Report: Air pollution 100 times lower during Yom Kippur

They still took a break every Shabbat.

Just keep shabbat.Simply do what Jews have done on Shabbat and stop doing everything Jews stop doing every week.Simple, easy and fulfilling.And ever more relevant in this day and age.

Stop DOING and concentrate on BEING. An old Jewish recipe for not letting technology kill us.

There is ample room to do so. It is called Shabbat and is an age-old Jewish invention that works and is surprisingly relevant to ecological needs. Taking a once a week break from technology, known as melacha, makes perfect sense and is as modern a need as any.

Dan, Israel is only a small country and has not enough space for nature and city/car free areas. Where can Israeli's go to escape the pollution ? Not many options here, the Negev?. In the US of A it is easy to get away from urban live and enjoy nature and fresh air, not in Israel.

I am not sure there is another country where the whole employed upper middle class drives around in company cars, not being charged extra for the gas they use. Most people I talk to seem to see absolutely no point in saving gas, since it doesn't cost them anything anyway. In fact, once you have a company car, it's cheaper to drive than to take the train, so of course you drive! It's just sad. People are only educated through the wallet. Get rid of this tax break, and don't allow companies to pay in any way for the way to work and back otherwise there's no incentive to share cars or move closer.

Cor, Perhaps not a bad idea if you'd return your country of origin in order to live longer, by creating a better environment for your lungs? Living in Israel has its advantages, such as warmer climate, delicious food, and social life is better too compared to Northern European countries. Air quality in Israel is worse even than where I live amidst petro chemical industries (Europoort/Rotterdam). I wish you all the best anyway, regardless of where you choose to live.

You do not need to shut down the economy to have clean air. You just need to stop driving everywhere. Ride a bike or walk. It is healthier, you can have cleaner air, and um, you can stop funding Islamist extremism.

Why enjoy this only once per year? Every week, if we embrace the gift of Shabbat, we can achieve the same result. In the end, people's fear and ego take over - fear of being labeled, and ego as the master of one's own fate. So until then, pollution do your thing.

woulnd't it be interesting to know?

It is only logic that this would be the case. No cars, no busses, no planes, pollution down to nearly zero.

Imagine if every Shabbat most Jews took a rest from using their cars? I assume it might do some good for the quality of our air. No need to wait for Yom Kippur once a year & no need to have "no economy". We can be a totally modern & productive state & observe the Shabbat. Anyone who lives in Israel can see that what this place needs is to "chill". and not in the frenetic way people chill - cafes, discos etc. There may be a place for that as well....but Shabbat is something different. Shabbat = a total mental & spiritual rest. I think we'd all see many benefits from more Shabbat celebration here. Mental, spiritual.....and even cleaner air maybe.

..we could reduce pollution by that amount every week.

So what's the conclusion? Let's have Yom Kippur more often...

Yes, mobility is an important factor, but this does not mean individual mobility by car. Please add the number of pedestrians, bikers, and drivers killed in road accidents every year to those who die from air pollution caused conditions. Growing up in a European country with a very good economy, good public transport, low rates of road accidents, and pretty clean air, I was healthy until I immigrated six years ago. Here, I got asthma and chronical bronchitis within less six months--and the economy is still nothing to be proud of!!!

So when there is a day of zero economic activity, pollution is much lower... but not for long. The story is misleading because over the long term, mobility is a tremendous factor in economic growth. And the money created through a booming economy allows rich countries to clean the air through expensive environmental laws (such as auto and power plant emissions controls). This is why car-friendly U.S.A. has cleaner air than Europe and Asia. (There are localized exceptions). Mobility also leads to less costly freight deliveries and more consumer choices for purchases.