Tedra Cheatham, executive director of The Clean Air Campaign, told Roswell Rotarians that “green is the new black” at the Rotary regular meeting July 19.

“There is a huge shift going on, and whether you know it or not, it is happening,” she said of a mental shift to going green.

The Clean Air Campaign is a nonprofit organization that works with the Georgia Department of Transportation to encourage solutions for traffic congestion and air quality challenges.

“Things are happening, they just happen a little more slowly,” Cheatham said.

Atlanta is looking into a possible bike-share program for its citizens, and some young adults are either driving less or putting off getting their drivers license in order to reduce that pollution, Cheatham said.

“Even with these things shifting, a lot of us don’t know what our role is,” she said. “When you talk about recycling or putting added insulation in some of those things, people say it’s too hard.”

It’s the little things that add up, she said, and there are easy ways for people to save little bits of energy here and there to combine and make a big difference.

A couple suggestions were to turn off gaming consoles when not in use and turning off the water when brushing teeth.

“Those are little things that each of us can do,” she said.

Other suggestions were to carpool as often as possible, but for those who cannot do so on a regular basis just one day every couple weeks could make a difference. She also suggested holding off on refueling cars until after 6 p.m.

“Fumes escape and those mixed with heat, especially in the summer, help produce some of those smog and ozone problems that we have,” Cheatham said. “If you just wait until after 6, even though it’s still hot right then there’s not as much sunlight for it to combine with, and if everyone waited until after 6 we could start seeing significant increase in our air quality.”

Information: www.cleanaircampaign.org.