Darrington students shine at National Air Quality Conference “..We can’t change our location, but we can change our behavior.”

 

Feb. 16, 2006 – “..We can’t change our location, but we can change our behavior.” So said two students from Darrington High School of their efforts to improve air quality in their rural community. They presented to an audience of more than 400 air quality planners, meteorologists and communicators at the National Air Quality Conference in San Antonio, Texas, on Feb. 6, 2006.

Rebecca DiMaggio and Briana Monte Calvo, along with their advisor Eileen Draper, described how their Science Club first became concerned about wintertime air quality in Darrington, a rural town in Snohomish County, and the steps they took to do something about it.

Working with staff from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, the Darrington students learned through air quality monitoring that contrary to what they thought, their winter pollution problem was not a result of the local lumber facility, but their own chimneys! The students' work was part of an effort initiated by town officials and other concerned residents to build community awareness about how town residents' home heating practices (primarily wood burning in stoves and fireplaces) were affecting their air quality – and what residents could do about it.

Central to this initiative is a wood stove change-out program, launched last fall by the agency and a committee of town officials and residents, funded by the agency and Hampton Lumber, and administered by the town committee. To kick-off the program, the committee organized a day-long Home Heating EXPO, with the students and their air monitoring results a key attraction among wood stove demonstrations and health information. Using a voucher-based program to minimize upfront costs for participants, the program has to date received nearly 30 applications, issued 20 vouchers and changed out seven uncertified wood stoves. Replacing these seven uncertified wood stoves with clean-burning propane and pellet stoves will keep over one ton of fine particles out of Darrington's air each year. The agency expects to reimburse between 40 and 50 change-out vouchers with the funds available this year, eliminating as much as six tons of fine particle pollution annually.

As the Darrington students concluded their presentation, audience members rose to their feet to give them the only standing ovation during the opening plenary session of the conference – an extremely rare occurrence. A representative from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also commended the Darrington delegation for their initiative and grass-roots efforts to improve air quality – one chimney at a time.