Community members in Martinez with their air purifiers
In the American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report of U.S. cities with the most polluted air, the San Francisco Bay Area ranked fifth. The work for clean air continues both nationwide and locally.
Bay Area communities like Martinez are heavily affected in both air quality and quality of life by the refineries nearby. Community group Healthy Martinez was formed after a spent catalyst release from the Martinez Refining Company (owned by PBF Energy) in November 2022, which blanketed the surrounding neighborhoods with 24 tons of toxic dust.
On May 18 and 19, 2024, Healthy Martinez teamed with 350 Bay Area and Common Humanity Collective to distribute 300 air purifiers and filters provided by Lasko Products to the community. (Bill McKibben is co-founder of both 350 Bay Area and ThirdAct.)
Formed out of concern for the public health and safety of the neighboring community along with the lack of protections from the Martinez Refining Company, Healthy Martinez pushes for transparency and accountability from the refinery in light of continued flaring events, petroleum coke releases, daily particulate matter and other toxic emissions.
Project Coordinator Claire Beckstoffer stands with a portion of the air purifiers to distribute on the second day of canvassing
Securing 300 air purifiers and filters
With limited budgets, but an idea and connection to bring Common Humanity Collective’s mutual aid model of grassroots air purifier distribution to refinery towns like Martinez, Zoe Jonick, 350 Bay Area’s lead organizer, started cold messaging Lasko. The company responded enthusiastically—they were excited by the prospect of mobilizing their newly-formed community-outreach team to get their air purifiers to communities that most needed them and by the potential to scale this effort. With Lasko Products on board, 350 Bay Area collaborated with Healthy Martinez and HC to get the 300 air purifiers and air filters to the Martinez community. Claire Beckstoffer, a volunteer leader from 350 Bay Area’s Mobilizing Team, joined as project coordinator, facilitating crucial conversations between the groups and paving the path for the campaign’s success through community outreach.
Distribution weekend
Healthy Martinez identified neighborhoods that were most impacted by pollution. On distribution day, 23 volunteers split into teams, knocked on doors and successfully passed out 300 air purifiers and extra filters to folks in the Martinez community. While there was some initial skepticism (because there’s usually a catch to getting something for free) the overall reception was very positive. Once volunteers started chatting with canvassers and learned that the goal was to simply provide cleaner indoor air for the community, people started opening up and sharing their experiences. Healthy Martinez wanted to not only to make an immediate impact on the health of one of our most pollution-burdened communities, but also to spark a conversation about how fossil-fuel infrastructure affects the community, and how we can address it together. This isn’t simply a climate change problem; it’s a public health and safety issue with a direct impact on communities. The work continues, with the goal of scaling this project to more heavily impacted
communities throughout the Bay Area to provide better air and quality of life.
Volunteers discussing the objectives and plan for canvassing