov/) is being profiled. As the State transportation agency, they are in charge of enforcing all environmental regulations pertaining to transportation, having an important affect on the air quality and public health of Houston.
2. 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?
The largest initiative on air pollution is the Drive Clean across Texas campaign (often referred to just as the Drive Clean Texas campaign or the DCAT). This campaign was created by the DOT in partnership with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality with the goal of "raising awareness about the impact of vehicle emissions on air quality and motivating drivers to take steps to help keep the air clean" (http://drivecleantexas.org/about.php).
Drive Clean Texas is mainly an educational campaign to raise awareness and provide information. The website provides detailed information on how to keep your car properly maintained to reduce excessive exhaust, supported information on the environmental harm of speeding and tips to drive more efficiently, and more clean air tips. All advice to drivers is supported with data on the financial incentives, such as keeping your tires properly inflated improves gas mileage up to 3.3% annually, and prevents your engine from having to work excessively hard, lowering emissions. (http://drivecleantexas.org/tips.php)
Promote and provides links to the Vehicle Repair Assistance program and the Vehicle Replacement Assistance program, referred to as the Drive a Clean Machine program, which is directly run by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Also promotes and provides links to the TCEQ's Smoking Vehicle program, and gives information on the importance of reporting vehicles with excessive exhaust and how to report them.
Has an educational initiative just for kids.
DCAT website has a page for children, containing the pdf link to their air quality coloring & activity book. The book includes a cross word that emphasizes preventative actions for air pollution, coloring pages that demonstrate alternative transportation to children, and helps children identify sources of pollution (http://drivecleantexas.org/docs/activity_book_short.pdf)
Page also includes an educational cartoon. In the video, the "Clean Air Crew," comprised of the DOT, The video "teams the Clean Air Crew against the dreaded 'Smog King,' who relishes polluted skies" (http://drivecleantexas.org/for_kids.php)
Provides teachers with free educational resources.
Student lessons and materials are available online for students of all age groups, sorted by Grades K-5, 6-9, and 9-12.
Further materials can be ordered online through the DCAT website for free.
What timeline of events illustrates how this way of addressing environmental public health has developed?
March 2002: Began Drive Clean Initiative, partnered with the Texas Commission on Environmental Health
2010: "Fifth Follow-up and Evaluation of the Drive Clean Texas Campaign" conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute and the Bush School of Government and Public Service
August 2012: Collective Strength conducts study "2012 Independent Market Research and Evaluation of the Drive Clean Texas Campaign"
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?
Texas DOT air pollution campaign focuses on educational outreach to change driver habits and shape public perceptions on causes of air pollution and the health risks surrounding it. While at the core this is similar to the approach of many other organizations, their dedication to air pollution is outreach surpasses most state DOT's.
In 2007, the EPA awarded Drive Clean Texas the Clean Air Excellence Award for Best Education/ Outreach Campaign (http://drivecleantexas.org/awards.php). Criteria for this award include that the entry directly or indirectly reduces emissions of criteria pollutants, hazardous air pollutants, and/or greenhouse gases, that it provides as a model for others to follow, the program increases public awareness about the importance of clean air, the program improves access to information on clean air issues, and the program reaches the intended or target audiences (http://www2.epa.gov/caaac/clean-air-excellence-awards#criteria and process)
What data have they collected or used to support their approach to environmental public health? What visualizations of this data have been created? What research has the organization produced or drawn on in their initiatives - in the last year, and over the last decade? (Combined questions)
Drive Clean Texas publishes a survey once every two years to gauge public opinions and attitudes on air quality related to the DCAT campaign, but they only have two links to these studies, one in 2010 and 2012. The 2010 one is titled as the Fifth evaluation of the campaign, but not previous evaluations are posted on the website. There are also questions as to why no 2014 survey results are included on the website. The studies have been conducted by separate organizations and just sponsored by the DOT
conducted in August of 2012. The data is drawn from 2,564 interviews that were done through the phone and internet. 45% of respondents were between the ages of 18 and 35, which is the target demographic of the campaign. A large part of the study focused on comparing the target demographic against the non-target demographic to view generational changes in air pollution perception and to gauge the effectiveness of the campaign.
Comparatively, respondents from the target market were found more likely to see drought as the biggest environmental problem, less aware on an unaided basis of key actions to reduce vehicle admissions, less likely to say they have had their attitudes regarding air quality have been changed by the campaign, and less likely to have already taken key actions.
However, the target market was also more likely to believe air quality is getting worse, much less likely to believe having an impact on air pollution is "too difficult", has a much higher awareness of the DCAT campaign when prompted, and are more likely to take the key actions in the future for reducing air pollution.
This study demonstrates that while the younger population in Texas is currently uneducated on preventative actions against air pollution, their attitudes are much better predisposed for taking action to improve air quality, therefor further proving the necessity and importance of the Drive Clean across Texas campaign. This reflect wells on the DOT to use this study, because it did not measure a current significant effect of the campaign on the target demographic, but they published the data anyway and used it to improve the campaign.
One way improvements were made was consideration that 80% of the target demographic reported use the internet as their primary source of information for all topics, so the DCAT put a focus on improving web traffic and website content.
Furthermore, the study revealed that the younger generation is significantly more frugal and less car oriented than the older generation, and that new car sales are down for this demographic. From this, they concluded that maintaining older cars, walking, biking, public transit, and carpooling may be important to this generation for a combination of financial, moral, and health reasons, and that an effective approach would call on these emotions to convince drivers to adopt transportation habits that would improve air quality.
Conducted in 2010, published in February 2011. Data was drawn from over 1,000 phone surveys.
In the executive summary, there are many visualizations of the data in graph and table form, including a bar graph measuring levels of concerns regarding air pollution in Texas. One criteria was "air pollution causes risk to health in community" and users answered on a 1 to 10 scale, with 0 as not concerned and 10 as extremely concerned. 2005 the average answer was 5.2, 6.0 in 2006, 5.9 in 2008, and 5.9 in 2010. All years, this criteria showed higher concern than "air pollution causes risk to environment in community,' indicating that Texan's are more concerned with public health than environmental health. Respondents from non-attainment areas (areas that exceed EPA standards for one or more air pollutants) had the highest levels of concern.
36.2% of respondents from the target demographic (age 18-34) had heard of DCAT, while 30.4$ of age 35+ had heard of the campaign.
The study reported that the overall effective of the DCAT campaign had decreased in 2010 from the 2008 values. It also reported that females were more likely to be positively effected from the campaign, as well those 34 years of age or younger, less affluent, those with less education, and minorities.
What kinds of technology and infrastructure do they rely on in the production of environmental health care?
As the State Transportation agency, an obvious infrastructure they rely on is roads. Technologies and methods for transportation planning surrounding stoplight time determination, pavement design and the tractive effort supported by the pavement, and control traffic flow all have the potential to make a much more concrete and direct impact on fuel emissions beyond just educational outreach.
What social ecology does this person, group or organization work within, and how did it shaped their way of conceiving and engaging asthma?
As an agency that's core responsibility is transportation engineering, a well rounded social ecology focusing on social, economic, and environmental concerns is implied.
Society: the main focus of transportation engineering is to create efficient systems to transport people and goods from point A to point B. More than most engineering fields, transportation engineering has to consider human behavior and patterns during design.
Economics: because of the transportation of goods, design of roads and highways has a direct economic impact. Efficient supply chains dictated by roads have the capacity to significantly reduce consumer costs.
Environmental: most engineers view these concerns in terms of energy demands and supplies.
It should be noted, however, that although transportation engineering generally involves a comprehensive consideration of all social, environmental, and economic factors, it generally lacks the holistic approach that is necessary for an ideal social ecology to address how all of these factors are interconnected. This is likely why they fail to address asthma.
What events or data seem to have motivated their ways of thinking about and engaging environmental health?
The establishment of the Clean Air Act (1970) requires states to produce and regularly update an SIP (State Implementation Plan) on how the state plans to comply with federal air quality standards.
1990 amendment of CAA established National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) that determine the allowable amounts for 6 key pollutants. SIP's require specific plans and control strategies for non-attainment areas, such as Houston, that fail to comply with the NAAQS for at least one of these pollutants.
The establishment of the CAA and the NAAQS surely impacted the Texas DOT to make further considerations to air pollution, and was probably a key motivator in the establishment of the Drive Clean Texas campaign. If the EPA is unsatisfied with an SIP or determines that it is not being implemented, the state highway funds can be cut, and restrictions can be tightened for specific emitters. As a state organization, this gives the DOT direct motivation to protect their funds by improving air quality.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality provides a history of Texas' SIP (http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/airquality/sip/sipintro.html/#why-do-we-need). It mentions many revisions related to transportation projects and transportation control measures, directly impacting the Texas DOT. However, the department is not mentioned by name in the history.
What funding enables their work and possibly shapes their way of thinking about environmental health?
As a State agency, all funding comes from the state of Texas. This can be affected by public voting regarding taxes and how what taxes should be spent on.
i.e. Proposition 7 on the November 2015 ballot in Texas. Titled the "Texas Sales and Use Tax Revenue for Transportation Amendment," it aims to dictate $2.5 billion to the State Highway Fund from sales and use taxes. If voters pass this amendment, it will be the largest increase in transportation funding in Texas in history ( http://ballotpedia.org/Texas_Sales_and_Use_Tax_Revenue_for_Transportation_Amendment,_Proposition_7_(2015) )
What in the history of this person, group or organization likely shaped the way they conceived or and engage environmental health?
The establishment of the Drive Clean Texas program, while a reflection of a shift in the state's environmental health perception, also likely continues to shape their perception.
This program was developed in partnership with the Texas Commission on Environmental Air Quality, and it appears to be the first large sign of collaboration between the two state agencies
This likely increased the general communication between the two, and allows both organizations to better address air pollution more comprehensively for the state.
What does this person, group or organization seem to find methodologically challenging or concerning in dealing with environmental health?
Based on the 2012 survey referenced earlier, it seems evident from the results that is it easy to increase awareness on air pollution, but more difficult to incite action.
This is an interesting comparison to my profile last week of the private organizations, such as Trek Houston, whose method involved less emphasis on addressing environmental and public health impacts, and more motivating drivers to change their habits by advertising economic benefits and personal convenience.
What kinds of governance are (implicitly or explicitly) called for in the way they think about environmental health?
Governance in the form of federal regulations is ingrained in their DCAT campaign. There is strong focus on non-attainment areas, and while this is important because that is where the air quality is worst, the language and images really seem to define areas as strictly good and bad depending solely on whether they comply with the federal standards.
How can The Asthma Files enable or supplement this way of thinking about environmental health, and the work of this person, group or organization?
While the DOT's education outreach, especially that directed at children, does a good job of addressing public health and health affects directly related to air pollution, there is no mention of asthma.
The Asthma Files could help the DOT draw more direct connections between transportation and public health, which would likely increase their campaign's effectiveness.
2. 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?
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?
What data have they collected or used to support their approach to environmental public health? What visualizations of this data have been created? What research has the organization produced or drawn on in their initiatives - in the last year, and over the last decade? (Combined questions)
(executive summary: http://drivecleantexas.org/docs/2012%20DCAT%20Evaluation%20Study%20Exec%20Summary.pdf
full report: http://drivecleantexas.org/docs/2012%20DCAT%20Evaluation%20Study.pdf)
(executive summary: http://drivecleantexas.org/docs/AQ6%20Exec%20Summary_March%202011.pdf,
full report: http://drivecleantexas.org/docs/AQ6%20Exec%20Summary_March%202011.pdf)
What kinds of technology and infrastructure do they rely on in the production of environmental health care?
What social ecology does this person, group or organization work within, and how did it shaped their way of conceiving and engaging asthma?
What events or data seem to have motivated their ways of thinking about and engaging environmental health?
What funding enables their work and possibly shapes their way of thinking about environmental health?
What in the history of this person, group or organization likely shaped the way they conceived or and engage environmental health?
What does this person, group or organization seem to find methodologically challenging or concerning in dealing with environmental health?
What kinds of governance are (implicitly or explicitly) called for in the way they think about environmental health?
How can The Asthma Files enable or supplement this way of thinking about environmental health, and the work of this person, group or organization?