First Day of Summer Brings With it First Spare the Air Day

Today, Tuesday, June 21, 2011, is the first  Spare the Air Day in the San Francisco Bay Area this year.  Concentrations of ground-level ozone pollution are forecast to be unhealthy today. 

Automobile exhaust is the single largest source of air pollution in the Bay Area, according to Kristine Roselius of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. "There are usually between 3 million and 4 million cars per day on Bay Area roads," she said.  "There are 5.2 million cars registered in the nine county Bay Area region."

Hot temperatures and light winds will combine to produce poor air quality for the Bay Area today.
 
To help prevent smog:
 

— Carpool or vanpool with friends or co-workers
— Take public transportation
— Telecommute
— Link necessary trips and postpone errands if possible
 

"We always encourage people to use alternative modes of transportation," said Roselius.  "We definitely recommend bicycling.  It's one of the features on the new iPhone app, a bike route mapper."

To plan your commute by alternative modes, visit 511.org.
 

Visit the Apple App Store to download the free Spare the Air iPhone application for alert notifications, local air quality forecasts, podcasts and several tools to help reduce air pollution.

To monitor current air quality conditions, visit www.sparetheair.org.