The summer months welcome warm weather and turn our majestic mountains green with new growth. Unfortunately, that same mountainous view can also worsen the air quality, hindering our ability to enjoy Utah’s great outdoors.
Luckily, we are not powerless when it comes to our air. While the quality of Utah’s air is exacerbated by geography that creates winter inversions and amplifies summer ozone, it’s the emissions that get trapped that are harmful to our health. By making small and consistent behavioral changes, together, we can reduce our emissions and thereby clear our air.
For over a decade, the Salt Lake Chamber has partnered with TravelWise and UCAIR to host the Clear the Air Challenge — a month-long competition designed to empower Utahns to reduce their vehicle emissions by choosing alternatives to driving alone. This program is organized as a coordinated framework that shows Utahns how easy it can be to make a difference individually and a big impact collectively.
Doing our part to clear the air isn’t just about our quality of life, it’s also an economic issue. In order to attract and retain the kind of talent needed to further our state’s economy, we have to protect our unparalleled quality of life, and this is everyone’s responsibility. Business and organization participation is a key component of the challenge, and their contributions allowed last year’s participants to eliminate 58,133 trips and save 1,072,557.8 miles, 410 tons of CO2 and $0.6 million in just 28 days.
As our business community continues to take the lead in improving our air quality, we can collectively reduce the adverse effects of air pollution, ensure our economic success and enhance the well-being of all Utahns. This July, join the growing number of businesses and individuals committed to clean air, and help us invoke our innovative and entrepreneurial spirit to find the best solutions to clearing Utah’s air.
How to Participate:
- Sign up on the Clear the Air Challenge website at cleartheairchallenge.org and enter your information to create an account.
- Challenge your friends and co-workers to participate as a team or individually.
- As a business owner or team manager, send out the challenge fact sheet available in the Startup Toolkit to your employees that explains what the challenge is and why you want them to participate.
For more information on the Clear the Air Challenge and what TravelWise strategies you and your company can implement, visit cleartheairchallenge.org.
