Clear the Air Challenge

The Clear the Air Challenge was first implemented by partners in Salt Lake City, Utah. Organizers included Utah Department of Transportation, Utah Clean Cities, Chambers of Commerce, and elected officials. Participants maintained a travel journal on the program website- www.cleartheairchallenge.org. This site will be expanded, or exported to a new website, to include Colorado, as the Denver Metro Clean Cities Coalition is in the process of adapting this program to meet the needs of citizens in Colorado.

This interactive public awareness campaign is designed to reduce vehicle miles traveled by motivating citizens to actively make a change in their behavior. Challenge participants are encouraged to pledge to bike, walk, use mass-transit, telecommute, trip-chain or carpool. The public component of the Clear the Air Challenge lasts six weeks, from the beginning of June until mid-July. The planning and promotion timeline for this program lasts six months to get the support of businesses, local political agencies, partner nonprofits, and citizens, with a program implementation and wrap-up period of three months

Following six months of partnership building and public promotion, individuals will be encouraged to join the Clear the Air Challenge by visiting the web site. Individuals have their own log-in page where they can record traveled reductions (in miles) in a diary. Participants will record the distance between their home and place of business, so that days spent from home telecommuting are given the appropriate amount of credit. If a person chooses to run errands on a bicycle, they will have the option to customize the distance ridden instead of driven in this travel log. The Clear the Air Challenge website utilizes an internal tool to calculate the greenhouse gas offsets that result from each trip that is eliminated.

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© 2012 American Lung Association in Colorado
cleanair@lungcolorado.org | (303) 847-0271

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