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Far more than any other state, California has been a leader in protecting the right to breathe clean air. Californians pioneered smoke-free restaurants and bars, workplaces and enclosed public spaces. These rules are based, in part, on the notion that the air is a public resource that belongs to all of us.
This principle also applies to industrial and automotive-derived air pollution in the state.
Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we are blessed with the cleanest air of any major urbanized area in the United States. We take custody of this clean air temporarily as it migrates inland from the Pacific, and we have a responsibility to keep it clean.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District, policymakers and residents of the nine counties in the region take this responsibility seriously. We have some of the most stringent industrial pollution standards in the nation. And we intend to do everything we can to keep it that way.
President Bush's recent proposal to interfere with California's right to impose stricter air quality requirements could be a giant step backward in our mission to clean the air. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is working with other air districts, policymakers and legislators in the state to keep California's air quality programs intact.
But the reality is that government alone will not solve all air quality problems. As residents, we can reduce our own use of automobiles by carpooling, planning trips more efficiently (such as by combining multiple auto trips into one), using public transit and limiting use of our fireplaces.
We must do everything we can to minimize our own negative impact on air quality. In Santa Clara County, 11 of our 15 cities have adopted a wood smoke ordinance that reduces air pollution from fireplaces in new (and in some remodeled) homes. The county has also adopted the ordinance "in concept." That's a step forward for air quality and for preserving our quality of life.
Choosing to drive a low emission car is another way to help. Our mass transit systems, higher rates of carpooling and greater voluntary participation rates in the Spare the Air programs are helping to improve our air quality, but more people have to join the clean air effort.
All of us here in the Bay Area can and should spare the air while it is briefly in our custody. We need to remember that somewhere, someone else will breathe everything we put into it. Let's work together to maintain air quality and ensure that every Bay Area resident can enjoy clean, healthy air.
Julia Miller is the mayor of Sunnyvale and a member of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District's board of directors.
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