Innovate
The Innovate pillar focuses on leveraging innovative solutions to monitor air quality, collect real-time air pollution data, and empower communities with the tools they need to track and advocate for cleaner air and environmental justice.
Particulate Matter
Through our "Particulate Matter" initiative, we strengthen climate resilience by deploying low-cost air quality sensors and installing air filters in Title 1 schools that lack access to environmental health resources. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is linked to asthma, cardiovascular disease, and other serious health harms that also impact learning.
We use GIS and machine learning to analyze traffic exhaust, warehouse activity, wildfire smoke patterns, and socioeconomic indicators to identify schools at highest risk. With support from educators and families, we deploy sensor networks that provide continuous data on air quality fluctuations and install air filters to improve air quality in classrooms.
Support
The Support pillar strengthens air quality resilience by assisting individuals and families who are already facing the health impacts of air pollution. We work alongside partners to deliver support where it is needed most and help frontline communities affected by poor air quality recover, adapt, and thrive.
Air Quality Literacy Workshops
We host air quality literacy workshops at local elementary schools and libraries to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to understand air pollution and its health impacts. These programs are designed to be accessible to all age groups and educational backgrounds. Our educational materials include hands-on activities and interactive workshops that teach students how to read air quality data, understand the sources of air pollution, and take action to protect their health and communities.
Through partnerships with local schools and nonprofits, we reach hundreds of students each year, cultivating air quality awareness and building the next generation of environmental advocates who can identify and address air pollution in their communities.
Nourish San Jose
Through our Nourish SJ initiative, we support families displaced by wildfires by collecting edible surplus food from local grocery stores, repackaging them into nutritious meal kits, and redistributing it to families across San Jose. Grocery stores routinely dispose of fresh, edible food due to overstocking and approaching sell by dates. When this food enters landfills, it breaks down and produces methane, a greenhouse gas more than 80 times more powerful than CO₂.
We partner directly with grocery retailers to recover surplus produce, dairy, and pantry items, package them into nutritious care-kits, and distribute them through food banks and community organizations. Each kit includes multilingual recipe cards to encourage healthy preparation and reduce waste at the household level.
Advocate
The Advocate pillar focuses on empowering communities to speak up for cleaner air and environmental justice through education about air pollution, awareness campaigns, and community organizing to reduce harmful emissions and protect vulnerable populations.
CORA Partnership
ConServe works alongside organizations like CORA (Campaign for Organic Regenerative Agriculture) to reduce air pollution from toxic pesticides used in large-scale farming. Based in California's Pajaro Valley, CORA collaborates with Latino farmworker communities to protect workers and nearby students from airborne pesticide pollution. Pesticides sprayed on industrial farms become airborne pollutants that drift into nearby communities and schools, creating dangerous air quality conditions linked to respiratory issues, neurological disorders, and cancers.
Together with CORA, we are working to pass a bill in the California State Assembly to expand the organic/no pesticide buffer zone around communities and schools. This legislation would create larger protective zones that prevent pesticide drift from contaminating the air, ensuring cleaner air quality for vulnerable populations.
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