With some recent spotty high temperatures in the 40s, one could be forgiven for believing spring has sprung, although a quick check of my personalized wall calendar reaffirms my suspicions: It is, in fact, not yet the end of January. Winter will linger longer yet.
And with winter comes that familiar, if not otherwise welcome, seasonal weather that turns the Salt Lake Valley into a smoldering cesspool of CO2, secondhand smoke and who knows what else.
Back in the good old days (I’m talking summer and fall of 2008, ancient history it would seem, with outrageous gas prices and ubiquitous bike commuting), it used to be you could walk or ride to the nearest public transit stop, or if so inclined, all the way to campus. Rewards included fresher air, exercise, economic breathing room and a clear environmental conscience.
Maybe that time not spent behind the wheel in moods of anger, frustration and despair was better spent contemplating ways in which you could be a better citizen, such as helping an elderly woman cross the street, dealing with your pent-up frustration at your incompetent boss or professor in more constructive ways, re-evaluating why you’re in school, realizing that we’re all just trying to get by as best we can and taking8212;to use my mom’s time-worn phrase8212;a chill pill.
But a couple inches of snow and freezing temperatures had us running for our own personal automobiles, and once again the gains of summer gave way to the pains of winter. And here we are now in January, with a new president and a new administration and a new hope. The hope is Barack Obama will turn out to be a friend of the environment, and that he will increase public funding for green infrastructure, creating green jobs for you, for me, for us.
In the meantime, we would do well to remember Jimmy Carter’s admonition, widely disparaged at the time, to wear a sweater. As in, literally, turn down your coal-fired-power-plant-sustaining furnaces and space heaters, bundle up because it’s winter for crying out loud, and everything will be fine.
I’m not saying you need to use public transit at all times and in all cases, but wearing an extra layer or two and hopping back on that bike, or throwing on those waterproof boots and using your God-given feet to get you somewhere is not nearly as bad as you would let yourself believe.
I’ve yet to drive my car to campus once this semester. Instead, I’ve taken to walking to the train station on 900 East, which is just over a mile from my house. Occasionally, if I miss the train, I just walk the rest of the way to campus, no worse for wear, and of clear mind. Granted, the next big storm to slam into Salt Lake City, should such a thing actually happen in the next few months, will present a test of my resolve to remain auto-free to and from campus.
In the meantime, enjoy a January spring, and do your part to reduce the sickening smog hanging over our beautiful city. They may have eliminated smoking in bars, but with the air as it is now, what’s the difference?
James Sewell