Federal program touts simple things you can do to improve air quality.
Federal program touts simple things you can do to improve air quality
We’ve talked a lot lately about federal and state initiatives touting telework and other strategies to ease traffic congestion and improve air quality. Here’s a program jointly funded and managed by the Department of Transportation and the EPA called, “It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air.”
The program’s mission is to educate people about the little things they can do to improve air quality. It provides slick marketing materials free to local organizations in 70 or so cities. The local groups — metropolitan planning and transportation organizations, air-quality management agencies and council of governments — then customize the materials with logos and local messages (such as area-specific pollution facts) and create TV, radio and print ads, billboards, door hangers, restaurant placemats or whatever method they choose to get the word out.
“We’re trying to get people to make lifestyle changes,” says Kathy Daniel, a DOT air quality specialist and the program’s co-manager. “But there’s a bigger message, too — that people would support building new transit lines if they better understood the connection between how people get around and air pollution and traffic congestion. Would you rather be stuck in traffic or read the paper on the train?”
The 8-year-old program was developed from focus groups and pilot programs. Until last year, the group sent out one big batch of marketing materials in the summer. But in time they realized, “Hitting them just once a year in the summer and then disappearing wasn’t changing behavior. We need frequency of exposure,” Daniel says.
So last year the group began developing seasonal messages — two or three simple and convenient things people can do to improve air quality, tied to the time of year.
For instance, the winter theme, which kicks off this week, focuses on telework and “trip-chaining” — the concept of ganging all your short local trips to shorten your time on the road. Eighty percent of trips are made to run errands, not to commute, Daniel says. So the message is telework is a great way to stay off the roads in bad weather, and trip chaining can help relieve stress during the holiday season.
The spring themes focus on vehicle maintenance. This jibes with the car industry’s April is Car Care Month campaign, which pushes car maintenance in preparation of the summer driving season. Ninety percent of vehicular emissions are caused by 5% of cars on the road; cars either built before tough emissions standards were put in place, or that have malfunctioning or disabled catalytic converters, Daniel says.
The other big spring message is getting in shape by biking and walking instead of driving. Daniel herself bikes eight miles each way to her office at the DOT. “I don’t have time for exercise,” she says. “It’s mostly bike paths into Washington and takes the same amount of time. And it’s predictable.”
In summer, the push is for fuel efficiency. Did you know that the worst thing you can do for the environment is fuel up your car on a hot sunny day? Instead, fuel up after the sun goes down. Topping off the tank can cause gas to spill on the ground or disable the car’s vapor recovery system, both big polluters. Leaving your gas cap loose can cause fumes to escape, too.
The fall message also stresses alternative transportation modes, particularly car and vanpooling, as a way to begin new habits for the new school year.
These days, the organization is forging new alliances and working to expand the messages. It’s working with the Centers for Disease Control to tie its biking and walking messages to the CDC’s effort to battle obesity. “The EPA wants to do more on the health effects of air pollution,” says Daniel. “But the transportation folks get nervous when people say cars are giving people cancer. But of course the ads won’t say that.”
Another concern is funding. Initially, the program received a joint grant of $3.2 million from the DOT and EPA for five years. For the subsequent three (2002 to 2005), it received only $1.3 million. Daniel says her group is having early success requesting states to contribute to a pooled fund in return for a seat on the steering committee. New York has already contributed $300,000 and Mississippi $60,000, and Daniel is targeting 16 others. “The pooled fund is a really good idea,” she says. “It makes the program sustainable.”
It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air also has a great Web site detailing all aspects of the program.
