Today is a 'Spare the Air' Day

Today is the fifth Spare the Air Day health alert for 2011. Air quality in the Bay Area is forecast to be unhealthy today.

"Due to the amount of air pollution we generate daily by driving and from other sources, unhealthy levels of smog are expected to accompany high temperatures,” said Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the Air District.  “We urge Bay Area residents to make clean air choices like driving less."

Motor vehicle exhaust, gasoline vapors, industrial emissions and household chemicals contain chemicals that combine with oxygen, heat and sunlight to form ground-level ozone. Breathing ozone can cause throat irritation, congestion and chest pain. It can trigger asthma, inflame the lining of the lungs and worsen bronchitis and emphysema.

High levels of ozone pollution are particularly harmful for young children, seniors and those with respiratory and heart conditions. Vigorous outdoor exercise should be undertaken only in the early morning hours when ozone concentrations are lower. The Air District issues Spare the Air Alerts whenever air quality is forecast to reach unhealthy concentrations.

A list of simple things the public can do to make clean air choices every day:

• Bike to work or around town
• Take public transit
• Work at home or telecommute
• Carpool and link your errands to reduce driving
• Avoid using gas-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers
• Reduce household energy use
• Don’t use lighter fluid on the barbecue
• Avoid using aerosol spray cleaners, paints and hairspray

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (www.baaqmd.gov) is the regional agency responsible for protecting air quality in the Bay Area. For more information about Spare the Air, visit www.sparetheair.org.

MEETINGS:

Tuesday: The Park, Recreation, Marina and Cultural Commission meets at 7 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 525 Henrietta St.

Wednesday: The Veterans Commission meets at 4:30 p.m. in the 2nd Floor Board Room, City Hall, 525 Henrietta St.

Wednesday: The City Council meets at 7 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 525 Henrietta St.

EVENTS:

TODAY IN HISTORY:

1778 - The Continental Congress passes the first budget of the United States.

1957 - First American underground nuclear bomb test (part of Operation Plumbbob).

1959 - Nikita Khrushchev is barred from visiting Disneyland due to security concerns.

1961 - Betty and Barney Hill claim that they saw a mysterious craft in the sky and that it tried to abduct them.

1976 - Two Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom II jets fly out to investigate an unidentified flying object when both independently lose instrumentation and communications as they approach, only to have them restored upon withdrawal.

1981 - Simon & Garfunkel reunite for a free concert in New York's Central Park.

1985 - Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa and other musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music.

1991 - Ötzi the Iceman is discovered by German tourists.

1995 - The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber's manifesto.

2010 - The leaking oil well in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is sealed.