OpenAQ

I am applying for this funding to allow OpenAQ to truly democratize access to air quality data and information and enable action in the fight against air pollution. Our organization has had great success in developing a platform to host air quality data and to advocate for transparency as a necessary condition to driving policy change and enabling both government, civil society and private sector solutions. 

 At the same time, we recognize that to be truly effective we need to transform our work so that air quality data can be used by more people. The prize money will allow OpenAQ to expand our platform for air quality data into an activation hub, where air quality data is combined with key sources of information, tools and toolkits for activists and communities. While we have an engaged community, we also want to encourage even greater convening and encourage strategic reciprocity so that air quality activists can break down silos and collaborate more closely to fight air pollution.

I am excited to create the transparency and inspire activation given how important an issue air pollution is and how it represents the most visual and felt environmental and health impact globally. 

Air pollution very often shares a root cause with the root cause of climate change - most especially the burning of fossil fuels. As climate change increases the risk and frequency of wildfires and smoke, the resulting poor air quality and increase in all kinds of respiratory problems is also a dangerous effect of climate change. For example, recent research indicates that more than 50% of acres burned in the Western US can be attributed to climate change.

OpenAQ is an environmental tech nonprofit on a mission to democratize access to air quality data and information to enable action in the fight against air pollution. We leverage the air quality data we host on our open source open data platform (currently ~4B data points from 120 countries, 100 unique source, and ~30K monitors) and community engagement to support new solutions to air pollution including new technology, cutting edge research, transformative policies and new opportunities for information gathering and awareness.

Our users include developers who serve as open source contributors  to our platform and also use the data we host to power apps and other technologies, as well as researchers, journalists, activists, community members and citizen scientists. 

We are creating a reference point and convening point as the central place for air quality data and activation.

The data on our platform is used to drive awareness among activists around air quality challenges and to drive policy change, by journalists and by researchers who are using the data we make available to develop new research around health impacts of air pollution, and by developers who create apps that incorporate the data on our platform.