{"id":53,"date":"2016-03-30T05:05:43","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T05:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/?p=53"},"modified":"2017-10-02T17:25:24","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T17:25:24","slug":"how-can-you-help-your-library-customers-breathe-easier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/2016\/03\/30\/how-can-you-help-your-library-customers-breathe-easier\/","title":{"rendered":"How can you help your library customers breathe easier?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Equitable access to resources is an issue that affects the sustainability of our communities. \u00a0Access to vital resources, such as clean air and water, should be a basic right, but as recent events have demonstrated, is not always guaranteed. \u00a0In low-income and affluent communities alike, air quality can have an enormous impact on our health and quality of life. Perhaps you’ve noticed the effects of pollution and poor air quality in your community, and have wondered how your library can help. \u00a0But, have you thought about the quality of the air in your customers’ homes? For some library users, air quality in the home is a real concern, while others may not have ever thought deeply about the issue, but have experienced the effects of breathing toxins in daily while in their homes. And, if they have thought about the problem, some library customers may not know how they can accurately measure the air quality in their homes, or may lack the funds to hire a service or to purchase the equipment to do so. \u00a0To give individuals a way to address this problem, researchers from the\u00a0CREATE Lab<\/a> at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>developed\u00a0a portable in-home sensor, the Speck monitor, that can determine indoor air quality by measuring the particles released in homes from household cleaners, pesticides, building materials, and more. The Speck monitor is now produced by Airviz Inc. (a spinoff of the CREATE Lab), and is manufactured under a license\u00a0from\u00a0Carnegie Mellon University. \u00a0In recogniztion of the fact that many of those who suffer most from the effects of poor indoor air-quality have low incomes, Airviz Inc. has developed a program to\u00a0help bring the Speck\u00a0technology to those who can’t afford to purchase their own. \u00a0To do so, Airviz Inc. is partnering with 100 public libraries to offer three devices to each, provided that the libraries will agree to circulate the Speck monitors in their communities. \u00a0To find out more about the Speck monitors, click <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0To find out more about the National Speck Library Program, and to fill out an application, click <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you heard of another great program related to equity and sustainability? Add a comment below to share this information with the SustainRT community!<\/span><\/p>\n

Posted by Christina J. J. Gangwisch<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Equitable access to resources is an issue that affects the sustainability of our communities. \u00a0Access to vital resources, such as clean air and water, should be a basic right, but as recent events have demonstrated, is not always guaranteed. \u00a0In low-income and affluent communities alike, air quality can have an enormous impact on our health … Continue reading How can you help your library customers breathe easier?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[32],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sustainable-action","tag-air-quality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions\/247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/sustainrt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}