CleanAirNowKC: Building Community Power by Improving Data Accessibility

TL;DR

This paper presents CleanAirNowKC, an interactive platform that enhances community access to air quality data and reporting tools to support environmental justice efforts in Kansas City.

Contribution

It introduces an interactive map and reporting system that empowers community members to monitor and document local air pollution sources for policy advocacy.

Findings

Deployment of nine air quality sensors in Kansas City

Development of an interactive map for real-time air quality monitoring

Tools for reporting industrial emissions to support community advocacy

Abstract

As cities continue to grow globally, air pollution is increasing at an alarming rate, causing a significant negative impact on public health. One way to affect the negative impact is to regulate the producers of such pollution through policy implementation and enforcement. CleanAirNowKC (CAN-KC) is an environmental justice organization based in Kansas City (KC), Kansas. As part of their organizational objectives, they have to date deployed nine PurpleAir air quality sensors in different locations about which the community has expressed concern. In this paper, we have implemented an interactive map that can help the community members to monitor air quality efficiently. The system also allows for reporting and tracking industrial emissions or toxic releases, which will further help identify major contributors to pollution. These resources can serve an important role as evidence that will assist in advocating for community-driven just policies to improve the air quality regulation in Kansas City.