Create Your Own Action Plan

What

The Emergency Air Quality Implementation Plan (EAQIP) toolkit will walk you through the steps to create an action plan for yellow and red air quality days so you can be part of a movement to reduce the number of red air days and improve our community's health.

Why

Utahns pride themselves on their emergency preparedness. We have first responders, 72-hour kits, and earthquake readiness plans to keep our families safe. Breathe Utah believes that every Wasatch Front resident should also have an emergency air quality plan in place. Although the impact of air pollution is not as immediately obvious as some threats, research clearly shows that health consequences are severe. The majority of air pollution in Utah comes from mobile sources, i.e. our cars and trucks.

By creating and implementing your own the Air Quality Emergency Action Plan you will be making a concrete difference in our air quality, and in the health of yourself and our community.

How

Know in advance when the air quality will be unhealthy;
Plan how to avoid or reduce driving on those days to lessen the health impacts of air pollution on our community;
Test the plan in advance to work out any problems before the red or yellow air days are upon us;
Share with others that you have made this plan to inspire them to create their own; and,
Finally, act on your plan, because now you will have a plan in place and will know exactly what to do when the air quality deteriorates.

create action plan Image courtesy of Time Science

Create Your Own Plan

Step 1: Know when the air quality is yellow red

Step 2: Create your personal action plan

1) Plan How to Get Where You are Going Without Driving Alone

Register to participate in the Care to Clear the Air initiative.

The Care to Clear the Air initiative occurring during the month of January follows the success of the Clear the Air Challenge held June-July. By registering, participants will get tools – including real-time Red/Yellow air day text alerts, special community events, weekly newsletters, freebies and more – to make it easier to use transportation strategies to help clear the air during the worst of inversion season.

Create a transportation plan in advance, so it is ready to implement on yellow or red air days.

Walk or Bike
Determine a route to walk to work, to your child's school or your place of worship if it is within walking distance. If the weather makes it possible, use your bike, or a combination of bike and public transit to get to work. Visit UTA's Bicycle Commuting page and Salt Lake Bicycle Collective for more info.
Public Transit
Learn public transportation routes to the places you and your family go. Use UTA's Trip Planner, Logan/Cache Valley transit, or Park City transit.
- Have schedules and routes printed and available, along with the necessary cash/coins set aside if necessary, to avoid last minute scrambling.
- Determine the extra time you will need, so you can plan for necessary schedule adjustments.
Carpools
Set up carpools for school, work, and your place of worship so they can be easily put into place as needed.
- For work
  - Register at UTA's Rideshare site to find others looking to carpool.
  - Ask your HR department if they can set up a carpool program within the office. There are programs for groups and employers available such as E-Rideshare and at UTA.
- For school and place of worship
  - Talk with neighbors and set up a carpool plan in advance for red and yellow air days. Visit Divide the Ride to set up your school carpool with parents you trust.
  - Request that your principal and/or clergy instituting a carpool program, to make carpooling easier to set up.

2) Set up a Telecommute Plan

Talk to your employer in advance about allowing telecommuting on yellow and red air days.

Print out the Telecommuting Tip Sheet (pdf) to see if telecommuting works for you and to help walk you through the discussion with your employer.
Refer your employer to the TravelWise strategy page for the business benefits of telecommuting and to Breathe Utah's Air Quality information page or the Dept. of Air Quality's Choose Clean Air website for air quality information to help them with their decision.

3) If you Must Drive, Drive Smarter

If you anticipate that you must drive alone on yellow or red-air days, learn in advance about how to make most efficient trips possible.

Don’t idle your vehicle
Turn off your car if you will be idling for 10 seconds or more and avoid idling as a way to "warm up" your engine (modern engines don't need it)
Make sure your child's school has an anti-idling program in place, to encourage parents to turn off their cars during school pickup.
Trip Chaining link your errands together to reduce pollution from "cold starts."
Avoid drive-through windows.
Avoid congested roadways by checking CommuterLink and UTA Trip Planner before you leave home.
Use these other EcoDriving practices.

4) Plan for Reduced Outdoor Activity

Reduce strenuous activity on yellow air quality days and avoid all strenuous outdoor activity on red air days.
Ensure that your child’s school has the air quality recess guidelines and intends to implement them. The guidelines are available as a pdf.
Have indoor physical activities for kids planned in advance. Some sources of ideas are Rainy Day activities from Get Kids in Action and Physical Activity Ideas for Kids from Food Link NY.

Finalize your action plan

Thank you! By creating your plan, you have taken an important step toward improving our air quality and the health of our community.