Articles from Clean Air Partners

The Baltimore-Washington region has seen meaningful improvements in air quality over the past decade, but maintaining clean air requires ongoing effort from everyone. This Air Quality Awareness Week (May 4–10, 2026), Clean Air Partners is encouraging residents to take a closer look at their lawn care routines and the hidden pollution costs that come with them.

Air quality in the Baltimore-Washington area has improved over the last three decades, but clean air isn’t guaranteed – it takes action. This Air Quality Awareness Week (May 5-9, 2025), Clean Air Partners encourages residents to take steps to green their lawn routines.

With spring upon us, and ozone season just around the corner, Clean Air Partners (CAP) invites Baltimore-Washington residents to replace their gas powered lawn tools (lawn mowers, leaf blowers and grass trimmers) with more eco-friendly electric versions. Kicking off the campaign with Air Quality Awareness Week (May 6-10, 2024), CAP is announcing its lineup of spring events to help residents do their share for cleaner air.

As temperatures heat up and ozone season approaches, Clean Air Partners kicks off a public education campaign in conjunction with Air Quality Awareness Week, May 1–5, 2023. The campaign highlights the surprising culprits of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions found right in our own backyards as well as tips for small lifestyle changes to improve air quality.

Cleaner air is a casualty as more and more employees return to their workplaces in the Baltimore-Washington region and congestion from commuter traffic increases. After a dramatic drop in the number of air quality alert days during the height of the Covid pandemic, last year brought a shift back to pre-pandemic levels. The number of days in 2021 when concentrations of ozone exceeded health standards climbed to eight days in the Washington region and 17 days in the Baltimore region – almost five times the number in 2020, when millions of people and their vehicles stayed home.

Over the past year the pandemic has changed how millions of Americans work and live, with more people working from home or limiting their driving. This has had a dramatic impact on the air quality of the Baltimore-Washington region, which saw some of the cleanest air in ten years. As it launches its annual ozone season public education campaign, Clean Air Partners is urging area residents to keep up the good habits they started during the pandemic. The campaign takes place in conjunction with Air Quality Awareness Week, May 3–7.