If there were ever a reason to consider a switch to mass transit, breathing thick, smelly smog for a week is one of the best.
For the past week, students have watched as the air has grown visibly dirty. It is a bit of divine justice that many saw it happen from behind their windshield as they drove to work and school8212;car exhaust is a key contributor to the pollution-trapping inversion. Old habits die hard, but maybe it’s time we asked ourselves whether driving our cars is worth breathing our own exhaust for one to two weeks every year.
On Thursday, the United States Environmental Protection Agency rated the amount of pollution in Salt Lake City’s air at 151 on its Air Quality Index, earning it an “unhealthy” ranking and making it the city with the second dirtiest air in the country. The only city topping Salt Lake City? Provo, at 157.
The agency gives the following suggestion to residents of cities with “unhealthy” levels of pollution, all of which are currently in Utah: “People with heart or lung disease, older adults and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion. Everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.”
Instead of slogging through the unhealthy haze (forecasters’ new favorite euphemism for smog) year after year, students and Utah residents need to change their habits. At the very least, it’s time to learn how to use mass transit. TRAX is light years ahead of similar systems in other states. It’s efficient, affordable, timely and relatively clean.
For students it’s also cheap8212;all U students buy a discounted pass with their student fees. Excuses not to ride are becoming scarce for anyone commuting to the U from anywhere near a TRAX line.
For students not on a TRAX line, it is time to get over the negative stigma of just riding a city bus. Utah Transit Authority buses travel virtually everywhere in Salt Lake City. If you are unsure where or when to get on, you can either call UTA or use its online trip planner to generate a detailed travel plan.
Aside from a move to mass transit, it might be time for the state to take a more active role in preparing for the inversion. Some possibilities include limiting traffic lanes to discourage driving or putting in place odd/even license plate days during the inversion. We know the inversion forms almost every year, and to have no programs to minimize its damage is disappointing.
Making these small sacrifices a few weeks a year is worth it, considering the symptoms of prolonged exposure to heavily polluted air include decreased lung function, development of chronic bronchitis and premature death in people with heart or lung disease, according to the EPA.
Whether or not the state gets involved, change starts from the bottom up. We hope the inversion lifts in the near future and takes the foul air with it. Regardless, students and residents should start building habits that will minimize its intensity.