After Weeks of Wildfire Smoke, California is Encouraging You to Take the Clean Air Pledge

Pasadena residents can do a lot to help improve the air quality in the City and throughout the state by taking the Clean Air Pledge and doing the most common things, especially on Tuesday, October 7, California Clean Air Day.

A project of the Coalition for Clean Air, California Clean Air Day is built on the idea that shared experiences can unite people to action to improve community health.

“By joining together for a unified day of action we can create new habits to clear the air for all members of California’s diverse communities,” the Coalition said in a statement on the California Clean Air Day website. “Whether you’re an individual, business, government agency or nonprofit organization, there are things we all can do to improve air quality and protect public health. In a state with some of the worst air pollution in the United States, it is imperative that we do.”

According to the Coalition for Clean Air, California achieved some of the cleanest air in the country for a brief period in March. After the Independence Day holiday, the state recorded some of the worst air quality in the United States. The recent wildfires, including the Bobcat Fire, blanketed most of Pasadena with smoke for several weeks, worsening the air quality in the City.

For Clean Air Day, the Coalition for Clean Air has published its Clean Air Pledge online, hoping everyone anywhere can observe such simple tasks as changing or cleaning your home air filter, replacing gas-powered yard tools with electric- or hand-powered tools, planting a tree or starting a home garden, or helping reduce vehicle emissions by leaving the car at home and walking or biking to the store or the nearest transit stop.

Visitors to the Clean Air Day website will see a list of the tasks that can be done to help clean the air, and are encouraged to submit a list of other things that are not listed but can help the campaign.

The tasks are grouped into what individuals, kids and organizations can do to help.

For more information, visit www.cleanairday.org/pledge.