The last few weeks have been an important reminder of something I often take for granted, clean air. The ability to go for a walk or run in fresh air is something easily forgotten until the sky is hazy and I'm coughing my way through the park. Our air quality has been some of the worst in Colorado this summer, largely due to wildfire smoke drifting all the way from one of California's largest fires in history, Dixie Wildfire. Other fires in the Pacific Northwest and Canada have also been contributing to our hazy skies. Larger and more frequent wildfires are one of the major symptoms of globally increasing greenhouse gases and climate change. To keep us safe, each of us needs to start regularly checking air quality before engaging in outdoor activities during wildfire season. One great resource for tracking air quality is through the City's air quality dashboard which you can find here.
In this month's edition of the newsletter, we're sharing an exciting update about a new Shift campaign focused on water-saving actions. The first action is encouraging everyone with control over their outdoor irrigation to turn it off by October 1st. We are also celebrating a $200,000 grant awarded to the City by the EPA to improve indoor air quality in homes for underserved residents. You can also learn about the importance of reducing back-to-school car idling and an opportunity to help shape the City's Recovery Plan from the pandemic.
Please keep yourselves and others safe as many of us go back to school, adapt to the Delta variant, and protect ourselves from poor air quality.
Best,
Jensen Morgan, Community Engagement & Climate Action Specialist