by Darya Silchenko Last week Darya Silchenko (The National University of Ireland, Galway) traveled to Glasgow to attend the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, a.k.a. COP26. She shares her reflections from the conference with CleanAIRE NC here as a guest author. My observations of COP26 began as soon as I landed at the Glasgow...

Congratulations to NC’s Climate Champions We’re excited to announce the winners of our 2021 Blue Sky Awards! Each year, CleanAIRE NC honors the individuals, organizations, and partners who have shown extraordinary commitment to tackling the climate crisis and improving North Carolina’s air quality. On Wednesday, November 10th, CleanAIRE NC presented the following 2021 Blue Sky Awards...

by Nancy LaPlaca The Age of Consequences for so-called ‘externalities’ has arrived – but what is an externality? In the jargon of economists, an externality is a cost (or benefit) to a third party who did not agree to it. Air pollution is a classic externality. For example, power plant owners or car manufacturers don’t...

by Stephanie Johannes As a pediatrician and a mother, I am particularly concerned about the impacts of climate change on maternal and child health. Pregnant women are especially at risk from heat because they have a higher body temperature to start with, and are “cooling for two”, which makes them more susceptible to dehydration, heat exhaustion,...

by Joel Porter and Daisha Williams Last week CleanAIRE NC and SELC reached a settlement agreement with Align RNG and the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) that will improve community health protections at a proposed biogas plant in Sampson County. Align RNG has agreed to set new limits on air pollution coming from the...

by Maria Sharova Earlier this year, our Citizen Science Program underwent a network review. While we were thinking about the next phase of our monitoring network, one of our partners at East Carolina University, Dr. Yoo Min Park, was hard at work distributing monitors in Pitt County. Dr. Park is an Assistant Professor of Geographic...

by Joel Porter The state of North Carolina has taken a monumental step in the fight against climate change. On July 13, the NC Environmental Management Commission (EMC) voted to approve our petition for North Carolina to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI – pronounced ‘Reggie’). This is a huge win that will improve...