For those of you who read my blog posts regularly, you might realize pretty quickly that I’m a huge fan of the San Francisco Bay Area, especially the lovely East Bay.
For those of you who don’t share my level of affection for this beautiful slice of earth, you are probably not living here. (If you do live here, however, and don’t agree with me, you really need to get out more. I can also guarantee that if you move anywhere else, you will suddenly realize how wonderful the Bay Area is.)
Okay, so most of us love living here. There is a lot to tout when it comes to the San Francisco Bay Area, but it takes me hearing about a bottle of clean air selling for $860 in China to appreciate one of the most subtle, yet important parts of this area – the clean air! Great water and perfect weather are other “subtle” factors that can be taken for granted here but are literally priceless.
Interested in buying a breath of fresh air?
Artist Liang Kegang from Beijing captured fresh air in a jar during a trip to France and sold it at an auction as a statement about the horrendous quality of air in Beijing.
“Air should be the most valueless commodity, free to breathe for any vagrant or beggar,” Liang Kegang told the AP. “This is my way to question China’s foul air and express my dissatisfaction.”
But as I read further I realized that $860 is a bit steep for bottled fresh air in China, most go for around $0.80.
Yes, you heard that right, Kegang isn’t the only one using this “technique” to promote awareness of the severity of China’s air pollution problems.
In fact in 2013, Chinese multimillionaire Chen Guangbiao started selling canned air in flavors like “Pristine Tibet” as part of a very creative, and successful PR strategy. Some question whether the motive was completely altruistic or whether profit was an incentive for Guangbiao, who has sold over 8 million cans, but he has stated that all of the money will be donated to charity.
“With now daily reports that the smog levels in Beijing are frequently literally off the charts, it was only a matter of time before some aspiring Chinese entrepreneur decided to provide a much demanded product: clean air.”
With approximately 8 million people, the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. Most of the others rank high on air pollution index charts, but the Bay Area is consistently one of the least polluted. And we are getting even better!
Since California is the 5th largest economy in the world, we have our fair share of pollutants and it’s a constant battle to keep them in check and keep our air clean. There are many private and public organizations that work hard to make this happen every day.
“The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is the public agency entrusted with regulating stationary sources of air pollution in the nine counties that surround San Francisco Bay: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, southwestern Solano, and southern Sonoma counties.
But managing air quality in the region requires constant effort and vigilance, as the agency keeps pace with an ever-increasing population and traffic base, and the continual evolution of industrial technologies. The District must also work to meet health-protective air quality standards that are periodically strengthened by the state and federal governments.”
Of course, we as residents are also responsible – and I think we are perhaps the most caring group of educated environmentalists a city can ask. For instance, I have a “spare the air” app on my iPhone. I usually go along with it all, but I might or might not have blown it off one Christmas day…I can neither confirm nor deny – but, come on! It was Christmas Day!
WATER
And now that I’m thinking about it, we have fantastic quality water here, too! This is yet another essential, priceless part of life that is amazing in the San Francisco Bay Area – and something we tend to take for granted.
Growing up in Carmel, you would think we would have had clean clear water, but it was only once I moved up north that I realized how hard that water was! Yes, it was healthy and safe to drink, which is a lot more than many places in the world have, unfortunately. But it wasn’t as perfect as the San Francisco Bay Area’s water. Carmel’s was very hard water -minerally and yucky. I’m going to blame any bad hair days I had then on the terrible water. Yes, okay, it was the 70’s, too – but just hush up about that part.
WEATHER
Not only do we have healthy air and great water, the San Francisco Bay Area also has perfect weather. It really doesn’t get any better than this unless you are one of the people who “like the seasons” and want “snow for Christmas.” To those people I’m willing to bet you haven’t tried living “without the seasons.” It’s not too shabby to be able to enjoy going outside 365 days a year and no need to bundle up from head toe and shovel your driveway before you go anywhere.
And if you live in the Bay Area and really want snow just drive a few hours north to Tahoe in the winter or fly somewhere for a white Christmas and come back to sunny California to thaw off.
Living here in the perfect San Francisco East Bay, I forget it’s even necessary to check the weather in other places. This is a problem when I am on vacation, for instance, and suddenly our beach plans get interrupted by a massive rainstorm. Then it dawns on me that we were the only ones on the beach because other people had checked the weather. They came from places where the weatherman and weather channel are still needed and used.
We are incredibly lucky to live in the only place in the world (okay, maybe parts of Italy too) where you don’t need to constantly check the weather or worry about plans being ruined by the weather. San Francisco is the only exception in the entire Bay Area; you might have to adjust outdoor plans based on whether the fog has burned off or not. The rest of the Bay Area to the North, East, and South is easy: around 60-70 degrees and sunny.
I was recently Instagramming a guy from NY who is on vacation in Hawaii, and he was dreading going home. With our year round beautiful weather, great drinking water and clean air, coming home to the San Francisco Bay Area is a real pleasure!