Spare The Air Day(s)

The fourth Spare the Air Day of the season was called for Thursday as hot, stagnant air remained in the Bay Area.

After going most of the summer without a Spare the Air day, the Bay Area is having its third in less than two weeks.
With ozone levels in the air expected to approach unhealthy levels today, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District declared a Spare the Air day for the region.
The agency encourages people on Spare the Air days to take bikes, public transit or carpools instead of driving solo, to cook indoors rather than barbecue, and to avoid using aerosol sprays and gas-powered gardening equipment.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/01/BA4A1F6ETS.DTL&type=science#ixzz0yKxo4lwW

 San Fransisco promotes another Spare the Air Day today. The aspirations of this tradition seems to be a great idea just before the traveling weekend coming up, especially as drivers start to ravage the roads. It is reported that this weekend traveling is going up 11% so people can head to cooler areas.

The travel organization projects that 3.5 million Californians will drive to their destinations over the three-day weekend. Roughly 315,000 will fly, and 170,000 will use a train, bus or boat.

 The negative aspects are inevitable this weekend, so it is fortunate that the Bay Area is promoting green thinking. As Thomas Friedman says in the introduction of Hot, Flat, and Crowded, it is becoming increasingly important to diminish the threat of global warming. Save the Air Day is one idea that will hopefully contribute to the end of our unhealthy reliance on energy.