Did you know that May is Clean Air Month? We are happy to report that here at 350 Bay Area, every month is clean air month, and all of our work adds up to cleaner air!
Our teams have been working hard to push for Clean Air in our communities both by addressing the immediate impacts of air pollution as well as the long-term injustices that cause them.
It’s not just what we’re doing to speed the transition to clean energy, clean transportation, and clean buildings. 350 Bay Area has been working hard to provide immediate relief directly to our community, and lasting change.
Look! Affordable indoor air purifiers for front-line communities
Our youth-led Mobilizing Team has been working throughout the region with Common Humanity Collective, a mutual aid group, to get air purifiers into peoples’ hands for no cost to them. Recently, we’ve partnered with Common Humanity Collective, Healthy Martinez, and Lasko Products on a project to get more air purifiers to those Bay Area residents most impacted by hazardous air quality. The Exciting News: After months of work, this amazing team secured and distributed 300 air purifiers to fence-line Martinez residents, sparking crucial conversations with community members about how our health is impacted by the local refinery and how air purifiers can help protect our indoor air!
Stay tuned for more details coming soon about how this exciting and powerful project came to be and the impact it’s having!
Support our clean air work today!
An impactful project to provide cooling and air purifiers is nearing completion!
350 Bay Area provided 30 low-income households with portable electric HVAC units for cooling and heating, along with air purifiers to provide healthy indoor air, especially during high smoke/high heat events. The results will point to the best way to speed the path to clean and livable indoor air. Because of our advocacy, the project is being picked up by a program at California’s Public Utilities Commission for the next stage to explore ways to make this equipment available state-wide to low-income renters. Stay tuned for more information about this project, which has already had a big impact!
Support this important work with a contribution to 350 Bay Area!
US Air Quality is a problem
According to the American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report, 39% of people living in America live in places with failing grades for unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution. In the counties with the worst air quality, that get failing grades for all three measures of air pollution, 63% of the nearly 44 million residents are people of color.
How did the Bay Area score?
The State of the Air further shares that San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland ranked:
- 12th most polluted cities by ozone
- 5th highest for year round particle pollution
- 7th highest for short-term particle pollution
In sum: not great. While the Bay Area and the state itself has been plagued by numerous wildfires in recent years that affected our air quality, it’s not the number one issue. The biggest cause of air pollution in the Bay Area and California tends to be the transportation sector—from cars to trucks and ships in our ports (NBC Bay Area). The results show that while the skies can look relatively clear, there’s a lot of work left to do in our fight for clean air.
Despite our troubled air, California has been making good progress in other areas. California as a whole ranked 4th on the list of most sustainable states in the nation, with contributing factors like scoring 18th on the list for lowest water usage, 4th for lowest energy usage, and 1st for solar friendliness (Forbes Home)
350 Bay Area is working for an air-pollution free future, Clean Air Month & beyond!
And check out more 350 Bay Area events that are happening this month.
Take part in our Monthly Climate Action Meetings – led by our Youth-led Mobilizing Team – where new volunteers and seasoned activists alike work on future climate action projects and events.