Tag Archive for: air quality

Are You Ready for the Clear the Air Challenge?

The Clear the Air Challenge begins in just one month! From July 1-31, join us in being more aware of the trips that you take and making an effort to choose alternatives to driving alone, such as carpooling, using public transportation and working remotely on bad air quality days. In order to make the Challenge a success, here are five easy steps you can take to do your part in clearing Utah’s air: 

  1. Register and set up your team. If you don’t already have an account, create one today! This takes less than two minutes and gives you access to the TravelWise Tracker, a software that keeps track of the emissions, miles and trips you save when you don’t drive alone. You can also join or create a team, whether it be your business or organization, or even just a group of friends.
  2. Invite others to join the Challenge. Tell your coworkers, family, and friends about the Challenge and encourage them to join you! We amplify our impact when we work together. If you’re part of a team in your office or organization, contact your team manager for your team’s join link and circulate it to others.
  3. Educate others. If you are knowledgeable about the Challenge, help others learn how to register, plan their travel, and use a variety of TravelWise strategies. Recirculate Clear the Air Challenge social media posts (find us on Facebook and Twitter) to spread the word. Increasing awareness about eco-friendly transportation strategies helps all of us!
  4. Encourage your team. Maintaining momentum can be difficult in our busy world, but you can help! Periodically check in with your teammates, and don’t forget to celebrate your victories, even the small ones. 
  5. Practice logging your trips. Although the Challenge officially begins July 1st, you can practice using the TravelWise tracker to log your trips any month out of the year! Simply go to the TravelWise Tracker Dashboard and enter your distance and mode of travel to calculate your impact. This page can be accessed on mobile, or you can even download the Commute Tracker app. This way, you’ll be ready when trips start counting towards our Challenge goals in July.

Thanks for your involvement, and good luck! If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please reach out to info@cleartheairchallenge.org.

Top Reasons Businesses Should Care About Our Air

As Utahns, we are lucky to live in a state with breathtaking natural beauty and plenty of opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors. Unfortunately, our mountainous landscape creates a natural barrier that can adversely affect our air quality, especially when inversions trap pollutants close to the ground. As a result, many people in Utah are starting to take action to reduce their emissions and improve air quality. Here’s why businesses should, too:

Protect health and well-being: Utah’s air quality has a direct impact on our health and well-being, especially for those with pre-existing respiratory conditions. By taking steps to reduce emissions and improve air quality, businesses can help protect the health and well-being of their employees, customers, and fellow Utahns.

Support Utah’s economy: Utah is known for its business-friendly environment and growing economy. By promoting sustainable practices and reducing emissions, businesses can help ensure that our state remains a great place to do business for years to come.

Save money: Speaking of the economy, many of the strategies for reducing emissions and improving air quality can also help businesses save money! For example, encouraging employees to use alternative transportation options like carpooling or public transit can reduce commuting costs and parking expenses. Improving energy efficiency in buildings can also help lower utility bills.

Preserve our natural beauty: Utah’s stunning natural beauty is one of our state’s greatest assets. By taking action to reduce emissions and improve air quality, businesses can help preserve this natural beauty for future generations to enjoy.

Connect with our community: Utahns take pride in our state and our communities. By caring about our air and participating in initiatives like Utah’s Clear the Air Challenge, businesses can show that they care about our state and our fellow Utahns. Being involved helps build stronger connections with customers, employees and other stakeholders.

By taking action to reduce emissions and improve air quality, businesses can help protect our health, support our economy, preserve our natural beauty, connect with our community and even save money in the process. An easy place to start is Utah’s Clear the Air Challenge, a month-long competition that gives Utahns the chance to reduce their vehicle emissions by choosing alternative methods of transportation using TravelWise strategies. To create a team for your business or organization, email info@cleartheairchallenge.org to get started. Together, we can help ensure that Utah remains a great place to live, work, and play for generations to come.

The Clear the Air Challenge Needs You This Year!

Since 2009, participants in the Clear the Air Challenge have helped make a big difference in improving Utah’s air. But we need your help to make this year’s Challenge an even greater success. 

“Just as each of us contributes to emissions that lead to poor air quality, we all have an opportunity and responsibility to make a difference,” said Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber. “We recognize that there are no perfect answers to keep our air clean, but there are practical solutions that can help us achieve meaningful results. By choosing to educate ourselves on the issue and reduce our impact we can improve our air quality.”

The 2023 Clear the Air Challenge begins in July. It is a month-long competition that gives Utahns the chance to reduce their vehicle emissions by choosing alternative methods of transportation using TravelWise strategies. It’s as easy as working remotely, carpooling, and using public transportation! By driving less and driving smarter, we will ultimately help improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion and conserve energy in Utah.

Our goal this year is to:

  • Reduce 375 tons of CO2
  • Eliminate 100,000 single-occupant trips
  • Save 2 million miles

Signing up for the Challenge takes less than two minutes, and together, it can have a big impact on our state. To help us meet our goals, encourage your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers to join you for this year’s Challenge. Remember – even small changes can make a big difference. Sign up at cleartheairchallenge.org.

Why should you participate?

  • The Challenge startup toolkit and website are fantastic educational tools that can help you learn actionable steps to clear the air.
  • The Challenge gives Utahns a fun and competitive way to engage in TravelWise strategies – compete with your family, friends and co-workers!
  • Participants of the Challenge have the opportunity to win weekly prizes!

If you need help setting up your team and/or have questions in the meantime, please reach out to info@cleartheairchallenge.org. Let’s see how many pounds of emissions, gallons of gas and dollars we can save when we work together!

2022 Clear the Air Challenge Results Announced

Fidelity Investments and Dell Technologies Take Top Awards

Results are in for the 13th annual Clear the Air Challenge, hosted by the Salt Lake Chamber, TravelWise Utah and UCAIR, with perennial winners Fidelity Investments and Dell Technologies-Utah taking top honors. Numerous businesses and individuals participated in the annual competition to show their commitment to our environment and to raise public awareness of the importance of clean air.

“The Clear the Air Challenge is just one way to highlight how each of us can individually take steps to reduce the impact we have on our environment,” said Derek Miller, President and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber. “Over the past month, participants have shown how easy it is to reduce our carbon footprint by using TravelWise strategies. By taking steps to reduce pollution, we can improve the health and quality of life of all who live and visit here. We applaud all participating teams and individuals for their collective efforts and for leading the way in improving our quality of life.”

The Clear the Air Challenge is a month-long initiative undertaken by business, government and community leaders that encourages Utah residents to drive less and drive smarter during the month of July. Participants help improve air quality by avoiding trips alone in their car and using TravelWise Strategies such as carpooling, teleworking, taking public transit, biking or trip chaining.

“With the Clear the Air Challenge’s transition to the summer, we were able to spotlight summer ozone issues,” said Kim Frost, Executive Director of the UCAIR – Utah Clean Air Partnership. “By providing education, we hope that Utahns will become more equipped to understand how air quality issues arise and what can be done to mitigate its effect. We congratulate this year’s top large and small teams for their dedication to our community and recognize their willingness to change habits and make this issue a priority.”

Collectively, this year’s participants eliminated 53,541 trips, saved 1,079,434.1 miles, 392.7 tons of CO2 and $0.6 million, and burned 1.4 million calories in just 31 days.

Top Large Teams:

  1. Fidelity Investments
  2. State of Utah
  3. University of Utah

Top Small Teams:

  1. Dell Technologies-Utah
  2. GSBS Architects
  3. Penna Powers

Top Participants:

  1. David Vasquez, State of Utah
  2. Alison Mortensen-Hayes, University of Utah
  3. Guinevere Timpson, State of Utah

ABOUT THE CLEAR THE AIR CHALLENGE

The Clear the Air Challenge, issued by business, government and community leaders, is a month-long competition starting February 1 that gives you the chance to reduce your vehicle emissions by choosing alternatives to driving alone. The Clear the Air Challenge is a partnership between the Salt Lake Chamber, TravelWise and UCAIR.

Rocky Mountain Power – Top Leader of Clear the Air Challenge

The Clear the Air Challenge is a month-long competition that gives residents the chance to reduce vehicle emissions by choosing alternative methods of transportation. By driving less and commuting smarter, we all can help improve air quality, reduce traffic and conserve energy in Salt Lake City. According to the Utah Division of Air Quality, “If all drivers living along the Wasatch Front were to park their cars just one day per week, vehicle emissions would be reduced by 6,500 tons per year.”

“Prosperity rises from jobs and opportunity but these do not happen in a vacuum. They come from corporations choosing Utah as a destination.“ said Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance. “As companies look to our state because of its competitive advantages — including workforce talent, excellent business climate, and best in class recreation minutes away — we have to make sure that bad air quality doesn’t deter them from choosing our state. We all have a stake in improving the environment, and the Clear the Air Challenge is one major way we can engage.”

Since the Challenge started in 2009, participants have helped make a big difference in improving Utah’s air quality. In that time, participants have eliminated almost 1.2 million trips, saved more than 17 million miles and reduced their emissions by more than 5 thousand tons.

Among the top leaders in the 2021 Challenge was Rocky Mountain Power.

“We all know that our tailpipe emissions are the largest contributors to Utah’s air quality problem, and we are proud to be leading Utah’s efforts to electrify transportation opportunities in Utah with a new $50 million investment in EV chargers here in the Wasatch Front and across the state,” said Gary Hoogeveen, president and CEO, Rocky Mountain Power. “There are many ways in which we can all do our part to improve Utah’s air quality, and Rocky Mountain Power is proud to be part of that solution.”

By encouraging employees to participate, businesses can create a team to make an even bigger impact. The Clear the Air Challenge begins July 1. Register your team of coworkers, family or friends at ClearTheAirChallenge.org and be part of the solution.