The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is waving a red flag about air quality for locals of San Antonio, designating Saturday, June 8 as an Ozone Action Day due to conditions ripe for producing higher than pleasant ozone pollution levels.
According to Metro Health’s alert, this makes it the second such advisory of the year, and while the warning is up, the agency suggests that groups including young children, the elderly, and those battling respiratory issues such as asthma or emphysema should really think twice before stepping out where they could face breathing difficulties. It's strongly advised for these individuals to stay inside and limit their exposure to the potentially harmful air as much as possible.
To mitigate the ozone offense, residents and businesses are nudged toward practices that should, in theory, help clear the air, such as refraining from pumping gas into vehicles until after the sun sets or choosing to go inside to order takeout instead of idling away time (and contributing to the air quality issue) at the drive-thru.
An additional batch of friendly suggestions from Metro Health notes the simple tweaks that can go a long way, such as turning off the engines instead of idling and tweaking thermostats a notch or two up during peak hot hours; thinking of 78 degrees as the gold standard for energy conservation; moreover, they challenge the community to embrace carpooling or public transport as a way to stifle the single-occupancy vehicle dominance on the roads; and they're big proponents of batching errands to cut down on unnecessary trips back and forth, which can really add up in terms of emissions.
It might seem like a yawning list of to-dos, but Metro Health insists on community action to improve air quality, all while conserving some of that precious energy. For those interested in going a smog-filled mile further, more details about ozone and what everyone can do about it can be found directly on Metro Health’s website.
