# Presentation: 409749

## Putting it all together: Implementing fine particle outreach in a predominantly PM area

**Puget Sound Clean Air Agency**
**Alice Collingwood****Communications Manager**

## PM2.5 a year-round issue

**Burn bans based on PM10 levels for more than 10  years**
**Launched Smog Watch in 1995, ozone an emerging issue**
**Added PM2.5 forecasting May 2001**

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
Smog Watch a contingency measure in CO/Ozone maintenance plan, but made sense to implement for the handful of days when we push the standard in our region.  

Most of the time, weather is in our favor limiting ozone problems, but PM2.5 is a year-round air quality driver for us.

Began doing PM2.5 forecasting and calls to action about two years ago.

## Public message strategy

**Avoid pollutant specific messages**
**Focus people on actions instead**
**AQI a powerful tool**

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
We try to avoid pollutant specific messages.

If we have opportunities to educate people about specific pollutants, that’s fine, but our emphasis in calls to action is on the actions themselves, asking people to make clean-air choices.

The AQI is a powerful tool for doing that, because it lets us focus on the quality of the air year-round, regardless of the pollutant that is driving the index.

## Partner with Lung Association

**American Lung Association of Washington**
**Detailed health messages from AQI**
**Credible health experts**
**Enhances our relationship with them**

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
We also don’t get into heavy detail about health, again staying focused on the actions we want people to take.

Our partners at the American Lung Association of Washington issue detailed health messages based on the AQI when we issue calls to action.

## Call-to-action procedures

**Technical staff make forecasts, load to AIRNOW**
**Lung Association issues on two-day yellow forecast**
**We wait for “go” signal from technical staff**

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
On daily basis, our technical folks make air quality forecasts and load them on AIRNOW.

Lung Association always issue a notice on a two-day yellow forecast.

We wait for a “go” signal from our technical staff before we issue a call to action, because depending on what the weather forecasts look like and what trends the monitors are showing, we might issue a call to action while we’re still in the green, or we might NOT issue one even if we’re in moderate for a couple of days. 

## Breathe Easy Network  (ALAW)

**More than 2,260 subscribers e-mail and fax**
**Health-related organizations, health-sensitive individuals, schools and senior centers, select news media**
**Health warnings, links to AQI and to us for current conditions and forecasts**

- Alice Collingwood

## “Yellow” & “Orange” forecast messages

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
Lung Association used to send their messages with a color-coded background, but they got feedback from their subscribers that these messages were too cumbersome.  They now do text-only messages but still use this format on the Web site.

## Lung Association home page

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
On their Web site, they also show the current air quality forecast at the bottom of the home page.  The home page also has standing links to air quality and often have air quality items as top stories.

## Clean Air Network (our agency)

**Almost 2,000 subscribers, most e-mail**
**Media, businesses, organizations, individuals**
**Tailor weather/forecast messages, consistent action choices**
**Links to Lung Association, AIRNOW forecasts, current air quality**

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
Almost 2,000 subscribers.

Most are media, businesses and organizations that can be message multipliers for us, but lots of individuals too.

Current conditions and forecasts will determine whether we are calling a burn ban in the winter, a Smog Watch in the summer or an early heads up any time.  We’ll tailor the weather message in consultation with our meteorologists, but we try to be pretty consistent with the actions we are asking people to take.  And we give them some choices, so everyone has an opportunity to help make a difference.

## Clean Air Network e-mail

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
We also do our messages in plain text, based on feedback from subscribers.  We used to do attachments in news release format on letterhead, but they’ve let us know they want just the facts – what is the air quality and what do we want them to do about it.

We also heard a few good suggestions for further fine tuning when we did an evaluation a couple of weeks ago and will be incorporating some of those into our procedures.

## Clean Air Agency home page

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
When we issue a call to action, we always feature it as the top story on our home page.  We also have standing links to burn ban status in the winter -- and to current air quality and air quality forecasts year round. 

## Current air quality online

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
This is what you see when you click on current air quality.  It shows each of our monitoring sites, its status on the AQI, and the driving pollutant.  We also show the AQI at the bottom of the same page.

If you click on any particular monitoring site, you can get even more information.

Fore instance, Kent...

## Monitoring trends

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
You can see a three-day trend for that site.

And there’s more...

## Real-time data

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
We also have real-time data – or darn near.  This information is updated hourly.

## www.airwatchnorthwest.org

**Also invite subscribers through Air Watch Northwest portal**
**Regional coverage, unifying address**
**Recent partners include Oregon DEQ and Olympic Region Clean Air Agency**

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
We also have an additional channel for inviting people to join our Clean Air Network and access all the air quality information our Web site offers.

Air Watch Northwest is a Web portal we established in spring of 2001 for an EPA grant-funded program that included an outreach partnership with the Lung Association and our local NBC affiliate, KING TV, when we began doing PM2.5 forecasting and calls to action.  

It gives us an umbrella name and Web address that goes beyond our four-county jurisdiction so other agencies and partners can be involved.

Oregon DEQ and Olympic Region Clean Air Agency have signed on in the past year.  Having Olympic in the program gives us air quality forecasting and reporting for most of western Washington, covering a large shared media market.

## Air Watch Northwest

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
This is the Air Watch Northwest portal.  If you clicked on Oregon, you would go right to DEQ’s Web site, because Oregon’s only other air agency, Lane County, isn’t in yet.  For Washington, you get a drop-down menu of counties that takes you to our home page or Olympic’s, depending on your county.  We also have spaced to add new partners and are talking with a couple of other locals now.

## What makes it successful?

**Partnership with Lung Association**
**Early messages**
**Health credibility**
**Strong relationship with meteorologists**
**Particularly KING-TV**
**Mike Gilroy, Ken Knowle credibility**
**Clean Air Network**
**Willing partners**
**More reliable than news media**

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
Success of our call-to-action program hinges on three things:

Our partnership with the Lung Association, because they have health credibility in our community, and they consistently issue messages on two-day yellow forecasts.

The strong relationship our meteorologists Mike Gilroy and Ken Knowle have with local meteorologists and TV weather folks, particularly KING-TV.

And of course, the subscribers to our Clean Air Network.  We know we can always get our messages to them, even if we can’t always get on the 5 o’clock news, and they tell us how much they appreciate being notified directly, because they can’t always catch the news.

Another benefit of Clean Air Network is the opportunity to educate.  We personally sign our messages and give contact information – phone and e-mail – and they do contact us.  For instance, a fire chief called me last summer and asked why we ask people to refuel in the evening.  When I explained it to him, he said he would try to make that standard operating procedure year round.  Permanent behavior change – that’s what we’re ultimately looking for.

## KING-TV air quality map

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
This is how KING-TV uses the AQI, both in their weather segments on the news and on their Web site.  Mike Gilroy and the graphic designer on my staff worked with KING’s weather folks to develop this format.

## What could we do better?	

**More work with news media**
**Enlist more weather reporters**
**More health community involvement**
**Outreach to groups, explain AQI, invite subscribers, promote behavior changes**

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
In spite of the value of our Clean Air Network, we would like to do more work with the news media and enlist more weather reporters.  It’s just a question of resources and work load – no surprise to any of you.

And although we have a wonderful partnership with the Lung Association, we would like to get more active involvement from our state and local health departments.

And if we had more time on our hands, we’d be out more talking to groups and spreading the air-quality gospel.

## Clean Air Network survey

**14% of 1,900 responded**
**52% forward messages on to**
**26,407 individuals**
**“****Thousands” – a radio station traffic reporter**
**156 other organizations**
**“****Many” – the radio traffic reporter**
**Seattle Times Web page**

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
In closing, just a few tidbits from a very recent evaluation of our Clean Air Network.  We sent a message on  Jan. 23 asking a series of questions.  By the end of last week, 14 percent had responded.

We know it’s even bigger than his, because I haven’t had a response yet from our Boeing contact, who told us in a survey in August 2001 that the messages were sent on to more than 50,000 employees.  And we only had 425 subscribers then, so we know the multiplier effect our of network is tremendous.

## Clean Air Network actions

**76% stopped burning**
**36% delayed using gas-powered yard equipment**
**29% refueled in the evening**
**9% teleworked**
**9% rode the bus**
**8% carpooled**

- Alice Collingwood

**Notes:**
Running this in the winter, of course, meant that burn bans were the most recent calls to action.  While we’d like to see 100 percent stop burning, we know that will never happen, because certified wood stoves are still okay during our burn bans.  

But you can see people also remembered our summer messages and quite a few acted on them.

And those last three indicate the nearly impossible challenge we and transit agencies across the country face – getting people out of their SOVs.   But we believe these other, more doable choices, if we can get enough people to do them, can still add up to cleaner air.

## For more information

**Alice Collingwood**
**Communications Manager**
**Puget Sound Clean Air Agency**
**alicec@pscleanair.org**
**206.689.4043**
**www.pscleanair.org**

- Alice Collingwood