What motivates you to help the air?
When you think about air pollution, what gets your attention most? Is it the effects on your own health, the impact on the environment or what air pollution, and how you might be contributing to it, are costing you in dollars and cents?
Yup – air pollution is proving to be costly to our environment, our health and our pocketbooks.
Check out this air pollution website created by The School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong. This innovative calculator shows the various ‘costs’ air pollution has on individuals in that country and the cost of collective health.
But air pollution is a problem that impacts us all – 100 per cent of the time – no matter where we live or the state of our health. And in order to improve anything, we have to be willing to change. Starting with our own behaviour.
So we want to know – what makes you care most about the quality of the air we share? Is it a healthier body, bank account or community?
The question of personal motivators is one we think about a lot when we’re developing social marketing campaigns about the outdoor environment and its effects on health. Our goal of making people more aware of an issue, helping them understand it and see how it is relevant to them personally, is the precursor to motivating people to take action – to change their own behaviour.
Not unlike other social topics, people feel connected to issues in different ways – and these connections are what motivate them to do something.
When it comes to air quality, parents who have kids suffering from asthma are more likely to be motivated by health concerns. Others may be motivated by their passion for the earth and all its species. What about you? Maybe it’s only relevant when the day comes that you are asked not to drive to work because of high health risk from particulate matter in the air. Or the cost of gas is so high you realize it’s not worth it to idle your car unnecessarily. Will it be the financial considerations that are the kicker to making you care about the air?
Protecting our air for environmental and human health reasons is a continuous challenge. Behaviour change is a slow process. The more we know about what motivates people to think about air quality, the better able we are to shape these conversations about our most vital life sustaining resource – air — in a way that will get more people to sit up and listen.
Can you help? Leave a comment on what your top motivator is, and tell us what country or province/state you are from.
Run towards clean air
I consider myself a recreational runner. I lace up my shoes and hit the roads three to four times a week for anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. I never once thought about the air quality until I started working closely with some of our company’s air and health clients. That knowledge instilled a new level of awareness in me when it came to outdoor running and how the air might be affecting my health.
Poor air quality and its impact on athletes is a hot topic in the media with the 2012 Olympics looming and the controversy over London’s air quality.
A topic not addressed as much is what poor air quality means for the recreational athletes – the ones who lace up their sneakers for a run or bike ride four times a week to get some cardiovascular exercise in. Even if their work out is only 30 – 60 minutes a day it has the potential to be detrimental when it comes to long-term health if the air quality is bad.
We breathe more deeply and rapidly than normal when exercising and this allows more air pollution to enter the lungs. Air pollution tends to be higher in the afternoon when there is more traffic and the mixture of heat and air begins to worsen air quality. Therefore, when possible, runners should try to work out in the morning.
But what about those who cannot? Is it better to run through poor air quality than not run at all?
According to this report by the Sport Information Resource Centre (SIRC), if the air quality is poor runners are better to reduce the amount of time they work out, take the day off or consider taking their workout inside.
Bottom line is it’s important for recreational athletes to be aware of the air quality in their community by getting in the habit of checking it the way they would check the weather before lacing up for a run.
Their lungs – and health – will thank them.
Do you regularly check the air quality in your community before exercising outdoors?
Your attention, please
As a conference presenter, I often speak on the important stages of behaviour-change communication. I’ve shared our approach on getting attention, increasing awareness, supporting engagement and encouraging action, to program and policy planners, health and environment scientists and other communication and outreach professionals in Canada and the US.
The message is basically this – too many social marketing programs start at the end and don’t include enough communication foreplay. And too many get way too detailed way too early.
My focus – especially to highly technical and scientific members of the audience – is a warning, really.
‘Don’t suffer from the curse of knowledge’ – a reference aptly used by Chip and Dan Heath in their book Made to Stick.
The curse leads us to ask people to take action (share info, sign up for something or behave differently) when they haven’t also been given what they need to pay attention in the first place, and better yet, increase their understanding once they are interested.
Imagine a room full of delegates at the Congress of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. This was one of my speaking gigs earlier this year. They had been debating the future of our oceans and atmosphere. I make my entrance – the lone social science speaker who delivers a presentation on health social marketing with lots of simple visuals, compelling audio clips and illustrative examples. It’s my way of getting people’s attention so they are more interested in my story. I’m working to practice what I preach.
The intent is to compel others to reconsider how they share information – especially if they’re hoping laypeople will pay attention and perhaps someday do something different – like change their behaviour – in a way that protects our air, oceans, land and water.
Behaviour change communication is an approach that starts with the assumption that you have to gain people’s attention before you can ask them to learn or do something in support of a personal or universal benefit.
And it is one that’s entrenched in almost every communication program or initiative our firm leads. We’ve developed a webinar, which you can view above, that speaks to the important elements of behaviour change communication and uses recent examples from some of our social marketing work to illustrate the process.
Tell us about the strategies you’ve employed focusing on the stages of behaviour change communication – especially on that most important step — getting attention.
Trust – Can’t Be Left Up in the Air
Beijing, China and San Luis Obispo County, California, are an ocean apart. But in the past few weeks, they both faced pressure from the media and the public in relation to air pollution.
In the case of Beijing, city air quality officials and the government have been increasingly called to task on the details of their air quality reporting, specifically the levels of particulate matter (PM) in the air. They’ve also been criticized based on conflicting air quality monitoring made available through the US Embassy in Beijing, which suggests air pollution levels are much higher than what the city reports. Just last week, Chinese officials bowed to some of that pressure by committing to upgrade their air index and to include levels of PM 2.5 in their data sharing, in addition to PM10.
In San Luis Obispo County, residents learned air quality research commissioned in 2008 to measure particulate matter near a recreational vehicle area has been accused of being flawed. The study was completed to help officials determine how to reduce PM traveling downwind from a popular off-road recreation park. It’s important research with an admirable goal. However, if people doubt the study process, will they have faith in the results?
And that’s the tie; public trust – earning it, maintaining it and protecting it. No small feat when trust is your most valuable asset in communicating about air quality – whether you’re a public, private or not-for-profit organization.
Air quality reporting has become a vital public health service that is gaining more and more attention. We know from our research on branding and communicating air quality indices, people are more likely to make decisions about how to manage their own health, and how to be stewards of air, if the air quality information comes from what they consider a trustworthy source – whether that be a health care provider or a government agency.
Organizations that report air quality have an obligation to uphold an open and transparent system for measuring, reporting and communicating relevant messages so people, no matter where they live, can have faith in the information, and the information source.
Do you understand and have faith in the air quality information in your community?
The Power of 7 (Million)
We are constantly searching for, and evaluating, communication and outreach efforts related to air quality, health and environmental stewardship. And our curiosity has no borders. We are as interested in community consultation about air quality in Beijing, China as we are to our home province of British Columbia.
Pan Shiyi is founder of SOHO China, the largest real estate development company in Beijing. He is one of the most influential business leaders in China. He’s my age (middle?), obviously ambitious and extremely savvy when it comes to using social media. His personal blog is hosted on more than 10 major portals and gets visits in the millions. He’s active on Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, where he has 7 million followers.
Recently, Pan Shiyi focused some of his corporate citizenship karma on the issue of air quality in Beijing.
Interesting how a few days ago, the Ministry of Environmental Protection in China, responding to increased public pressure, made a commitment to providing improved monitoring and access to information on air pollution. They announced new air quality monitoring standards to include the minute levels of particulate matter known as PM 2.5 as well ozone and C02 levels – by 2016.
Health and environment scientists the globe over concur that PM2.5 is harmful to health. China’s concentrations of PM2.5 are currently several times higher than what the World Health Organization considers safe. It’s also credited as one of the major causes of Beijing haze – haze that is not only harmful to health but to Beijing’s economy as well.
Any surprise the Ministry of Environmental Protection in China announced new commitments not long after someone as influential as Pan Shiyi jumped on the air pollution band wagon – potentially empowering the voices of many millions in China.
Was Pan Shiyi moved to advocate for improved air quality by moral motives, or did he recognize the economic costs associated with air pollution? People don’t want to live and work (or buy expensive condos) where they can’t breathe?
Whatever his motive, we salute him. Active public involvement is driving political change.
Who cares about the air?
Well it turns out, not enough of us.
Health Canada recently released an Environics’ Survey that examined our knowledge and attitudes about air quality – and the survey results will have profound changes on how air quality is managed and reported in Canada.
If you are like the one-in-seven Canadians surveyed, you are probably saying “so what” at this point and may be thinking about your dinner plans. Well don’t make your shopping list just yet. It seems that air quality affects us all. We just don’t know it yet.
The study found a significant difference between our understanding that air quality affects our health and our awareness of our own local risk factors. About 96% of Canadians believe air quality affects health to some degree; yet few Canadians seek out air quality information regularly.
A majority of us continue to rely on our sense to tell us when the air is ‘bad’. And it seems that we tend to think about the long term effects of poor air quality but are less good at identifying the immediate impact on health unless “the connection has been made directly through a personal experience”.
So why is it that even those of us living in the most polluted parts of the country do not seem to make the connection between air pollution and our own health?
The Survey authors suggest our collective head-in-the-sand approach might be due to a “they must be talking about someone else” reaction or even a “this is too big for me to think about” response.
But perhaps we are not getting information we know how to use.
When Environics compared provinces that had the highest (BC) and lowest (Alberta) air quality awareness, they found one critical difference – the Air Quality Health Index.
Launched in BC in 2006, the Air Quality Health Index is the first air quality measurement tool in the world that reports the health impact of the air we all breathe. It makes the connection for us. BC residents have been learning about the Index and now use it to manage exposure during times when the air quality is poor – like in the fires of 2010.
Those same fires created the worst air quality in Alberta that has ever been recorded in the province. But without the AQHI, residents had no way of knowing how the outside air was affecting their health. That is changing. Seeing the success, the Government of Alberta committed to a province-wide launch of the Air Quality Health Index in the summer of 2011. Now the AQHI is reported across the country.
Ask us again in a few years. It appears Canadians do care about the air and this new tool will help equip them in making decisions toward improved personal health.
Why mom’s voice is a good one when it comes to clean air
Listen to your mother – she’s got a powerful voice. It’s a message that has united a group of knowledgeable, eloquent, and determined women across the US who make up Mom’s Clean Air Force – an organization that has aligned itself with some of the most respected health establishments in the US to rally against air pollution.
The force includes a keen and informed group of bloggers (mostly mothers and some fathers, too) who fare from a variety of professional and personal backgrounds, providing many voices, points of view and calls to action to improve the air. The appeal has attracted politicians, elite athletes and well known authors, among others, who lend their support to the cause. The organization also provides tools, resources, and events for those who want to get more involved.
As a group of professional women and mothers who focus our work on communicating about outdoor health, we are impressed.
Rewards of writing “the book”
Sometimes it’s best to not fully know what you’re getting yourself into — and just agree to do it. Sometimes, what you agree to is good for you and you know it. Marriage. Becoming a parent. Teaching your teenager how to drive. It’s just that there are fuzzy edges and you’re just not sure how you will get through.
My most recent “I can do that” commitment was agreeing to write a book chapter – in collaboration with about 20 other authors spread across Canada. Sound chaotic? Truth is this cooperative process has been well organized – from the initial online author guidelines, to viewing chapters in development and direct access to the editors.
The greatest challenge, as you can probably guess, is setting time aside to give the writing undivided attention.
I’ve listened carefully to the advice of two professionals I respect – David Baker and Blair Enns – both published and both with a list of benefits that committing to book writing can bring. I accept their points, hypothetically. But it’s totally different to decide to make it so.
Why then did I agree to do this?
Because writing is one of the best ways for me to express what I know in an area that’s not wholly explored – air quality communication in support of public and environmental health. I’ve allowed myself to pursue answers to questions on this topic others may not have considered. Writing the chapter compels me to plunge into a specific subject, which in turn, provides you some new information and makes me smarter having been forced to dig deep.
And there’s the conversation. The book has spurred discussions with health protection professionals in the UK, with engineering and medical academics in California, with air quality experts in Hong Kong. I may be doing this with the goal of getting words on paper, but in the process, I have a new reference point for conversation and collaboration with colleagues and clients.
Making it so has been so rewarding.
Next time you get the opportunity to do something you know will be good for you, but you just don’t quite know how you will do it, force yourself to take the time away from all other distractions and simply get started. The rest will follow.
The book, Air Quality Management / Canadian Perspectives on a Global Issue, will be published in hard copy and e-book by Springer in Summer 2012.
How can we help people care about air?
It’s a challenge common to many parts of Canada and countries in both the developed and developing world… how to make people more aware of air quality and its effects on their health. In Canada, we’ve worked to do this in conjunction with the introduction of the world’s first Air Quality Health Index (AQHI). Read our case study here.
How do we maximize a “teachable moment”?
By giving people information when they need it most. The 2009 forest fires in BC’s Okanagan region posed a health threat to people most at risk from air pollution – and created a “teachable moment” to inform them about the relationship between air quality and health. In response, Communication Solutions created a social media strategy focused on using Twitter to inform British Columbians and influence their actions – when they needed it most. Read full case study here.