The 14th annual Clear the Air Challenge in Utah begins July 1. The month-long challenge is designed to encourage Utahns to reduce their vehicle emissions by choosing alternatives to driving alone.

The challenge is to use other modes of transportation. This might mean carpooling, using public transportation, walking or biking - as well as consolidating trips or working from home when you can.

Kim Frost, executive director of the Utah Clean Air Partnership, said nearly half of the pollutants that contribute to Utah's poor air quality can be attributed to emissions from cars and trucks. Frost said the alternatives can not only help improve air quality, but could also save you time, money and gas.

"This is really a way to bring attention to that," she said, "and help Utahns understand how they can be part of that solution and reduce our emissions by just making small, simple changes."

Frost said the event is all about community action and encouraging participation. Since the first year of the Clear the Air Challenge in 2009, Utahns have made 1.3 million fewer trips, saved more than 20 million miles and reduced their emissions by more than 6,700 tons. You can register at cleartheairchallenge.org.

In years past, Frost said, the challenge would take place in February, which is when Utah typically experiences the winter inversion period, when air quality visibly deteriorates. This year, the event will take place in July to address the state's summertime ozone issues. Frost added that summer ozone isn't as visible as the winter inversion, but its effects on health are equally as harmful.

"We have some ozone issues in Utah, particularly along the Wasatch Front, that are causing us more and more concern," she said. "And so, we wanted to get people involved in the challenge in July, so that they not only make changes in summer when we need it, but also, it's an education opportunity for us."

Frost added that Gov. Spencer Cox has invested what she calls "huge amounts" into active transportation trails, specifically designed for people on conventional and electric bikes as well as pedestrians, all in an effort to reduce commuter traffic.


get more stories like this via email

With Baltimore City seeing record heat this summer, local groups are working to combat the effect of the city's urban heat island.

Where urbanization spreads asphalt and concrete for miles, daytime temperatures can be up to 7 degrees higher than outlying areas.

Ava Richardson, sustainability director for the City of Baltimore, is addressing the issue and said the best approach is through nature-based solutions, with a number of stakeholders already involved.

"There's a lot of areas across the city that lack that green infrastructure or lack those cooling amenities," Richardson explained. "We are working with different universities, including the Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative, to better understand some of the dynamics around the microclimates that you'll see, because there can be a significant variation in temperature from block to block."

Green infrastructure can include things such as tree planters replacing portions of sidewalk, rooftop gardens, forest patches and compost applications to existing plantings.

Adding compost to tree plantings gives them greater resilience against drought and when heavy rains come, composted tree beds help capture runoff which otherwise flows into the Chesapeake Bay. Local efforts at composting in Baltimore City include several residential drop-off centers, with more on the way thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Sophia Hosain, zero waste manager for the City of Baltimore, said community composting efforts are also ongoing.

"There are a number of urban farms and gardens who are composting on site," Hosain pointed out. "They're providing neighborhood level access so that their communities can drop off food scraps there, and it can all be processed locally and then applied at the farm to grow their food. So, really demonstrating circular food systems."

Composting in Baltimore got a boost last year when the Environmental Protection Agency awarded the city $4 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law toward a municipal composting facility. The solar-powered facility will be located at an existing public works site at Bowley's Lane. Groundbreaking is expected next year.

In the meantime, the city is still reliant on incineration to deal with some aspects of waste disposal. Hosain leads the Office of Waste Diversion and emphasized a lot of what is thrown out could be composted.

"We're taking a look at what residents are throwing away and seeing what we can pull out the most easily or the most effectively and reduce our reliance on the incinerator," Hosain outlined. "When we look at the residential waste composition in the city, we find that about 100,000 tons of it is compostable."

She added the city is incinerating about 50,000 tons annually. Food waste drop-off locations are listed on the public works website under recycling services.

Washingtonians want to drive electric vehicles and a new rebate program from the state is providing proof.

Earlier this month, the Washington State Department of Commerce launched its EV Instant Rebates program.

Steven Hershkowitz, clean transportation managing director for the Washington State Department of Commerce, said the program is designed especially to reach low and middle income residents. He said EVs are nearly at price parity with gas-powered cars but the vast majority of transactions for vehicles of any kind is of used vehicles.

"It's just very difficult to break into the new vehicle market," Hershkowitz acknowledged. "We wanted to make it more accessible for low-income families who are used to buying on the used market disproportionately."

Hershkowitz explained the program focuses on leasing, providing $5,000 rebates for the purchase or lease for 24 to 35 months of new EVs, and $9,000 rebates for leases of 36 months or longer. Rebates are $2,500 for the purchase or lease of used EVs. Hershkowitz noted the program has provided more than a thousand rebates since the start of the month, two to three times the agency's expectation.

Rebates from the program can also be added to federal credits for EVs. But Hershkowitz cautioned there are many restrictions on which EV models are available for federal credits, which is why the Department of Commerce is focused on leasing.

"Leases do not have the same restrictions because of the way the Inflation Reduction Act language is written," Hershkowitz stressed. "That was one of the reasons why we emphasized leases, was to maximize how much of those federal dollars are coming into Washington state."

Hershkowitz added the rebate program's success is not surprising.

"There's tremendous demand for electric vehicles and it's really showing that price has been a barrier for a lot of people," Hershkowitz contended. "A program like this that is on the consumer-demand side of the equation is really important for being able to speed up the pace of uptick."


get more stories like this via email

A new study from the University of Maine found the nation could reduce the amount of seafood it imports and still meet consumer demand.

Americans ate roughly twenty pounds of fresh, frozen or canned seafood per person in 2021 but roughly 80% of it was imported.

Joshua Stoll, associate professor of marine policy at the University of Maine, said the effects of climate change on marine populations may force consumers to shift to a more regionally sourced diet.

"I think what we consume from a seafood perspective today may not be what we consume in the future," Stoll projected.

Stoll pointed out some species may leave the warming Gulf of Maine, for example, while new ones arrive. He argued by focusing on species such as herring, anchovy and other less consumed fish, the U.S. can create a more sustainable seafood supply. Critics noted Americans may not be easily persuaded to give up their seafood on demand.

Still, increasing domestic production of seafood will not only benefit coastal communities, according to Stoll, but it could also help address food insecurity. More than 10% of Maine households struggle to meet their daily nutrition needs.

Stoll acknowledged even in a state such as Maine, fresh and affordable seafood can be hard to come by. He stressed greater government investments in infrastructure will be key.

"There's so much more potential for the domestic seafood production sector in the U.S. to play a bigger role in feeding our communities, feeding the people in our country," Stoll asserted.

Stoll emphasized local communities would benefit from greater investments in cold storage, waterfront access and regional distribution networks to ensure seafood is widely available, especially in historically marginalized communities. He added as more people pay attention to the relationship between health and diet, now is the time to aim for seafood self-reliance.


get more stories like this via email