smog

We live close enough to campus that we both walk in every day. We walk baby girl to daycare, walk to the gym and the grocery store, and even live close enough that I walk the dogs to the vet. We have a car, for emergencies (like when I was miserably sick last week) and for longer trips, but since we've been here, I think we've used it about once a week. We've discussed going completely car-free, for both economic and environmental reasons, but with a baby, have decided it is safest to keep it.

I'd like to maintain this type of commuting anywhere we move, although we might add bicycling (it isn't safe to bike with the baby yet).

I'm just not sure how to convince other people that this kind of commuting is best. Maybe this warning message we received today would help:

Tomorrow, Friday, September 2, is a Spare the Air Day in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Concentrations of ground-level ozone pollution are forecast to be unhealthy tomorrow. Hot temperatures and light winds will combine to produce poor air quality for the Bay Area.

To help prevent smog tomorrow, please:

- Carpool or vanpool with friends or co-workers
- Take public transportation
- Telecommute -- work from home instead of driving to work
- Link necessary trips and postpone errands if possible

To plan your commute online, visit 511.org.

To monitor current air quality conditions, visit http://www.sparetheair.org