Arvin, located at the base of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, has earned national recognition for having some of the worst air quality in the country. Arvin is a small agricultural community of 19,000 located 15 miles southeast of Bakersfield. Residents talk about the high incidences of asthma and valley fever in their city, which is 90 percent Latino.

In 2007, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed Arvin as having the highest levels of smog of any community in the United States. The city's level of ozone, smog's primary component, exceeded the EPA's acceptable limits an average of 73 days per year between 2004 and 2006.

Concerns became even more critical in October 12, 2011 when federal officials opened an investigation into the death of two workers, who were exposed to lethal concentrations of hydrogen sulfide at the Community Recycling Center near Arvin. A month later, The Kern County Board of Supervisors revoked the recycling facility permit and fined the facility with at least $2.33 million for land use and related violations at its Lamont composting facility.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC), it has been reported that 170 parts per million (ppm) to 300 ppm is the maximum concentration that can be endured by people for 1 hour without serious consequences. Olfactory fatigue, the inability to discern odors, occurs at 100 ppm. The two brothers had recently complained to family members about strong odors at the facility and that they had been given only painters’ masks to protect them from the fumes, the newspaper reported.

Members of various Kern county community groups, including the Committee for a Better Arvin (CBA), the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment (CRPE), Dolores Huerta Foundation have partnered with The Rose Foundation for Communities & The Environment and Global Community Monitor to design a community specific monitoring program.  Through this air monitoring project, the residents of Arvin and nearby communities hope to improve air quality through policy changes in favor of environmental health and justice.

Middle of December 2011, a toxic tour was conducted around the outskirts of the controversial Lamont composting facility. Members of the Arvin Bucket Brigade and concerned local residents tried to describe the area's foul-smelling odors, they all agreed that the smell was feces. The group took the first gas sample at this site and scoped out seven other area locations that may be included in future testing.

In January, The first Arvin Bucket Brigade air sample confirmed community concerns about the dangers of a troubled recycling and composting facility.  The test showed elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic chemical at the center of the investigation of the two worker deaths at the Community Recycling and Resource Recovery Facility.

The official Bucket Brigade training, provided by Global Community Monitor, was conducted from on February 12, 2012.