Welcome Jen!

If you happen to stop by the Clean Air Climbers' page on the 2011 Fight for Air site recently you'll see something very exciting:  We're growing!

We want to give a great big welcome to Jen Carter!  You can support Jen's climb by checking out her page!

She'll be joining us on some upcoming walks and having fun 'til the big day on February 20th.  We'll give her a proper introduction here soon!

Why You Should be a Clean Air Climber

We mentioned earlier that you needn't be a Clean Air Climber or climb the Carew with another team to fight for clean air.  I believe what we said is very true.

That said, though, why not be a Clean Air Climber?

Here are some reasons why it would be a good thing to be one of us:

• You're supporting a great cause:  Clean air for everyone!  The American Lung Association works for clean air on many different levels, including nationally and locally, education and policy.  Climbing the Carew with the Clean Air Climbers raises awareness of and funds for this great work.
• You're having fun!  Climbing 45 stories sounds pretty terrible, really.  But, in reality, the Clean Air Climbers had a great time last year!  We're already having a lot of fun this year in our "training" wandering all over the city.  By the way, I put "training" in quotes because...
• You don't actually have to be fit to climb the Carew.  Our "training" doesn't actually involve that many sets of stairs - and we've already climbed the longest set in Cincinnati so you can rest assured if you join us you won't have to haul up the worst there is.  Last year, none of us trained, one had just had a baby, and yet we all made it up to the top in around 14 minutes.  Just remember: There are oxygen stations every few floors!
• You don't have to come on our jaunts around the Queen City.  That's just our fun way of "training" - you can do it your way.  (p.s. you don't have to be a Clean Air Climber to come on a walk - we'd love the company!)
• Considering that you don't have to train to survive the climb, the only time you'll really give up is a few minutes asking folks to sponsor you and an hour to climb then eat all the food in the climber resting room on Sunday, February 20th.
• If you sign up before November 1st, the registration fee is $20.  It goes up after that. 
• You get a cool medal and an official climbing number.  We keep ours on display in our kitchen.  It makes us proud and makes us look really cool.  I mean, you could wear the metal every day if you wanted to.  You can see how awesome it is below:

If all of this persuaded YOU to want to be a Clean Air Climber, we'd love to have you on the team! To join:
1) Click on this link to our team climb page, hidden in the box with our team name is a "Join the Team" link.
2) Fill out the form. You may set your own fundraising goal but the Lung Association recomends a minimum of $100.
3) If asked, enter Clean Air Climbers as your team name! Welcome to the team!

Clean Air Champions #1: Hamilton County ES

As part of our blog chronicling our adventures and training for the Carew Tower Climb, we wanted to also take time to look at the many local organization that are focused on improving the quailty of the air we breath, both indoor and outdoors.

There are several government agencies that are responsible for keeping an eye on areas that affect our health. In the area of clean outdoor air, the Hamilton County Environmental Services are keeping a lookout for dangerous conditions in our local skies. Twice a day, the HCES measures air quality in Hamilton County and updates their website with local conditions.

The above is an embedded portion of the daily report. See the full page here.

Another fun way to to keep track of air quality - with real time reports on the Cincinnati area - is the Hazecam. The Hazecam, which is linked from the Hamilton County Environmental Services website, provides a webcam view of Cincinnati with real-time indicators showing measurements of particles and ozone in the air.