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Initiatives
With the recent fine particle non-attainment designation and the possibility of more stringent federal standards on the horizon, Knozone is evolving into a year-round air quality program for Central Indiana. To help publicize clean air strategies, Knozone targets individuals and businesses through a variety of channels:
Air Quality Health Advisories Beginning in 2003, the Knozone program began notifying the public when area ozone readings reached levels considered unhealthy for the general population. Through a partnership with the Marion County Health Department, local media, individuals and businesses are alerted when the air is unsafe to breathe and are given guidance on how they can protect their health on high ground-level ozone days. In 2005, the health advisories were expanded to include fine particles (PM 2.5).
"Breathe Easy" Driver Education Video Beginning in 2002, the Knozone campaign targeted a new audience, teenagers who are just learning to drive. With the help of local celebrities, WNOU deejays "Wank and O'Brien", an educational video from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources was localized to educate new Central Indiana drivers about the hazards of ozone pollution and what they can do to help fight air pollution. The video is distributed to area driver education classes for free.
Dr. Kno and Professor Particle Dr. Kno and Professor Particle are campaign spokespeople, primarily targeting children and young adults. They educate kids about how they can make small changes in behavior to help improve local air quality. Dr. Kno and Professor Particle also make appearances at Knozone booths at local festivals and fairs.
Diesel Retrofit Initiative To help lead by example, the Department of Public Works through its Office of Environmental Services has been retrofitting municipal diesel vehicles with diesel oxidation catalysts (DOCs). A DOC acts like a car's catalytic converter by reducing the amount of diesel emissions being emitted into the air. To date, the City has retrofitted 44 garbage trucks, 9 pieces of off-road equipment, and the majority of the Indianapolis Public Schools' bus fleet. These retrofits have been made possible thanks to grant support from the U.S. EPA and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
Flexible Fuel Vehicles Indianapolis maintains a fleet of more than 260 flexible-fuel vehicles. Through a partnership with the Indiana Department of Commerce, all of these vehicles can be filled up using E85 fuel, which is 85% ethanol and 15% petroleum. This gas burns cleaner and therefore reduces harmful automobile emissions.
Knozone Action Days Knozone Action Days are the main component of the campaign and are declared when there is the potential for air quality readings to reach or exceed the federal health-based air quality standards. Local experts predict Knozone Action Days as early as 2 p.m. the day before a Knozone Action Day occurs based on monitored ground-level ozone or fine particle concentrations and weather conditions such as wind speed, temperature and cloud cover. The public is notified via television weather reports, newspaper notifications, radio announcements, e-mail alerts, voice mail messages and paid advertising. A Knozone Action Day is a call to action for residents and area businesses to voluntarily choose to change their behavior for the benefit of central Indiana's air quality.
Knozone Awareness Campaign Kickoff The Knozone season is kicked off in May or June each year with a public ceremony. Knozone staff, public officials, environmental and health experts and sponsors speak at a brief news conference to officially start the Knozone season. The news conference is generally followed by an afternoon of food and fun. In 2004, Knozone took a new approach to its traditional kickoff festival by holding the first-ever Knozone Kickoff Day at Victory Field. Dr. Kno and the Knozone team joined their program partners and sponsors for an educational evening of air quality and baseball hosted by the Indianapolis Indians, the city's professional baseball team. The baseball game approach was continued in 2005. Since Knozone has evolved into a year-round program, a fun fall event was added. In 2005, Knozone sponsored an Indianapolis Ice hockey game.
Knozone Bike Give-Away Previously, the Knozone campaign sponsored an annual bike giveaway for third-graders in Marion and the eight surrounding Central Indiana counties. During the school year, the campaign distributed thousands of interactive ozone education school kits to schools in the region. After completing the ozone education activities, participating third-graders mailed in a certificate to be entered in a drawing for a free bicycle. Beginning in 2005, the bike give-away is being incorporated into the Inquisitive Kids partnership. The Knozone campaign also held bike drawings at several local community events throughout the summer.
Inquisitive Kids In 2005, Knozone began partnering with Inquisitive Kids, a free newspaper distributed to more than 44,000 kids in grade 3, 4 and 5 throughout the Central Indiana region each month during the school year. This newspaper incorporates Indiana educational standards while delivering a monthly environmental message in a fun and creative way.
Media Campaign The Knozone program utilizes radio spots, television commercials, public service announcements, brochures and media alerts to convey the ground-level ozone and fine particle message in a simple and consistent way. In addition, Knozone representatives often meet with area weather and traffic announcers to ask for assistance in getting the Knozone message out during regular weather and traffic updates.
Planet Polluto Library Program The Knozone program purchased and donated several copies of the Save Planet Polluto ozone pollution game to local libraries giving hundreds of library patrons access to the fun, interactive software. Save Planet Polluto was developed by the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District with EPA monies and is sold to local government agencies at a minimal cost.
Respiratory Professionals Outreach In conjunction with its partnership with the American Lung Association of Indiana, Knozone developed a health rack card for placement in the offices of respiratory professionals throughout Central Indiana. The bright, colorful card will provide hundreds of respiratory patients necessary information about protecting their health from the effects of ground-level ozone.
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