All About Air Quality Bootcamp: Communities Learning about their Air
Bootcamp participants at the Welcome Dinner
Earlier this summer, we hosted our first All About Air Quality Bootcamp. It was a great success! Held in Torrance, the Bootcamp provided two days of intensive air quality training to 29 individuals from eight different community organizations that work on air issues throughout the Los Angeles area. Developed through a collaboration between the Coalition for Clean Air and TD Enviro, the goal of this program is to help advocates feel empowered to engage with their communities and regulators around local air quality issues.
Bootcamp day one focused on many of the technical foundational elements of air quality, diving into local sources and pollutants of concern, how meteorology impacts air quality, and discussions of the different types of air pollutant measurement devices and how they’re applied in both a community and regulatory monitoring. We were also fortunate to be joined by Ed Avol, professor emeritus & former Chief of the Environmental Health Division at the USC Keck School of Medicine, who spoke on air pollution and health, a presentation and conversation that really helped ground a lot of the Bootcamp.
Bootcamp in session!
Day two took an action approach: Where can I find data and how do I understand it? How is air quality regulated? How can I better communicate air quality issues to my community? What are the pathways for advocating for better air quality in my community? The day also included a discussion on air quality and environmental justice, and the group dug into difficult conversations with a real willingness to learn from and listen to others’ experiences.
A huge thank you to all of our attendees and sponsors. Pacoima Beautiful, Del Amo Action Committee, Climate First: Replacing Oil and Gas, and Families Lobbying Against Refinery Exposures helped us recruit attendees and hone the training content. These Bootcamps are made possible through the California Air Resource Board’s Community Air Grant program. All About Air Quality Bootcamp is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities. Additionally, food for this Bootcamp was provided by the generosity of Magmotors Technologies President & CEO Abas Goodarzi.
And we’re looking forward to the next Bootcamp! The next All About Air Quality Bootcamp will take place in November in the Bay Area, and two more will happen in early 2024, one in the San Joaquin Valley and one virtual. Get in contact if you’re interested in learning more about any of these sessions or signing up!
All Bootcamp attendees!
