— Written by Lyle Jarvis

Protecting Clean Air and Water 🚰

50 years ago, the U.S. was a surprisingly dirty place. Oil spills, car exhaust, toxic pollution and trash filled our air and waterways, prompting early advocates for environmentalism to pick up steam in the 1960s.

In response, the Environmental Protection Agency was launched by President Nixon in 1970, to protect our health and environment, ensuring access to things like clean air, water and communities. Yes, historically this was a bi-partisan issue.The main way the EPA gets things done is by implementing environmental laws that get passed by Congress.

The first of the EPA’s trademark wins came in 1972, banning DDT for all crop uses in the U.S., which helped restore ecosystems across the food chain. Since then, they’ve implemented countless laws attacking pollutants from things like tailpipe exhaust, to lead in our paint and gasoline, to the soot produced by industrial manufacturing.

Thanks to the EPA, the air we breathe today is much healthier than what our grandparents were breathing. But despite decades of demonstrated protection of Americans, the EPA is facing serious threats.

State and Local Efforts Leading the Charge 💨

In a world of deep partisanship, clean air and water are one of few areas all Americans can find common ground. Nearly 70% of us think clean water is worth protecting, and choose the EPA to do it. Even further, the head of the Conservative Climate Caucus called clean water “crucial to the lifeblood of our country.”

The federal government’s recent push to gut the EPA is a devastating turn. Aside from the Trump’s long-standing ties to fossil fuel interests, they’ve already put a stop to several of President Biden’s environmental orders, frozen federal funding for environmental projects and launched a plan to force thousands of EPA employees from their jobs. The net result will be state and local bodies being left to pick up the slack left by the feds. 

States can have their own agencies working to protect clean air, provided the federal government doesn’t hamstring their efforts. For example, California has the California Air Resources Board (commonly, CARB). CARB implements statewide policies to cut air pollution through things like vehicle emissions standards, tackling smog, and identifying/ attacking harmful pollutants in consumer products. Depending on the size of the state, regional air quality districts or zones may have their own agency that monitors air quality and implements federal and state policy, such as the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Southern California that is currently measuring airborne toxin levels not captured by AQI monitors after the recent wildfire disasters.

To find agencies working for a healthier environment in your state, check out this list (courtesy of the EPA).

Let’s Talk About AQI 🫁

According to the EPA, more than 100 million people in the U.S. already live in places with poor air quality conditions. As climate change accelerates, it exacerbates a whole host of air related issues. More smoke from larger, more frequent wildfires, airborne allergens, and ground level ozone are all growing worse thanks to global warming, which means air quality index (AQI) measurements are more important than ever.

While checking AQI has become a necessity, especially for parents looking to protect their kids from unhealthy air quality, it’s not a catch-all for toxic particulate matter. The most recent wildfires in Los Angeles revitalized the buzz around community air monitoring, and the importance of understanding what we’re breathing in. Companies like PurpleAir offer user-supported air quality monitoring – where people can purchase their own air sensor and help gather data for their communities. By becoming part of a monitoring network, you can help provide hyper-localized, accurate, real-time access to AQI.

Most people are willing to fight for healthier air and water. In fact, most Americans think the government isn’t doing enough to ensure we have access to it. The reality is, you and your neighbors share a great deal of common ground (and air), and the ability to make an impact. Now is the time to work together for a safer, more breathable future.

Scores of local orgs across the U.S. are fighting for healthier air, at the city (like Air Alliance Houston) regional, or national scale (Moms Clean Air Force, Clean Air Task Force). For a launching point into local orgs working for cleaner air and water, check out this map.

What We’re Watching 🎥, Reading 📚, and Listening to 🎧

🎥 How Soundscapes Change After A Fire | “The Last of the Nightingales” | The New Yorker Documentary – Follow a soundscape ecologist who lost everything in a Sonoma County fire, and discovers a unique climate impact.

📖 So Much Depends on Antarctica - The magnificence of the continent that’s changing our world,  by Liz Green, Nautilus.

🎧 Baseball, Brought to You By Oil and Gas | from Boiling Point, an LA Times Podcast – listen in as climate reporter, Sammy, Roth hosts acclaimed environmental activist, Bill McKibben to discuss how “sportswashing” and fossil fuel advertising is taking over America’s favorite pastime.

👀 Some Stories You Might Have Missed This Week 🗞️📺:

1. Environmentalists Gear Up to Fight Trump in Court (NYTimes)

2. An Ohio Transit Agency is Transitioning to Clean, Hydrogen-Powered Buses (Canary)

3. A Carbon Removal Startup Raised $160m for Forest Carbon Removal (PRNewswire)