Update on air quality
Hmmm... In checking with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (both their website and a representative) I have been assured that the air over the SF bay is currently pretty clean. Here is the five-day forecast that is updated every day.
The representative I spoke with (should have gotten his name!) even claimed that our air is currently "the cleanest it's been for 25 years."
Well, the cynic in me is trying to find a second opinion from a non-governmental agency, but until then, perhaps, indeed, it is not a new crisis in Bay Area air quality.
Meanwhile, here are ten tips on how best to spare our air with your personal choices.
Two that I'd like to highlight:
- 7. Refuse to use aerosol. I thought that the ozone depleting aerosols were banned - but apparently either I was in error, or they still emit VOCs even after being re-designed to not harm the ozone in whatever other way they harmed it. @#$%^. I need to do more research, but I am very frustrated to find out that a product I thought had been made environmentally safe, still isn't.
- 10. Do your garden chores gasoline-free. This one is a change I'd love to see - whether we do our own gardening or pay someone else to do it, I'd like to propose that it's just not worth the pollution to use a gasoline-powered leaf blower.
In my little utopian vision of the world, a little clutter/dirt/germs/stray leaves are a welcome tradeoff for cleaner air and a safer environment.
Thoughts?
photo from http://www.bigfoto.com/