Environmentally Speaking

What do you think of when you think of fire?  Camp fires, a fireplace, a wildfire....there are all sorts of fires.  While some fire is destructive, other fire is beneficial. 

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we reflect on what we do everyday as an agency, and specifically air quality, to promote the values of this year’s Earth Day theme: climate action.   Climate action is more than just using metal straws and recycling a plastic bottle. It involves thinking outside the box with all types of minds to innovate the future that we want. Over the past few years, North Carolina has made strides in improving our state’s air quality, particularly in response to climate change.     Ground Level Ozone – 

As of January 2020, there were just under 9 million vehicles registered in North Carolina.  These vehicles include the cars that are driven every day to school, work, the grocery store, the gym...you name it.  Vehicle emissions are one of the biggest sources of air pollution in North Carolina, and contribute to both particle pollution and ground level ozone.  These pollutants have a negative impact on human health, environmental health, visibility, tourism, and more, not to mention the contribution to climate change.  While governmental regulations make a big difference for air pollutant emiss

NC Air Awareness, a section of the Division of Air Quality that has been around for some time now; our mission has always been to educate and bring awareness to people’s lifestyle and how their behaviors impact air quality, and thus their health.  Our programs reach far and wide from school classrooms across the state, to drivers education coursework to teachers and environmental educators, and a myriad of public events . These include electric car shows, asthma summits, environmental field days, museums, and more – the list is exhaustive.