In Bay Area, San Jose, the federal government has set a fine particle health standard that restricts how much wood you can burn. The government claims that this standard will help reduce air polluting particles which are related to triggering asthma and emphysema attacks that can lead to heart attack. A program called Spare the Air has been set into place to promote the reduction of wood burning in Bay Area. There is controversy over the rule of outlawing wood fires because many people use wood burning to heat their homes and they believe that burning wood doesn’t pollute the air. The Spare the Air program attempts to inform these people that wood burning does pollute the air and wood burning should be restricted during declared Spare the Air days. With the Spare the Air program in place, wood smoke has continued to decrease in the region. This season, the district cited 178 burn violators. This number is far lower than the previous seasons 234 violators, and the two seasons before that with 359 violations, showing successful outcomes of the program.
Putting a regulated requirement on wood burning fires helps to reduce air pollution. Bay Area’s Spare the Air program has taken a step forward in controlling air quality. The program should try to focus on expanding across regions and hopefully gain national attention in order to spread the awareness of air pollution problems. This article provides reader with a graph on the number of violators over the past few years in Bay Area, San Jose. A graph helps the reader to become more familiar with and better understand the content of the article. Most people probably do not consider that burning something as natural as wood would cause any danger in air quality. That is why the Spare the Air program should expand across the country and spread their message.
Carly Taylor
March 7, 2013
10:25 PM
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_22733386/how-much-smoke-pollution-did-we-create-during
