Meet the Clean Air Council

Protecting everyone’s right to breathe clean air since 1967

The Clean Air Council is an environmental health advocacy organization fighting for everyone’s right to a healthy environment. Protecting peoples health from the harmful impacts of pollution has always been the Council’s primary goal.

We focus on public education, community action, accountability with elected officials, and enforcement of environmental laws.

The Council is a member-supported nonprofit, and working to address climate change is our number one priority.

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Take Action

Take action with the Clean Air Council

All action items are up to date.

Groups file federal lawsuit against Shell plastic plant CAC celebrates EPA proposal to curb carbon pollution from the U.S. power sector Stop LNG by Rail Network Big Pennsylvania Supreme Court Win for Environmental Advocates and the Public Groups Urge PA to Temporarily Halt Operations at Shell Chemical Plant for ongoing Air Pollution Violations Environmental Groups take legal action against PA chemical plant for air pollution violations Shells Beaver County Ethane Cracking Facility emits illegal amount of pollution, puts nearby communities at risk U.S. EPA takes a rare step by granting Environmental coalitions petition to protect aquatic life in Delaware estuary Groups appeal PADEPs Extension of Illegal Power Plant Permit Clean Air Council criticizes signing of massive methane giveaway Clean Air Council Appeals Permit Exemption for Proposed Petrochemical Facility in Northhumberland County, PA Third Circuit Court Rejects Challenge to DRBC Fracking Ban Judges rule power plant air pollution limits illegally high Clean Air Council Appluads Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and it’s historic climate package Energy Transfer Convicted of Environmental Crimes PA court pauses RGGI, Denies environmental intervenors Clean Air Council responds to West Virginia v. EPA Supreme Court Decision

On Air with Clean Air Council

Meet the Podcast of Clean Air Council

On Air with Clean Air Council delves into the work of a Philadelphia-based environmental non-profit. Clean Air Council works through a broad array of related sustainability and public health initiatives, using public education, community action, government oversight, and enforcement of environmental laws.

Ep 1: Introduction to Clean Air Council and Greenfest Philly

Ep 2: 2020 Presidential Election and Beyond

Ep 3: Community-Driven Research

Ep 4: Hazards in our Backyard

Ep 5: The Protective Buffers Campaign

Ep 6: Keeping Renovo Healthy

Ep. 7: Protecting Walkability in Philadelphia

Ep. 8: Breathing a Little Easier in your Apartment

Fresh Air Newsletter

Started in 1981, the Fresh Air Newsletter offers the latest environmental news, local events, educational resources and programmatic updates on Clean Air Council’s work

Fresh Air Summer Edition

Fresh Air Spring Edition

Fresh Air Winter Edition

Happenings

Local events, webinars, meetings, actions, etc. all in one place, so you don’t have to keep track.

Want us to promote an event? DM us on Instagram!

Green Locomotive Project

Livestream of Beaver Co. County Commissioner Meeting

Sign up for bike month!

Desert Hearts Country Night

MLK Drive Construction

How to get involved in Philly’s 2023 MLK Day of Service

Learn how to use low-cost air monitors webinar

SEPTA Bus Network Redesign Community Meetings

Feet First Philly General Meeting 9/28

September lunch and learn: the importance of protective buffers and local ordinances

Resources

A collection of resources to help fight the climate crisis

Proposed LNG Power Plant for Allegheny Co.

Invenergy is proposing an LNG Power Plant for Allegheny Co. Learn more about the impacts of the project and how you can take action to stop it.

Invenergy Fact Sheet

Purple Air

Check live updates on air quality in your area with Purple Air air monitors

Purple Air Live Air Quality Readings

Air Now

Check live updates of air quality in your area

AirNow

City of Philadelphia i95 Updates

I95 updates

Go Philly Go

Use GoPhillyGo to find bike + transit multimodal directions, including Indego bike share

Go Philly Go

DVPRC Sustainable Transportation Options

DVPRC Transportation Alternatives

Cleaner Commuting Options

Additional SEPTA services— i95 collapse

SEPTA additional capacity and lines

PennDOT Detour Updates

The section between Woodhaven Road (Exit 30) and Betsy Ross Bridge/Aramingo Avenue (Exit 32) on I-95 closed due to a fire that caused part of the roadway to collapse. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is posting live updates of detours.

PennDOT Detour Updates

Air Quality Action Day 6/7

Real-time daily updates and other resources about the air quality from the Department of Public Health in Philadelphia.

Air Quality Day

Air Filter Request for People Impacted by Train Derailment

If you’ve been impacted by the East Palestine train derailment and are in need of an air filter

Air Filter Request for People Impacted by Train Derailment

Philadelphia’s Climate Justice Panel

YouTube livestream of our panel discussing community activism and recent environmental policies

Philadelphia’s Climate Justice Panel

The International Implications of the Inflation Reduction Act

When President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, there was widespread praise across the United States. The Act is seen as an important step towards the US fulfilling its own climate action commitments while encouraging other countries to be more ambitious in their own.

But what about the international implications of the Act? What impact will it have abroad?

In this podcast, Ani Dasgupta tells Nicholas Walton that the Act will have three main international implications. First, it will galvanize American climate leadership. Second, the size of the US economy means that it will lead to significant progress in key low-carbon technologies. Third, it demonstrates to other countries how effective climate action can be done in a way that emphasises opportunities rather than costs. Listen to find out more.

“This particular bill actually invests in specific things to move the economy from where it is to a much more greener economy. It’s transitioning the economy. So the investments it makes in energy, in technologies, even food systems — those investments actually show how you transition an economy. This is a lesson that India would need, South Africa would need, China would need.”

- Ani Dasgupta, President and CEO, World Resources Institute

The International Implications of the Inflation Reduction Act

Oil and Gas Threat Map

What the Map shows

The Oil & Gas Threat Map plots the location of all active oil & gas production facilities in the United States, draws a ½ mile health threat radius around all of those facilities counts the residents, and enrolled students and schools they attend, within that health threat radius.

How the Map was created

The Oil & Gas Threat Map was created with —
Publicly available Census, Department of Education, oil & gas facility, and other data
Peer-reviewed science to determine that ½ mile is a conservative distance within which oil and gas air pollution can be detected such that residents should be concerned.

Who created the Map

Two organizations worked together - Earthworks, a national environmental group dedicated to protect communities and the environment from the negative impacts of resource extraction;

FracTracker Alliance, which studies, maps, and communicates the risks of oil and gas development to protect our planet and support the renewable energy transformation.
Earthworks and FracTracker Alliance did the research and provided data that FracTracker Alliance used to build the Oil & Gas Threat Map.

Oil and Gas Threat Map

Air Monitoring with Clean Air Council

A 6abc clip of Russell Zerbo, Clean Air Council advocate, and Katie Edwards, Communications Director, discussing and showing how the Council’s air monitors work. Russell does a demonstration in Rittenhouse and shows viewers what kind of data the monitor is collecting.

Air Monitoring with Clean Air Council

Zoom into Science: Preparing for (and Enduring) Antarctic Research

Prof. Atsuhiro Muto, who spent three months investigating atmospheric and oceanic conditions influencing the movement and melt of Antarctica's Florida-sized Thwaites glacier, walks you through the steps needed to prepare for, and endure, advanced research on the ice. Muto will explain how his group used the seismic technique to measure the depth of the ocean floor beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf. What did they learn?

Zoom into Science: Preparing for (and Enduring) Antarctic Research

Wet Bulb Temperature Calculator

Wet Bulb Temperature measures how humid it is. As the Earth begins to warm due to climate change, it’ll begin to get hotter and wetter which will make it harder for water to evaporate into the air. This will make it harder for humans to cool themselves down with sweat. The maximum temperature the human body can withstand is 35 degrees Celsius.

This is a tool to use to check the daily wet bulb temperature to make sure you and your loved ones stay safe.

Wet Bulb Temperature Calculator

Pollinators and Pesticides with Ecologist Christine Urbanowicz for 2020 Virtual Greenfest Philly

Ecologist Christine Urbanowicz teaches about how awesome bees are and what families can do to help bees and other pollinators. The half-hour webinar will include family-friendly trivia and games, how to get “beescape” scores for your home, and information on citizen science pollinator projects you can do even during a pandemic. Christine is a field ecologist and spatial analyst who studies the effects of environmental change on plants, pollinators, and species interactions. She has taught and conducted research around the world, from Greenland to Tasmania.

Additional Resources on Pollinators:
https://beescape.org/
https://www.queenquest.org/
https://www.greatsunflower.org/
https://earthchallenge2020.earthday.org/

Pollinators and Pesticides with Ecologist Christine Urbanowicz for 2020 Virtual Greenfest Philly

Stanford Commute Cost & Carbon Emissions Calculator

Use this calculator to quantify the financial and environmental costs (or savings) of your commute.

Stanford Commute Cost & Carbon Emissions Calculator

PA Environmental Scorecard

The PA Environmental Scorecard was created by Conservation Voters of PA, Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, and Clean Air Action Fund. The Scorecard was created to help you keep your legislators accountable and see how they voted on the environment over the years.

PA Environmental Scorecard

Pick Up Pennsylvania— Sign up for clean ups!

Everyone wants to live, work, and play in a clean and green community . . . and it’s up to everyone to make it possible and improve the overall quality of life for us all.

Please join us by registering an event for Pick Up Pennsylvania:

March 1st through May 31st. Our spring event in support of The Great America Cleanup is eligible for FREE work gloves, safety vests, and trash bags as supplies last. Donated landfill space for trash collected during the cleanup is also available for free or reduced cost between April 1st through April 30th.

June 1st through August 31st. Events can be registered in the summer but are not eligible for free supplies at this time. Please also be aware of the additional safety concerns for summer events in PA like ticks, snakes, vegetation, and poison ivy.

September 1st through November 30th. Our fall event in support of The International Coastal Cleanup is eligible for FREE work gloves, safety vests, and trash bags as supplies last. There is no donated landfill space for the fall event.

December 1st through February 28th. Events can be registered in the winter but are not eligible for free supplies at this time. Please also be aware of the additional safety concerns for winter events in PA.

All program registrations will receive an e-mail with detailed instructions for supplies and resources, safety information, and a link to report on each event.

Pick Up Pennsylvania— Sign up for clean ups!

The HUB

“The Hub” is a weekly round-up of transportation related news in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Check back weekly to keep up-to-date on the issues Clean Air Council’s transportation staff finds important.

Weekend Plans

Every week we give you weekend plans of local events, happenings, and outdoor things to do in and around Philadelphia

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Warminster Free TV & Electronic Recycling

After a brief halt due to our previous partner recycling company closing their local facility at the end of 2021, Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County ReStore is proud to reintroduce this free service to the community. The ONLY local FREE option for responsibly recycling TV’s & E-waste. Through this innovative partnership with MRM, ECOvanta, and the Covered Device Recycling Act (CDRA) Habitat Bucks is now designated as a recycling collection center for TV’s, computer monitors, printers, computer towers, laptops, tablets, and other household misc. electronics (Working & Non-working).

Due to the extremely high demand for this service we are limiting the flow of drop off’s to 10 scheduled customers per day on a first come, first serve basis. This will help ensure that our team can properly manage inventory and logistics. We hope to increase this limit as we continue to learn the process, and also hope to incorporate and host collection’s in future community events. To inquire more about this new service please contact BJ Breish, BJ.Breish@habitatbucks.org, ReStore Director.

10 free “tickets” are available Tue-Sat 10-5:30pm. If you reserve 1 of those tickets you may drop off on that particular day any time during those hours. Please only reserve one if you can use it.

When scheduling a drop off you understand that All TV’s, Computers, and other misc. household electronics will be accepted for free.

For general appointments please limit TV’s/Monitors to 3 per scheduled appointment, and 2-3 boxes of misc. Electronics.

For larger/bulk drop off’s please contact us prior to scheduling and delivery 215-822-2708 x1

At this time, no collections will be accepted without an appointment.

We encourage you to load up your vehicle with other household donations to bring with you during your appointment. Donations of gently used household goods and furniture help fund the Mission of Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County.

We encourage you to shop the ReStore after you unload your vehicle. Your purchases help fund the Mission of Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County.

Warminster Free TV & Electronic Recycling

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Langhorne Free TV & Electronic Recycling