Facebook page calls for greener country and spurs action in Valley

PHOENIX - Thursday has been declared No Gas Day by a Facebook group powered by 1.8 million people around the country.

The boycott hopes to keep participants away from their cars and gas pumps, according to the Facebook page started by Sarah Thompson in Greensboro, North Carolina.

On the Facebook page, Thompson writes the event is not meant to bring down gas prices. Rather, it's meant to create change and a united front against “greedy” commodity holders.

“Let's be the nation of innovators that we are and come up with something better,” Thompson writes.

One Valley green innovator is Clean Air Cab, a locally owned and operated cab service, founded by Steve Lopez, certified as Arizona’s only Clean Air Cab fleet.

Blake Smith, director of quality for Clean Air Cab, says he hopes people will use the cab service in lieu of their own vehicles on the impromptu holiday.

Smith says that by using the service, the public can create more change than they know.

“Every time someone steps into our cab, they are helping our environment,” said Smith.

Smith said the company also purchases carbon offsets and support global reforestation by subsidizing the planting of 10 rainforest trees per car in service a month in Brazil.

Smith said that to date, they have planted close to 5,000 trees.

In the Valley, they also plant trees for a group called Trees for Tempe .

Smith said Clean Air Cab employees that are participating in No Gas Day can take the Metro Light Rail because the company’s office is just down the street from the Sycamore/Main station.

Arizona State University student Alec Horne is also planning to observe the day on Thursday. He said he will use the Tempe Orbit bus system and his long board to get to campus.

Horne said he heard about the No Gas Day through Facebook about two weeks ago, and that he hopes to continue using mass transit on a daily basis. He's lucky, he said, because everything he does is accessible through light-rail, the bus or walking.

To join the Facebook group No Gas Day click here . For information on Clean Air Cab click here .

Here are some other green resources:

Phoenix Green Chamber of Commerce

Green Living AZ Magazine

ASU's School of Sustianability

Valley Metro