The Clean Air Council will kick off a new Southwest PA Neighbors for Clean Air Initiative April 12 at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 419 S. Dithridge Street in Pittsburgh from 6:00 to 9:00.

Love Canal organizer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Lois Gibbs, will give the keynote address at the Building A Future of Hope and Promise program.

The initiative, rooted in communities across the region, will establish at least one hundred groups of ten neighbors to educate one thousand concerned residents.

The one thousand new citizen leaders will be armed with information about local air pollution sources and how to address the air quality issues affecting their lives.

“There is a crisis in western Pennsylvania that needs to be addressed right now,” said Lois Gibbs the primary organizer in Love Canal, winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize and Heinz award in the Environment, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. “The Southwest PA Neighbors for Clean Air Campaign will bring people into community, mobilize them and then they will take the necessary action to ensure Southwest Pennsylvania has clean air and a healthy environment in which to live and prosper.”

“Southwest Pennsylvania, particularly Allegheny County, continues to receive poor air quality grades, said B. David Smith, Clean Air Council Outreach Coordinator. “We are kicking off this initiative because community members are demanding that industry and government protect their health, environment, and quality of life - their voices must be heard.”

The Southwest PA Neighbors for Clean Air Initiative is a commitment to to bring concerned residents together, provide study guides so they can become local experts on the issues related to pollution in SWPA, mobilize more residents to take action steps to reduce the impact pollution is having on the health, the environment, and quality of life.

Once activated, these communities will remain engaged to monitor local and regional projects to hold companies and regulatory bodies accountable.

For more information and to register for the Southwest PA Neighbors for Clean Air Initiative, send email to Dave Smith at: dsmith@cleanair.org. 

More information on programs, initiatives and other upcoming events is available at the Clean Air Council website.

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[Posted: April 4, 2018]

4/9/2018