Community Learning Enhances Air Resources

Our CLEAR (Community Learning Enhances Air Resources) program aims to make the invisible visible, giving us all the power to know what’s in the air we breathe and empower our communities to take action to reduce their exposure to unhealthy air.

We accomplish our goal through the latest air quality monitoring technology. Thanks to advances in science, we can show people in real-time what particulate matter (pm) air pollution looks like in their communities. Since 2015, we’ve been using this technology to demonstrate the impacts of air pollution at the community scale and in schools.

We’ve added over 200 air quality monitors (and counting!) to a statewide network. We’ve also created a STEM program, working with teachers and students in local schools to educate youth about air quality issues and encouraging them to bring that knowledge home to their communities. More than a dozen classrooms have participated since the program began.

When parents, administrators and community members can see how toxic their air really is, they can take steps to reduce their exposure. This might entail changing our habits or community-based advocacy to stop pollution where it starts. Particularly in areas near freeways and major freight corridors, monitoring makes the invisible visible.