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District launching 'culture changing' clean-air campaign
| Wednesday, Apr 2 2008 5:26 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Apr 3 2008 7:25 AM
Did you calculate tailpipe emissions when you bought your last car? Did you consider the distance from work when you bought that new home?
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Spare the Air days were called when air quality was expected to be unhealthy. Residents were asked to avoid pollution-creating activities on these days.
Healthy Air Living seeks to get people to make air quality a priority in their daily decisions.
San Joaquin Valley air officials will launch a campaign this summer aimed at getting people to make air quality a priority in their longterm and day-to-day decisions.
The Healthy Air Living program will target individuals, businesses and organizations with information and resources on how to cut the amount of air pollution they create.
For example, the district wants people to consider that a hybrid or fuel-efficient vehicle is better for the air than a large SUV when they buy a new car.
“We live in a valley struggling with pollution and individual choices make an impact,” said San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District spokeswoman Brenda Turner. “Often when people buy a vehicle, the air pollution aspect is not a concern but we’re asking them to make that a priority.”
The program replaces the air district's long-running Spare the Air program, which discouraged polluting activities like excessive driving and mowing the lawn on days when air pollution was expected to be bad. There were six Spare the Air days last year.
The district thinks it can get better air quality gains under the new initiative.
“Spare the Air was mostly an education and outreach program,” said Seyed Sadredin, air district executive director. “This will ultimately be a year-round, culture changing initiative.”
A major focus of the program will be getting people to cut down on driving. During a week-long awareness campaign from July 7 to 13, the district will encourage people to try the bus, a bike or carpool to get to work.
Kern County drivers combined traveled more than 22 million miles daily in 2006, up from 18 million miles a day a decade ago, according to the Kern Council of Governments.
Vehicle exhaust is responsible for about 75 percent of the air pollution in Kern County, according to the air district.
Businesses will also be asked to do their part and encourage carpools and telecommuting, or build showers and lockers for those who bike to work. The district also wants companies, local governments and churches to consider longterm strategies like buying clean vehicles for fleets and hiring ‘green’ contracting.
Some have already started.
Kern County last year mandated that clean and fuel-efficient vehicles be considered when buying replacements for its 2,700-vehicle fleet.
Chevron and local correctional facilities already operate employee vanpools. Tejon Ranch is working on one to shuttle workers from Bakersfield to its industrial complex near the base of the Grapevine, which employs about 1,000 people.
Project Coordinator Jake Sill said an informal survey of workers there found 70 percent were interested in sharing the commute.
“The question is how many are really going to do it but that’s still a high percentage of people that want it,” Sill said.
The air district will post tools and resources on how to curb air pollution in the coming months on the Web site www.healthyairliving.com.