Air Champions - Citizen Scientists

Goal: Establish 10,000 Air Champion - Citizen Scientists in the Houston / Harris County Region within the next year.

Fact: Houston Air Quality is poor. In Houston, a new analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund and the Harvard School of Public Health found that, in 2015 alone, fine particulate matter contributed to more than 5,000 premature deaths and nearly $50 billion in economic damages. Poor regulations and purposefully underfunded enforcement are being weakened further by the Federal Government’s dismantling of EPA safeguards designed to protect your health. All of this has been devised to keep you, the public, from knowing how much of the burden you and your community are being forced to carry so local polluting industries can continue reap maximum profits.

So what can you do? You can and should support local agencies, mostly nonprofits, fighting for properly funded enforcement, stronger regulations, and more community engagement. These activities are important, but change is very slow, because we are fighting well-funded self interest groups (polluters) that have surrounded themselves with institutionalized obstacles, policies, and politicians.   

Is there anything else you can do? There is, but it is extremely difficult. You will need to get engaged. Not on a peripheral level, but completely immersed in the problem you are part of. This is not for the faint of heart. Our communities are continually and purposefully isolated from knowing the real air quality conditions under which you must survive.  These burdens you are forced to endure are not of your design. Your decision here is: Are you only worthy to simply survive or are you worthy to actually thrive?  If you would prefer to be part of a group of passionate community focused Citizens who want to see Humans thrive, Nature flourish and Businesses prosper, there is a different path.  Here is exactly what you will be required to do:

Commit to be an Air Champion – Citizen Scientist. Yes, commitment, it is a thing!

1.     The mandatory stuff:

a.     Apply to become an Air Champion – Citizen Scientist (www.mcmaccx.com),

b.     Acquire your own “Flow” - Personal Pollution Monitor (PPM). If you acquire your Flow through our www.mcmaccx.com website all profits go to supporting student scholarships. Yes, full Air Champion – Citizen Scientist scholarships are available for students aged 18 to 30.

c.     Feed your Flow and keep it alive (charge it every day and keep it out of the bathtub),

d.     Download Plume Labs – “Flow” app,

e.     Keep your Flow connected via Bluetooth to your Flow app,

f.      Take your Flow with you as you travel throughout your community to the places you live, learn, work and play,

g.     Share your stories by posting to our Air Champions social media (Facebook and Instagram) weekly, and

h.     That is it for the mandatory stuff! 

2.     Here is what happens when you do the mandatory stuff:

a.     You are made aware of the air pollution you are being subjected to every minute of every day everywhere you take your Flow, your home, your community, your school, etc.

b.     You get an air quality forecast that notifies you of the air pollution you and your family will be subjected to over the next five days. This allows you to modify your behavior accordingly and limit damage to you and your family’s health.

3.     What McMac Cx and Plume Labs are capable of developing because you are so good at the mandatory stuff:

a.     The hyper-local air quality data you collect is automatically uploaded to our Cloud, where we set loose our super powerful algorithms, artificial intelligence and machine learning to create meaningful visualizations,

b.     Our hyper-local air quality visualizations will trend where pollution is originating and what neighborhoods are being subjected to changing levels of contaminants, communicating the benefits and impacts of this information to Citizens and Community Leaders. Will businesses want to move to Houston, if it is clear that air quality is a problem and leaders are not willing to deal with it?

c.     This hyper-local air quality data visualization will energize neighborhoods to challenge their leaders to make change. Imagine this: 10,000 well informed Citizens demanding leaders to step up regulatory enforcement, based on data they helped to collect from their neighborhoods. Do you really want to live in XYZ Community if the data shows continuously dangerous levels of contaminants? 

d.     This hyper-local air quality data can also tell us whether the buildings where we live, learn, work and play are being maintained to optimize our health, productivity, and learning. This transparency will positively influence the design, construction, and operations of those buildings.

e.     This hyper-local air quality data can also inform us where we want to spend our money to eat, watch a movie, sit at a Park, etc. Would a “Yelp” feature that allows you to see not only the reviews of the food, but also air quality cleanliness impact your decisions?

f.      McMac Cx and Plume Labs is working to make all of these capabilities possible, simply because you have committed to complete the mandatory stuff above.

4.     Really, really important stuff…but not mandatory:

a.     Review the Air Quality Fundamentals educational materials (EPA, RESET Air & Fitwell) and become personally engaged in understanding how your behaviors impact every breath you take,

b.     Complete the Air Champions Assessment (Qualifies you to become an Air Champion “Ambassador” and receive compensation for coordinating other Air Champions), and maybe

c.     Get engaged in local, state, and national advocacy and education opportunities.