There's hardly a day that Rodriguez, a Rose Park mother of two, doesn't think about the environment.

She thinks about it when she drives by a refinery near her home, when there's a cloud of pollution hanging over the city and when her youngest child's allergies act up.

And like most environmentalists, she complains - a lot - about other people not doing their part.

"Mostly to myself," she said.

Next week, the Utah Society for Environmental Education (USEE) will begin looking for west-side residents like Rodriguez to take part in a research project about how air quality affects low-income and minority communities, how these residents perceive air quality and how they keep informed about the city's good and bad air days.

"I think it's good they're doing that, because we have opinions," Rodriguez said. "There are lots of people [on the west side] who want to know how to improve the environment."

From July 7 to 30, west-side residents who want to express their opinions can have their say in a two-page survey, printed in English, Spanish and Tongan. Members of USEE plan to compare information from more than 200 surveys distributed at community centers, including some in Glendale, Rose Park, West Point (in Davis County), and at the West Valley Farmers Market.

The organization will release results in September. To do the survey, USEE received a $20,000 environmental justice grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. The grant allows the group to gather information but not to implement programs, said USEE's executive director Jennifer Visitacion. However, the information can later be used to tailor messages to a diverse Salt Lake population, which includes the city's west side.

"Oftentimes, public education toward the environment has been targeted toward the dominant culture," Visitacion said.

West side residents are interested in recycling, and in using public transportation to improve the air, Rodriguez said, and they're concerned about the refineries and other businesses that pollute their neighborhoods.

Bill Afeaki, of the State Office of Pacific Islander Affairs, said there's little data in the state about how minorities receive and act on information about the environment.

"I think many of our ethnic minorities are preoccupied with survival, with meeting mortgages, with earning more income, housing, health issues but they can't ignore environmental issues," he said.

Colyn Kilmer of USEE said the west side was chosen because of the minority populations that live in the area and because of the industrial pollutants near them.

"They may have a harder time combating environmental problems," she said. "I would imagine that it [the survey] could be a tool for educating people . . . if people decide that there's an air quality problem, it will enable them to reach out and report problems. It's basically to empower themselves if they feel there's a problem."

rguidos@sltrib.com