Bay Area Air Quality Plan Advocates Low Carbon Diet
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has adopted a sweeping new air quality and climate plan that has the agency thinking way beyond Spare the Air Days. The plan called Spare the Air - Cool the Climate would like to advise Bay Area residents on what to put on the table.
The aim is to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gasses with a $4.5 million effort over the next several years. That means more than asking Bay Area residents to carpool on hot days. The BAAQMD is asking everyone to consider adopting a low-carbon lifestyle: drive electric cars, convert homes to zero net energy, buy low carbon goods and services, and eat low carbon foods. A vegan lifestyle would cut down on the high carbon-producing meat industry.
And there's more -- Spare the Air - Cool the Climate envisions the following by 2050:
- Energy-efficient buildings that are heated, cooled, and powered by renewable energy.
- A transportation network made up of electric vehicles, autonomous public transit, and more use of bicycling, walking, and transit.
- The Bay Area powered by clean, renewable energy and a leading producer of clean energy technology.
- Less waste, more recycling, and more compost.
Executive officer Jack Broadbent called the plan "visionary."
"Reducing air pollution and greenhouse gases is everyone's responsibility. How we live and travel, what we buy, how we heat our homes, and what we consume all impact air quality, our health and produce greenhouse gases that impact our planet and ultimately, our quality of life," Broadbent said in a recent press release.
The BAAQMD produced a video to explain the plan.
