New Escape-Room Exhibit Challenges New Rochelle to Crack the Code on Air Quality

Free, all-ages escape room puzzle experience at the New Rochelle Public Library teaches about air quality. Sep. 8-26. Reception on Sept. 14 at 5pm.

NEW ROCHELLE, NY, UNITED STATES, September 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- What if learning about air pollution felt less like reading a report and more like cracking an escape room?

September 10, the Energy Justice Law & Policy Center (EJLPC) and New Rochelle escape room Hour to Exit open “Air of Truth: Escape the T.R.A.P. at the New Rochelle Public Library.” It is a free, self-guided exhibit that turns local air-quality data into a 15-minute puzzle challenge for all ages. It runs until September 26th. Visit during Library Hours.

Visitors pick up an Air Quality Field Report and work through four hands-on stations — T for Traffic, R for Respiratory, A for Air Monitoring and P for Prevention — following clues and uncovering hidden code letters as they go. The goal: raise the city's air-quality grade in the game from a D-minus to an A-plus and “escape the T.R.A.P.”

The puzzles are built from real local conditions. New Rochelle sits roughly 500 feet from Interstate 95, and cars, trucks and buses are the largest source of air pollution in the community. Visitors trace code letters through a traffic jam, turn a hand crank to reveal what fine particles do inside the body, search air-monitoring drums for hidden evidence, use a “Field Sensor” to find pollution hotspots on a map of New Rochelle, and finish by adding a clean-air promise to a community pledge tree.

“Air pollution is invisible, and that makes it easy to ignore,” said Raya Salter, Esq., Founder and Executive Director of EJLPC. “An escape room makes it fun. People walk in curious about a puzzle and walk out understanding what the data says about the air on their own street.”

A CAMPAIGN, NOT JUST AN EXHIBIT
Escape the T.R.A.P. is the newest public-facing chapter of Air of Truth, EJLPC's campaign to unmask poor air quality in Westchester. The campaign began with New Rochelle High School students who translated state air-quality data into art, and has grown to include block-by-block mobile monitoring in New Rochelle, Mount Vernon and Yonkers that produced a far more detailed picture of traffic-related pollution across southern Westchester.

The exhibit also marks the next phase of that work. Through Clean Air New Rochelle, EJLPC is partnering with the City of New Rochelle to establish a NYS funded 3community-informed air-monitoring network in neighborhoods carrying high pollution burdens, including the I-95/LINC corridor. The network is designed to establish baseline conditions and track air quality before, during and after The LINC — the City's project to convert a stretch of Memorial Highway into a linear park and local street reconnecting the Lincoln Avenue neighborhood to downtown, the train station and the library.

The exhibit is free and requires no registration. All visitor materials — including the Air Quality Field Report and a self-guided audio tour accessible by QR code — are available in English and Spanish.

"Escape rooms are all about curiosity, discovery and solving problems together. We loved bringing that experience to Air of Truth and creating a fun way for people of all ages to explore a serious issue affecting our own community." Brittney Coleman, Hour to Exit

“New Rochelle’s air quality monitoring network will give us important insight into the air we breathe. This exhibit brings that data to life, helping residents better understand local air quality and how we can continue building a healthy, sustainable and thriving city.” New Rochelle Economic Dev. Commish. Adam Salgado

“The New Rochelle Public Library is a place where people come to learn,explore and discover something new", said Eugenia Schatoff, Executive Director, New Rochelle Public Library. "Air of Truth brings those things together in a fun, interactive experience that helps our community learn more about the air we breathe.”

VISIT AIR OF TRUTH: ESCAPE THE T.R.A.P.
Where: New Rochelle Public Library, 1 Library Plaza, New Rochelle, NY 10801
When: September 8–26, 2026 · during regular Library Hours
Admission: Free · All ages · Self-guided · About 15 minutes
Languages: Field report, wall text and audio guide available in English and Spanish
Reception: Sep. 14 at 5-7pm
More information: https://www.ejlpc.org/trap
www.AirOfTruth.org

Air of Truth: Escape the T.R.A.P. is presented by the Energy Justice Law & Policy Center and Hour to Exit and hosted by the New Rochelle Public Library.

Raya Salter
Energy Justice Law and Policy Center
raya@ejlpc.org
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ESCAPE THE TRAP!