The U’s Air Quality, Health and Society Praxis Lab was awarded the Utah Medical Association’s Environmental Health Award.
Lab members were honored on Sept. 18, at the UMA’s annual Hall of Delegates for outstanding service to environmental causes in the state of Utah.
UMA recognized the team’s work in promoting air quality education. Several students from the course attended the brief ceremony, along with course director Kevin Perry, the chairman of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. The lab was nominated by Michelle Hoffman of Breathe Utah. Each year, the association chooses a new recipient. Past award winners include Gov. Gary Herbert and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker.
Perry and Stephen Trimble co-taught the year-long course. The first semester focused on understanding the issues. Experts from government, industry and medicine were brought in as guest speakers to give students real-life perspective on critical environmental topics. For the second semester, the class chose two projects in an attempt to improve air quality in Utah.
The first project was an open letter to Gov. Herbert outlining business interest in air quality improvement. In less than a month, students were able to get more than 40 businesses to sign the letter, including Wells Fargo, Winder Farms, Overstock.com and Rio Tinto Kennecott.
“The first step is getting people concerned,” Perry said.
Perry said the Utah legislature is unlikely to pass air quality laws without seeing a unification of citizen and business interest. Unfortunately, no direct legislation on air quality was passed as a result of the project — something that may have been influenced by the fact that air quality was excellent during this year’s legislative session.
The second project involved creating a video to educate elementary school children. The production features “Smidge,” an air particle who teaches about the dangers of air pollution. Breathe Utah helped produce the video, which is available in both Spanish and English.
The lab hopes the video will resonate with Utah’s children and promote further awareness of air quality issues in the state.
Anastasia Borodai, a junior in chemistry, said the ability to create real, lasting change made the lab a fun, educational experience. She said the lab’s focus on practical environmental impact is what helped them win the award. Borodai encourages students at the U to consider taking the course.
Further information on the Praxis lab and Utah air quality can be found at: www.atmos.utah.edu/alumni/clean_air.php.
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