The Central Florida Clean Air Team
Air quality is taking a turn for the better in middle Florida—ever since the Central Florida Clean Air Team began educating its citizens about air quality issues in 1999.
While that's great news for the team and the public, it presents a new challenge: keeping folks interested in and aware of air quality issues now that there is no longer a compelling problem.
The Clean Air Team met this challenge head on and adjusted its outreach program accordingly, realizing that maintaining awareness of the harmful effects of ozone is the key to healthy air for Central Floridians.
Making Friends to Spread the Word
According to a survey conducted for METROPLAN ORLANDO in 2003, approximately 220,000 Central Floridians reported they travel five miles or less to work—potentially making transit, biking, carpooling, and walking attractive alternatives to commuting alone by car. The challenge is keeping people aware of the role these commute alternatives play in maintaining healthy air quality, easing traffic congestion, and improving their quality of life.
"We're focusing heavily on community relations in order to keep the public aware of air quality issues," said Jennifer Wakefield of METROPLAN ORLANDO, the organization that created the team of 20 government, health, utility, transportation, and business organizations.
"We are teaming up with the American Lung Association and participating in the Asthma Walk to help raise awareness about the correlation between clean air and health," Jennifer said. The team also coordinates with the region's transportation authority on activities such as Commuter Choices Challenge where citizens are encouraged to carpool, vanpool, or take mass transit at least for a day.
As a way to get young people thinking about air quality, the team presented It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air awards to local middle school students who did their science fair projects on air quality.
Listen, Read, and Click
To keep the message alive, the team also ran a print and radio ad campaign encouraging citizens to take steps to keep Central Florida's air clean. Around peak travel periods, such as holidays, the team submits letters to the editor and press releases encouraging people to take steps such as choosing alternate modes of transportation and learning more about how they can help keep the air clean.
Several of the It All Adds Up print ads were customized and placed in issues of the weekly Orlando Times and the monthly Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce's First Monday newspaper. The spring materials were also used as the basis for a full-page clean air article in First Monday. Four ads were translated and ran in La Prensa, the local Spanish-language newspaper.
The team also uses the Internet to connect with the public; they've added a significant amount of It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air information to their Web site, including seasonal tips and quizzes each season, the Summer Road Trip Checklist, and the adapted version of the 10 Simple Steps. They have also produced a banner including the It All Adds Up logo to use at events in years to come.
"We're trying to get people out of their cars—even if it's just one day a week," Jennifer said.
For more information, please visit Central Florida Clean Air Team or Metro Plan Orlando.