If you’re really serious about air quality
Let’s say you are an environmentalist, and you insist that somehow San Joaquin Valley farmers are responsible for the persistent pollution with which we are plagued. You demand that farmers spend more money on pollution control.
But you, Mr., Mrs. or Miss Environmentalist, do nothing except gripe and file lawsuits. You’ve already done all you can do, you say, by complaining.
Well, maybe not. Here are some things you can do that will really help, not necessarily in order of importance:
+ Park your SUVs, your Cadillacs, your Lincolns, your Lexuses, and your pickups — unless you use the pickups for actual work. Instead, buy vehicles that get 30 miles a gallon.
+ Back a law that will require closure of all drive-through windows, thus saving huge amounts of fuel.
+ Don’t turn on your air conditioners unless it is 90 degrees or more outside. Inside your building, leave the thermostat at 88 degrees. Just that one change will lower air pollution significantly by reducing demand for electricity produced by burning fossil fuel.
+ Turn off your computers, unless you are using them for work. Computers suck energy, and will continue to suck even more. Most time on computers is spent for amusement. Amuse yourself some other way.
+ Turn off your television unless it is a 17-inch black-and-white model. The newer televisions use lots more electricity than the old ones did.
+ Unscrew half your light bulbs.
+ Stop sprinkling your lawn. Less water will have to be pumped.
If you don’t want to do any of these things, then hope that new nuclear power plants are built soon. They don’t produce greenhouse gases.
