Happy New Year! As we cheerfully welcome 2024, we recognize today as International Self-Care Day. While caring for our health and well-being remains essential, this year, let’s stretch that definition of self-care further to encompass care for our environment, specifically our air quality.
Resolutions are not just personal goals and milestones we set for ourselves; they can be targets that benefit our collective good, our society, and our planet. This year, why not commit to doing your part for cleaner air and better air quality? In addition to benefiting the planet, contributing to a healthier environment will also serve our physical health, making this resolution an essential self-care activity.
Vehicle emissions remain one of the top pollutants in Utah’s air. Therefore, a straightforward resolution could be making efforts to reduce your vehicle emissions. We have some ideas to get you thinking! Start a carpool club with colleagues in your neighborhood or friends whose children attend the same school. Besides decreasing pollution, carpooling will help save money on gas, create social time, and reduce traffic congestion.
Alternatively, consider embracing public transit as your regular mode of transportation. This change might require you to plan your outings in advance or wake up a bit earlier, but the reduction in your carbon footprint will be significant.
If public transit isn’t an option or driving is a necessity for you, an easy way to reduce emissions is to work on reducing idle time for your car. Leaving your vehicle running unnecessarily, like when you are waiting in the pickup line or drive-through, leads to harmful exhaust emissions and wasted fuel. In addition to reduced idling, maintain optimal working conditions for your car’s emission system and choose eco-friendly products whenever possible to reduce emissions further.
Contributing to cleaner air and a healthier environment isn’t just a selfless act; it benefits each of us by safeguarding our health and the health of future generations. So, as we step into this brand-new year, let’s embrace resolutions for self-care, where ‘self’ means not just you and me but our wider community and all living beings sharing this one world we inhabit together. Here’s to more clean air and blue skies in 2024!
