Need Good Air Quality Data? Hopefully You Live in a Rich Neighborhood

Images of deep red and orange skies across California, Oregon, and Washington state have drawn comparisons to futuristic science-fiction film Blade Runner 2049, but the wildfires that caused them represent an immediate climate emergency that will require a new focus on worsening air quality, particularly in marginalized communities.

Many in these states have turned to PurpleAir, which produces an online map based on data pulled from 8,000 company-made sensors, in order to gain more detailed information on the amount of harmful particulate pollution in their neighborhoods. For some, the harmful irritants are visible to the naked eye; no online map needed.

In Black communities and other communities of color, though, pollution is a daily struggle, not just during wildfire season.

“We have all been talking about this recently, but what about the unhealthy air quality that may be in these communities on a regular day when no fires are burning?” says Mandolyn Ludlum, a veteran educator and community organizer from Oakland, California.

This year's State of the Air study from the American Lung Association finds that 57 percent of Americans who are people of color live in counties with a failing grade for ozone and air pollution, compared to just 38 percent for white Americans. And it comes as the federal government rolls back environmental protections.

Community-sourced data lies at the heart of air quality monitoring today. In the case of PurpleAir, its air quality index (AQI) map data measures indexes from different regions through partnerships with entities like the University of Utah’s AQandU. This makes for an easy-to-read and frequently updated map and interface on its website.

Founder Adrian Dybwad created PurpleAir to measure the air quality near his own home in Utah after a mine expansion. He says good data can help climate activists move the needle, but acknowledges that there are large gaps in the PurpleAir map, in part because its sensors—which can cost hundreds of dollars—aren't affordable for most consumers.

For those in marginalized communities, that means they are living without the ability to consistently measure and share how they’re directly affected by poor air quality often created by nearby industrial facilities or the traffic infrastructure in their neighborhoods.

“My mom teaches in East Oakland through the Oakland Unified School District and her school is next door to a company that processes asbestos! Where my mother teaches and where I teach is less than 15 miles apart, but have incredibly different resources. Health should not be determined by a ZIP code, but it is," Ludlum says.

These issues do weigh on those producing air quality monitoring sensors. At Airviz, the company moved away from producing its own Speck indoor air quality monitor for the consumer market to focus on partnering with larger companies, like 3M. “We’re trying to get the tech to a larger scale and in the process make it more affordable to everyone.” says Dömötör Gulyas, technical director at Airviz.

Airviz got its start at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania's Allegheny County, a region that consistently receives “F” grades from the State of the Air report. In partnership with a local hospital, it started a program to measure the indoor air quality in households with pregnant mothers and is studying the effects of coal mining and fracking on outdoor air quality.

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“Having clean air is a proxy for having a safe space, and that means that you have to know what’s in your air in order to be actionable in real time," Gulyas says.

On the West Coast, Ludlum views this situation as an actionable moment for Silicon Valley. “In an area of the country where technology companies are thriving, part of the social contract with the community should be to provide free or very low-cost monitors to communities and schools (and provide training and support for using them) as soon as possible.”

That's no easy task. “Often times, private industry does things for their own personal profit instead of the greater good. I think there should be more done by the federal government to make these sensors more available to the public," says Peter Mann, founder and CEO of Oransi.

Oransi created AirLift, a social impact program that has partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District’s efforts to combat childhood asthma among students. It donated HEPA air purifiers, with hopes to further expand in New York and Texas over the next few months.

Communities of color are mobilizing themselves with groups such as the Airkeepers in North Carolina to attain more sensor technology and therefore better air quality data. They’ve also made this part of their larger agenda of climate justice, partnering with groups like the NAACP to shape policies going forward. With a presidential election weeks away, these efforts are more vital than ever.