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Environmental Education Grant Awarded To Teach Allegheny County Students About Air Quality

Release Date: 7/28/1999
Contact Information: Roy Seneca (215) 814-5567

PITTSBURGH -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a $4,850 grant to a Western Pennsylvania environmental group to educate middle and high school students in Allegheny County on air quality issues,

Under the grant, the Group Against Smog and Pollution, Inc. (GASP) will train students and teachers how to use a sophisticated educational air monitor and software program. The program is designed to expose students to air quality issues and stimulate a sense of personal ownership of clean air as a natural resource necessary for good health and quality of life.

GASP plans to visit about 15 schools each year, and the monitor can be used in more than one classroom at each school. Teams of students from the schools will come together at the end of each year to discuss their results with air quality experts.

Along with using the monitor at schools, GASP will also use the monitor to educate the public at environmental events and to investigate local air problems.

"The Group Against Smog and Pollution has the expertise to stimulate interest in air quality issues and to help students develop an understanding of air regulations," said W. Michael McCabe, regional administrator for the EPA’s mid-Atlantic region.

EPA’s education grant program is designed to stimulate grass-roots environmental education. In the mid-Atlantic Region, the 25 grant recipients included schools, civic groups and non-profit organizations. Nationally, $3 million was awarded in 1999.

For more information on this grant, contact Nan Ides at (215) 814-5546. EPA’s regional Internet home page also has general information on the grants: https://www.epa.gov/region 03.