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West Oakland initiative on improving air quality will expand statewide

Aerial view of Bay Bridge and West Oakland
Aerial view of Bay Bridge and West Oakland

The program is a partnership between the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, and Aclima, an air quality monitoring company based in Silicon Valley.

This initiative differs from previous projects because it uses cars equipped with pollution-detecting sensors, which are able to track air quality data throughout neighborhoods.

Data collected in West Oakland through a pilot program showed that proximity to the port sites and heavily-trafficked areas were found to alter resident air quality significantly.

Last year, according to the project data, diesel particulate matter in West Oakland went down by a third. Cancer risks were reduced by more than half, and asthma-related hospital visits among children also decreased.

Kristal Raheem is a sociologist, educator, and poet from Oakland. Her work calls attention to health and educational disparities among systematically oppressed communities at a local and global level.