Climate change is making wildfires across Canada, the US and other parts of the world more vicious and long-lasting, as landscapes are destroyed and harmful smoke from the fires is spreading thousands of miles away. 

Today, we’re going to learn about the worrying impact the fires are having on our air quality and how we can protect ourselves from inhaling particles that could have as detrimental an impact on our health as smoking cigarettes. 

Our experts are molecular filtration specialist Jennifer Webb who lives at the epicentre of one of the worst affected places, California, and Jon Holmes, who is Camfil’s National Account Manager in Canada. He’s known as ‘The Filter Guy’ for his passion about managing IAQ to protect our health. 

01:38 The impact of climate change on wildfires 

04:53 Damaging particles in wildfire smoke 

07:23 Measuring the Six Criteria Air Pollutants 

12:20 Personal restrictions as a result of bad AQI 

15:28 Actions you can take for better IAQ 

17:56 Air quality impact on the workforce 

20:53 Maintenance of air filters during wildfire season 

22:00 How we can educate ourselves on AQI and IAQ 

24:30 How to become a Chief Airgonomics Officer 

GUEST DETAILS
Jennifer Webb is Camfil’s Molecular Filtration Segment Manager for Western US and Mexico with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware.

Jennifer is responsible for technical sales, marketing and business development of molecular (aka- "carbon" or “gas-phase”) filtration solutions for a wide range of industries and applications, including airports, hospitals, cannabis, cultural heritage preservation, petrochemical, wastewater, pulp and paper, industrial exhaust and biogas.

Jon Holmes, aka ‘the filter guy’ has worked with Camfil for over 10 years and in 2022 was promoted to National Accounts based out of Toronto. Jon is passionate about Camfil and provides customers with solutions to achieve their energy reduction and sustainability goals.

Jon has completed training in Theories of Filtration, Hepa Filtration Testing, ASHRAE Testing Standards, Advanced Filtration, Filter Selection and has operated our Mobile CamTester throughout Alberta to validate filter performance in the field. He is also heavily involved with industry organizations like BOMA, CHES, and NAFA, and is also the Chair of several committees in the industry. Most recently Jon Holmes has acquired his Fitwel Ambassador Certification and continues to work on his WELL accreditation.

You can find Jon Holmes, aka “Jon the Filter Guy” on LinkedIn where he shares video tips on how to maximize your air filtration value.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonwholmes  

The Chief Airgonomics Officer initiative is started by Camfil, a leading manufacturer in premium clean air solutions and an advocate for access to clean air.

The Chief Airgonomics initiative is being driven at a time of urgency: sensitivities over air have heightened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, air pollutants are well known to damage the environment and the newly published WHO Air Quality Guidelines show us that air pollution is more damaging to human health than previously understood.

The initiative is a direct response to these realities while also bringing to life Camfil’s mission of protecting people, processes and the environment. It also puts into practice Camfil’s knowledge and expertise built over more than half a century and that it is eager to share with its peers and wider audiences to improve people’s lives.

Our Vision : Clean and healthy Indoor Air should be a Human right

Our Mission: We want all companies and organisations to put clean and healthy indoor air on the agenda

Camfil believes that real change can only happen through collaborative effort and wants your organisation to join the clean air movement and community. Start your clean indoor air journey today!

CAO Website: https://www.chiefairgonomicsofficer.com/ 

CAO Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12679402/

In California we've just had longer and worse droughts. Then, the temperatures from climate change are rising everywhere. We get more and more of these hot days, which means even a small fire just gets worse. - Jennifer Webb 

A long time ago a customer asked me “Isn't it okay? Just like when kids play with dirt they get used to the microbes and this kind of thing to have a better immune system?” But the human lung wasn't designed to get stronger with particulates in it, it's just not designed that way. - Jon Holmes 

Air quality index is based on six compounds called criteria air pollutants, particulate matter, particularly the PM 2.5. They are all really worrisome because when you're breathing these gases, they're so permanently damaging to your lungs. And in fact, with ozone they will call it getting a sunburn for your lungs. - Jennifer Webb 

To put the numbers in perspective, in terms of AQI of say 150. That's equivalent to smoking seven cigarettes. based on standing outside for that entire period of time. In New York City, the AQI was 300, so that's 14 Cigarettes worth of particulate just by exposing yourself to the outdoors. - Jon Holmes 

Instead of snow days in Canada, you end up with smoke days in California, where everybody's just canceling activities for the common good of the people. - Jennifer Webb 

Making your workplace a clean indoor air shelter is good for business. It's great for people, but it's also good for profit, because you're gonna have happier, healthier workers that can certainly do a better job. - Jon Holmes 

Using a filter that's got higher capacity is an investment, but they can make it through a wildfire season if they've got a high enough capacity filter. - Jennifer Webb 

#wildfires #mervfilter #cleanair #airquality #particulatematter