New Year, New Resolutions to Help Us All Breathe Easier

New Year’s Day is quickly approaching, and along with it, all those resolutions. Perhaps the best part of the New Year—besides the midnight toast—is getting to reflect on the past year and decide what changes you want to make as you move forward into the future. Making the choice to go green in the new year and resolving to adopt some eco-friendly actions will result in multiple positive changes to your wallet, your time, your health and the region’s air quality.

You just might be surprised at how truly easy it can be to incorporate sustainability into your everyday routine. By adopting just one of many green lifestyle changes, you can have a big impact on helping people all over the St. Louis region breathe easier in 2019. Here are a few simple New Year’s resolutions to consider to help improve the air quality:

  • Walk, Bike, or Take Public Transit – The region’s public transit system, ridesharing and bike-sharing services are all designed to eliminate the use of multiple vehicles on the road and offer great alternatives for the work commute or an option to hopping in your car for short trips. Any steps you can take to reduce your solo commuting this year by walking, biking or taking public transportation can reduce auto emissions to help keep the air quality in healthy ranges.
  • Properly Maintain Your Vehicle – Steps like checking engine performance, keeping tires properly inflated, replacing air filters every three months and changing oil regularly are all ways to become more environmentally friendly in the new year. Routine maintenance helps reduce emissions and fuel consumption, saving money at the pump and cleaning the air.
  • Think globally, buy locally – Locally grown food has countless benefits to offer and helps to reduce environmental impact. Imported food is often shipped hundreds and sometimes even thousands of miles to arrive at the supermarket. The greater distance the food has to travel the more fossil fuels are consumed. Buying local produce reduces the amount of travel time for big transport trucks, ultimately improving the air quality by cutting back on air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Clean Greener – Clean your home with non-toxic and natural cleaning products in the new year to avoid the harmful side effects. Create your own products by mixing a little warm water with either baking soda or white vinegar for the perfect all-purpose cleaner. Also, when replacing cleaning products, don’t just throw the old ones in the trash. If they’re too toxic for your home, they won’t be good for the drain or the landfill either.
  • Green Your Home by Recycling – Recycling is an important part of going green by keeping waste out of landfills and turning glass, paper, plastic and other items into new materials. Set up separate recycling bins in your home so it is easy for all family members to participate and consider purchasing recycled products to help clean the air.

    For more great tips on how we can work together to achieve cleaner air in 2019, visit www.cleanair-stlouis.com/air-quality-tips/,  like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair. Have a happy and healthy New Year!

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year to Go Green

While the holidays are meant for appreciating time spent with family and friends, our impact on the environment and air quality can be overlooked in the midst of all the gatherings this time of year. From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, household waste such as food, holiday cards, decorations, wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, and shopping bags increases by more than 25 percent. As a result, an additional one million tons of waste heads to landfills each week.

These statistics may come as a shock, but thankfully, there are a variety of ways to incorporate sustainability into our favorite holiday celebrations. The more people who participate in these energy and resource-saving activities, the greater and more positive effect they will have on our planet. With that in mind, here are just a few of the many ways you can go green for the holidays, celebrating to the fullest while minimizing any negative effects on the environment:

  • Send Out eCards and Recycle Old Cards Send holiday wishes to loved ones via ecards to save time, postage and trees. This is the optimal choice not only because there’s no paper needed, but also because there’s no delivery vehicle involved that contributes to harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Consider reusing the fronts of old cards as holiday postcards or gift tags.
  • Choose Greener Travel Options If possible, consider traveling by bus or train to your destination. These are the greenest options and can offer a certain level of convenience, particularly if the weather and roads are bad along your travel route. If you must fly, check to see if you can get an affordable nonstop flight to help improve the air quality by cutting back on carbon emissions that come from takeoff and landing.
  • Gift Differently – Consider giving a homemade gift such as a knit scarf, painting, homemade bath bomb, jar of jam or other tasty seasonal treats to loved ones this year. Gifting a used item from a second-hand shop or looking for items in your own home for a holiday exchange are also great ways to cut back on cost and green your holiday shopping.
  • Shop with Reusable Bags Holiday shopping is great fun but also a huge producer of plastic shopping bags. Keep reusable bags in your car so they’re always available and you don’t have to worry about forgetting them at home. Using and reusing cloth bags can help to clean the air by reducing the thousands of bags that end up in landfills.
  • Use Eco-friendly Wrapping Alternatives Newspapers, old posters, maps and reusable gift bags all are great ways to present your gifts this holiday season. Scrap fabric lying around the house also makes for beautiful, personal, and unique gift wraps. If you choose to buy gift wrap, look for recycled content gift wrap paper whenever you can find it.

A few small changes are all it takes to give the gift of helping the St. Louis region breathe easier this holiday season. For more tips, visit www.cleanair-stlouis.com, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair.

Giving Thanks for Cleaner Air

As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, it is a special time to reflect on the many things to be grateful for this holiday season. We often think of being grateful for the many people and blessings in our lives — our families and friendships, health, career, a warm home, a Thanksgiving feast with loved ones, complete with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy and turkey galore. Often overlooked in our society, however, is the quality of air we breathe every day.

As we plan out all the dishes that will be on our tables this year, it’s also important to consider the impacts that certain holiday traditions have on the planet. This Thanksgiving consider giving your holiday celebration extra meaning by making your day of thanks a greener and more eco-friendly one. A green Thanksgiving will enrich your family’s holiday experience by reducing the impact on the environment as you do your share for cleaner air. That’s something for which everyone can be thankful, but it’s particularly meaningful for children, older adults and those who suffer from lung diseases that make them especially vulnerable to poor air quality.

Start by sourcing as many of your ingredients as possible locally to help reduce emissions produced by transport trucks.  The less your produce has to travel, the less waste is produced, and the smaller the environmental impact. With so many friends and family gathered at the table for Thanksgiving dinner, it’s also not uncommon for regular plates, cups, napkins and silverware to be swapped out for disposables. Instead of buying tableware for one-time use, opt for your favorite set of dishes this year. While this may lead to a little extra time spent at the kitchen sink, this small change leads to a much bigger impact, helping the region breathe easier.

With the holiday season also comes the spending season where so many take advantage of Black Friday and other exclusive deals. The thought of a new computer or flat screen television for an unbeatable price might sound enticing, but the environmental impacts of consumer spending are tremendous. Rather than participate in the Black Friday mania this year, consider keeping your wallet and the environment happy by cutting back on unnecessary spending and eliminating all the extra auto emissions associated with running from store to store.  For those who can’t pass up the tempting Black Friday deals, consider online shopping from the comfort of your home. Doing so will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from consumer travel while delivery services optimize routes for fuel efficiency.

This Thanksgiving, when counting life’s blessings and listing those things to be grateful for, don’t forget to add clean air to the list. And thank you for all you do so we can all breathe easier. To learn more, visit our website tips section at www.cleanair-stlouis.com, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair.

Going Green This Spooky Season

It’s that time of year again where Halloween fun is right around the corner, but the holiday has become a bit scarier for the environment. From decorating our homes and painting pumpkins to hosting frighteningly fabulous parties and passing out loads of candy to trick-or-treaters, these popular traditions that we know and love can wreak havoc on the environment, and ultimately our air quality.

Rather than buying mass-produced products that take a lot of resources to manufacture, you can invest in quality costumes and decorations – or even make them yourself at home to last for years to come. Here are some helpful tips to consider for those upcoming spooky festivities without creating a nightmare for the planet and your wallet!

  • Rent, Swap or Make Your Own Costume – Total spending for Halloween is expected to reach $9 billion this year in the United States alone. Browse thrift shops, flea markets or gather some inspiration from your own closet instead to save money. Avoid buying store-bought costumes that are often made up of nonrecyclable petro-chemical based plastic and synthetic fibers that release harmful toxins in their creation and breakdown. Going for a greener option this Halloween will ultimately help to improve the air quality.
  • Choose Eco-Friendly Decorations — Make a dent in the waste this Halloween by creating your own homemade decorations with recycled household items. Also, use solar-powered or LED lights that will conserve energy, as will refraining from using inflatable ghouls and goblins that require electricity to operate. Doing so will help save on electricity costs and cut back on emissions to help clean the air.
  • Green Up Your Halloween Pumpkins – Remember to compost your pumpkins this Halloween to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions that result from rotting in landfills. Save the pulp from inside the pumpkins for pies, muffins, soup and other tasty recipes, as well as the seeds that make for a great fall snack when roasted with a little oil and salt!
  • Host a Green Halloween Party – Your party this year can be as Spooktacular as ever without negatively effecting the environment. Send out electronic invites instead of paper to guests to help save time, postage and trees. When shopping for supplies, look for recyclable or compostable plates, cups and utensils rather than the kind that end up in the trash and put out recycling bins for any bottles and cans.

By making sustainability a part of your Halloween celebrations, you can do your part to help the St. Louis region breathe easier. To learn more about the link between living greener and our air quality, visit our website the tips section at www.cleanair-stlouis.com, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, REPEAT!

When it comes to the three Rs, we always encourage people to Reduce and Reuse first, but for those who also find themselves with items to recycle, the process could be changing very soon. With China no longer taking U.S. recycled materials because it was receiving too many non-recyclable items, a policy change has some local cities worried about the future of their recycling programs.

 

Many fear that this could cause the cost of local curbside recycling programs to go up and lead to cancellations. Experts say the best way to prevent that from happening is for residents to be more vigilant about cross-contamination of mixed recyclables. All too often plastic bags, styrofoam and other miscellaneous items are making their way into recycling containers where they don’t belong.

 

To help combat this issue, the city of Kirkwood and St. Louis County are providing helpful tips to area residents, along with a full list of items eligible for curbside, single-stream recycling. The more material that gets properly recycled, the less that goes into landfills, ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions for cleaner air. For more information on changes coming to local recycling services and details on how one community is responding, visit http://www.kirkwoodmo.org/ and help spread the word!

RideFinders Driving Home Change for Cleaner Air

The Clean Air Partnership is focused on motivating area residents to take voluntary steps to clear the air this fall by taking advantage of the numerous options to reduce the number of solo commutes.  RideFinders is just one of the many organizations that proudly serves the St. Louis region with a mission to improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion by encouraging alternate transportation options.

With transportation-related emissions being one of the biggest contributors to air pollution, RideFinders offers a path to reduce those emissions by providing a free carpool and vanpool ride matching service for commuters to help improve the overall quality of the air. RideFinders works with employers, colleges, trade schools, municipalities and virtually any other type of organization to help commuters rideshare to and from work and school.

Fewer vehicles on the roads and highways means fewer automobile emissions, reduced traffic congestion and improved air quality, making communities across the St. Louis region better places to live, work and study.  But the benefits go far beyond that. By sharing a ride instead of driving alone, commuters can also save money and have a more relaxing ride or catch up on work when they are not behind the wheel.  Here’s a look at just a few of the ways RideFinders is helping area residents choose a cleaner commute:

  • Carpool & Vanpool Matching – RideFinders offers these services to match eligible commuters with other nearby commuters who also share a similar route to work or school and have similar commute schedules. Carpools remove nearly 4,500 vehicles and 150,000 driving miles from our region’s roadways daily – easing traffic congestion for everyone.
  • Guaranteed Ride Home Program — This program provides ridesharing commuters with four free taxi rides home per year in the event of an emergency or if they must stay late or leave early from work or college – guaranteeing peace of mind.
  • Employee Transportation Coordinators (ETCs) – Becoming an ETC with RideFinders is a great way to help promote commute alternatives to fellow co-workers and distribute air quality and transportation related information within a company or organization. Over 900 St. Louis area employers, colleges and other organizations participate in RideFinders as “ETCs” to help thousands of commuters rideshare and clean the air.
  • Save Money – Not only is ridesharing helpful in the fight for cleaner air, but it also helps reduce the cost of gas, maintenance and parking fees for commuters who are sharing the ride There is no cost or liability to join or participate in the program as RideFinders operates as a free public service for the region through federal funding!

For more information about RideFinders check out their website at http://www.ridefinders.org/.

Make This School Year a Greener One

The summer days are drawing to a close, and many area students are already back in the classroom. While the cooler nights and more pleasant daytime temperatures on the way make it less likely that the quality of our air will be top of mind, the St. Louis area continues to struggle with  ozone and particle pollution, so it’s important to not lose sight of the fact that there are various things we can be doing during the school year to help keep the region’s air clean year-round.

The good news is all of us can play a role in helping to reduce emissions to improve our region’s air quality by practicing greener habits in our daily lives. Now that parents and kids are getting settled into their back-to-school routines, here are some helpful tips to consider for keeping the air clean:

  • Walk, bike or take public transit when possible: When weather conditions are favorable, kids that live close to school can replace car trips with walking, bicycling or using public transit to help reduce air pollution. Fewer vehicles on the roads result in less pollution in the air.
  • Nix bottled water: Did you know that up to 80 percent of water bottles in the United States never get recycled? Purchase refillable water bottles that you can fill up at any water fountain instead of throwing away a new bottle. This will help cut back on pollution caused from waste that ends up in landfills, making our air cleaner one less bottle at a time.
  • Limit waste at lunch: When packing a lunch for school, use sandwich containers rather than plastic baggies and consider investing in a reusable, insulated lunch box instead of brown bags that may also just get thrown in the trash.
  • Go paperless: Take down notes from class electronically to save money and eliminate paper waste to save a significant amount of energy that leads to cleaner air. Printing double-sided and using an online calendar or scheduler to keep assignments organized are also great ways to reduce paper consumption!
  • Power down: Computers, tablets and many other electrical devices still use electricity when plugged in, even though they may be idle. When you are not using your electronic device, turn it off and unplug the device because energy production is a key source of air pollution. Doing so will help clean the air by reducing harmful emissions.

The Clean Air Partnership is proud to play a role in raising awareness about all the ways we can reduce emissions. To access a wealth of air quality information and tips designed to help area residents do their share for cleaner air, parents and kids are encouraged to visit the tips section of our  website, like the Clean Air Partnership on Facebook or follow @gatewaycleanair on Twitter.

Summer Hacks to help Clean the Air

The season of summer barbecues, vacations and days spent poolside is in full swing, but the hotter temperatures that make those activities such fun can also lead to an increased risk of poor air quality conditions. With that in mind, we’ve come up with a list of easy summer hacks to help reduce overall emissions and improve air quality:
  • Go old-fashioned and use a clothesline to finish up the laundry process. The scorching heat acts as a natural drying machine for clothes, reducing energy that would have been used from an actual dryer. Less energy used means reduced emissions and better air quality.
  • If you’re headed out on a summer vacation and find it necessary to rent a car, opt for a hybrid or flex-fuel vehicle. Every gallon of gas saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, reducing emissions to keep the air clean.
  • Hosting a summer barbecue? Make sure to use a gas barbecue grill instead of a charcoal grill. Charcoal grills release about twice as much carbon dioxide per hour as gas grills do. Using a gas barbecue grill this summer is a step in the right direction for cleaner air.
  • Use a reusable water bottle instead of multiple plastic bottles to keep hydrated in the grueling summer heat. A reusable water bottle will reduce waste outputs and less in landfills is better for cleaner air.
  • Avoid using a gas-powered lawn mower. In summer, grass seems to grow quicker than ever, but using a gas-powered lawn mower for one hour is equal to emissions released when driving a new car for 200 miles. If you must use a gas-powered lawn mower, make sure to mow before 10 a.m. or after 7 p.m. to avoid peak ozone formation hours.
  • If you’re a pool owner, use a pool cover whenever it is not in use. Pool covers provide insulation, reducing the amount of energy needed to keep the pool heated and warm if you want to extend its use into the late summer or early fall.
By making simple changes this summer, you can do your part to help reduce emissions and promote better air quality. For more great tips on how we can work together to achieve cleaner air this summer and year round, visit https://cleanair-stlouis.com/air-quality-tips .

Many Options Available to Help Reduce Auto Emissions

Now that the prime of summer has reached us, the importance of keeping the region’s air clean is at an all-time high. The Clean Air Partnership, along with several other organizations, helps play a significant role in raising awareness about all the ways people in the St. Louis region can reduce emissions to help keep the air quality in healthy ranges. With transportation being one of the biggest contributors to air pollution, much of the focus is on communicating the many benefits of alternative transportation options, such as transit use or carpooling, or walking or riding a bike when air quality conditions are good.

Thankfully there are plenty of resources available to help members of the St. Louis community take voluntary steps that can improve the quality of the air we breathe and improve our health overall. Area residents are encouraged to check out the following:

    • The region’s public transit system is designed so riders can walk to a nearby stop, or park and take a train or bus, or a combination of the two, to get where they’re going – safely, comfortably and conveniently.  (metrostlouis.org or www.mct.org)
    • Citizens for Modern Transit offers a Guaranteed Ride Home program as an incentive for commuters that allows employees to take transit/bicycle while providing them a “safety net” – an assurance they can get home and not be left at work if a situation arises. (www.cmt-stl.org)
    • RideFinders provides free carpool and vanpool ride-matching services for commuters in the St. Louis region to save money, reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality. They also offer a version of the Guaranteed Ride Home program! (www.ridefinders.org)
    • Don’t let worry about potentially needing a car during the day derail plans to share the ride. Consider carsharing opportunities to get to and from midday errands and meetings when needed. Visit www.enterprisecarshare.com for more information.
    • Visit gatewayguide.com or use MoDOT’s 511 travel information number to get real-time traffic information and use it to better plan your route to avoid traffic tie-ups and construction zones.
    • LimeBike and Ofo are bike-sharing companies that offer a great alternative to hopping in your car for short trips. Users download one of the smartphone apps to find a bike nearby. When they get to the bike, they can enter a code to unlock it via their phone, pedal where they need to go, lock it up and leave it for the next user. (http://www.stlbikeshare.org)
    • Ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft match drivers of private vehicles to those seeking transportation and are a great option for group outings to eliminate the use of multiple vehicles.

    For more information and additional tips to clean the air, visit www.cleanair-stlouis.com, like the Clean Air Partnership on Facebook or follow @gatewaycleanair on Twitter.

MoDOT – Guiding the Region to Cleaner Air

As the Clean Air Partnership works to encourage activities that reduce emissions, we continue to spotlight organizations in the St. Louis region that share our passion. With transportation being one of the largest contributors to air pollution, the efforts carried out by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) are crucial in championing clean air.

MoDOT oversees a total of 33,856 miles of roadway throughout the state and, while commuting by automobile is necessary for many, MoDOT recognizes the importance of keeping congestion-related emissions at a minimum.  Considering idling vehicles emit 20 times more pollution than a car traveling 30 miles per hour, alleviating congestion that causes stop-and-go traffic is key in promoting cleaner air.

Here is a look at several of the initiatives MoDOT has implemented to help keep traffic flowing, decrease emissions and clear the region’s air:

 

  • Gateway Guide – This initiative combines several tools to provide motorists with real-time traffic updates. Traffic sensors alongside the road provide information on upcoming traffic speeds and volumes. MoDOT utilizes over 100 Dynamic Message Signs across the state which are permanent message boards located along state highways used to broadcast information regarding travel times, interstate closures, vehicle crashes and congestion. The @StLouisTraffic Twitter feed shares real-time information on closed lanes and roads. Closed-circuit cameras positioned throughout the region also provide real-time footage of area highways. These cameras provide video to help direct emergency response forces to quickly and safely address incidents. More importantly, the camera footage is streamed on Gateway Guide. MoDOT’s intent is that motorists will use this information to take alternate routes when traffic is heavy. By shifting traffic flow in various directions, congestion can be alleviated or avoided, ultimately reducing vehicle emissions.

  • Ozone Information – During the ozone forecasting season, MoDOT operates eight portable message boards alongside roadways in the St. Louis region. These, along with the Dynamic Message Signs, present the daily ozone forecast and often provide motorists with air-friendly tips. For example, when the air quality is poor, the message board not only notifies motorists of the red state of the air, but it might also encourage motorists to avoid filling up with gasoline until after 7 p.m., to help prevent the development of ground-level ozone. These boards have the potential to reach more than half a million travelers in just one day and encourage the community to take part in activities that keep the air cleaner.

 

  • Modification of Daily and Internal Operations – When the air quality is predicted to be poor, MoDOT works especially hard to alleviate congestion. This means halting routine maintenance operations on state highways that might create congestion and vehicle idling when the air quality is red.  MoDOT also encourages their staff to use alternative forms of transportation and has a carpooling program in place for employees to team up to share the ride. These modifications further help to reduce pollution and improve the quality of the air we breathe.

For more information about MoDOT and their work, check out their website at www.modot.org.  And keep an eye on our blog for a future spotlight on the Illinois Department of Transportation to learn about their commitment to cleaner air.