Who are we?
We are a team comprised of the Temple University Office of Sustainability staff, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers, and Temple University student researchers. Additionally, we are partnered with Philly Community Wireless.
What is the project?
Act on Air seeks to address health disparities and neighborhood quality of life issues in North Philadelphia by investigating the critical connection between air quality and health outcomes, empowering residents with data, and promoting air quality solutions through community engagement, advocacy, and targeted public health interventions.
Residents are engaged as researchers and advocates, developing a shared understanding of the problem and focusing our collective resources on solution generation.
How is it funded?
Temple University Office of Sustainability was awarded the Second Nature Catalyst Grant for the assembly of an action-research working group, the purchase of risk identification and mitigation toolkits, technical support for toolkit recipients, and undergraduate fellows. Read more about the grant and the other recipients here.
What is your role?
You are invited to join a network of resiliency hubs and community scientists. At PurpleAir.com you can view real-time air quality data from all PurpleAir sensors around the world. If there aren’t any in your area, consider installing one!
What are PurpleAir sensors?
PurpleAir makes sensors that collect hyper-local, real-time, air quality data and share it with the public. Their sensors are affordable tools to measure particle pollution (PM2.5). Particle pollution causes problems for people with cardiovascular conditions and lung conditions like COPD and asthma. If levels are high enough, everyone can be affected. Short term it can cause difficulty breathing while long term it can damage lungs and heart function. While the Air Quality Index (AQI) measures more contaminants than just PM2.5, these at-home sensors only measure PM2.5.
To install an air sensor on the exterior of your facility, you must connect it to your non-institutional Wi-Fi, and should place the filter in a space where folks gather. A leader in your community will need to register your air monitor using PurpleAir. Upon learning how to read the data, we encourage you to take this action and advocacy steps outlined in the toolkit whenever something is out of the ordinary.
How can I get involved?
Contact us at actonair@temple.edu for more information about becoming involved in the project! We would love to partner with community organizations to host air sensors on their buildings in North Central Philadelphia.