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Air
Georgia Conservancy’s clean air efforts focus primarily in two areas:
Mothers & Others for Clean Air

The Georgia Conservancy’s Mothers & Others for Clean Air program was launched in 2004 by two prominent Atlanta mothers, Laura Turner Seydel and Stephanie Blank, out of deep concern about the health effects of poor air quality on Georgia’s children and other vulnerable populations.

Metro Atlanta faces a growing number of days every summer when outdoor activity is restricted due to unhealthy levels of ozone or particulate matter. School and work absenteeism rise when air pollution is at its worst. Poor air quality also affects Georgia’s crops, natural vegetation, wildlife and streams and rivers. Mothers & Others for Clean Air not only educates the public about all these harmful effects – providing Georgians with the tools they need to take action – but also plays a key role in educating pediatricians and spurring leaders in the educational and medical communities to advocate for clean air and public health protections.

In addition, Mothers & Others is engaged in shaping state policy in the areas of:
  • transportation planning
  • Georgia Power’s integrated resource plan
  • regulations to reduce power plant emissions
  • the development of Georgia’s State Implementation Plan for meeting federal health-based standards for ozone and particulate matter in the Atlanta area

In 2007, Mothers & Others for Clean Air united a group of air quality, public health and medical experts to update public health guidelines that outline appropriate levels of outdoor activity on smog alert days. This document serves as the basis for educating schools, athletic directors, pediatricians and other health professionals, day care centers, other child care providers and the general public on the appropriate precautions to take when air quality is poor.

 

Mothers & Others for Clean Air and SACE Partner with Athens-Clarke County, University of Georgia and Washington County to Win Clean Diesel Stimulus Grant

The EPA has announced that Athens-Clarke County (ACC), University of Georgia (UGA), and Washington County were awarded $1.7million to install pollution control devices on diesel transit buses and municipal vehicles. Mothers & Others for Clean Air and SACE worked with representatives from ACC and UGA to develop a strong diesel retrofit project. They will lead the project's education and outreach efforts, delivering workshops on the health effects of diesel exhaust and strategies for reducing harmful particles through retrofit technologies and idling reduction.

The grant will fund pollution control retrofits for ACC's transit and fire and emergency vehicles, UGA's transit buses, and a variety of municipal diesel vehicles in Washington County. The project is expected to result in the reduction of .50 tons of particulate matter per year, as well as 13 tons of hydrocarbons and 91 tons of carbon monoxide. The funds are provided under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program. SACE and Mothers & Others for Clean Air represent Georgia in a national diesel coalition that lobbied to secure $300 million to fund diesel emissions reduction projects as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Read full press release.

 

A Special Thanks to our corporate and foundation supporters for making program specific gifts that keep our vital air program running:


Mothers & Others for Clean Air thanks the Kaiser Permanente for its generous support in making possible the production and distribution of thousands of health guidance documents.

 

The Turner Foundation

The Arthur M. Blank Foundation

 

 

 

 
 


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