Have you ever watched one of those TV cop programs and thought how’d you hate having your face splashed across the television for making an in-the-moment bad decision? Well get ready folks, because that very thing is getting ready to happen right here in North Ogden! [Editor’s Comment: No it isn’t.] Okay, maybe not that exact same thing, but almost the same thing. [Editor’s Comment: Not even close, pretty much the opposite.]  Maybe I should explain . . .

A few months ago, Mayor Chugg created the North Ogden Clean Air (NOCA) committee and the City Council gave it a rousing vote of approval. Since then, a group of citizens has been working together to figure out how we can best bring awareness and education to encourage a change of habits. Our philosophy is that together we can make a difference to our air quality. Sure, we’ll always have inversions. Our beautiful mountains guarantee it will always be a challenge, especially when our weather conditions seem to be working against us. But we do have some control over how many emissions we are contributing to it!

We’ve already started working on a few ideas. You may have seen us at Cherry Days. We’re also going to be working with schools this fall in hopes of creating an Air Aware Flag program. We hope this will help reduce idling in the student pickup/drop-off lanes too. We’ve also challenged our nearby cities to start up something similar so that we can all work together to improve our air quality. After all, we all breathe the same air! There will also be other programs and fun challenges in the works.

Now, back to what I was initially talking about. [Editor’s Comment: Only the facts please!] We want to be positive and encourage people to make whatever changes they can, so we’re soliciting local businesses for gift cards or swag to be given away to people who are “caught in the act” of being air aware and doing something positive! Then we’ll share this on our Facebook page so everyone can see how easy it is to be more environmentally friendly and reduce emissions.

We’re just getting started so stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, pop over to our Facebook page and give us a LIKE. And if you’re a business that would like to donate gift cards or swag, contact us at the email address shown below. Maybe next time you’re in line for the drive through window, or waiting to pick someone up, you might think about not idling. You never know when we might be hiding around the corner just waiting for someone to do the right thing and reward him or her with a gift!