COLUMN: Air pollution is as bad as 2nd hand smoke
No smoking. This message can be found across the Beehive State. All businesses are off limits to the demon weed tobacco, including restaurants, coffee shops and even “head” shops that sell the water pipes one can use to smoke the dried leaves.
The only places left where one can relax and light up a coffin nail are bars, stretches of sidewalk at least 25 feet from doorways and the privacy of one’s home or property.
Seems that designated non-smoking areas weren’t good enough. Renegade cigarette smoke knows no boundaries, and health conscious, soda-swilling Utah voters wanted these foul smelling intrusions stopped.
Our state legislature heeded the call and passed the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act, a law designed to protect non-smokers from the devastating effects of second-hand smoke.
In this instance, our elected representatives took it upon themselves to make sure public health interests were protected. No longer would the sensitive lungs of children, the elderly or asthmatics be unwillingly exposed to the carcinogens present in second-hand tobacco smoke. Perhaps civil liberties took a blow, but somewhere in the statistics, a child’s life was undoubtedly saved by the Act.
Second-hand smoke is bad, OK? But did you know that last week scientists at BYU and elsewhere revealed that merely breathing the air of many American cities is just as bad as living with a smoker? The air along much of the Wasatch Front is as dangerous as the air inside the living room of a filthy chain-smoking tobacco addict.
With statistics like these, one would think our public officials would be clamoring to come up with a solution. After all, there are millions of folks living in the Greater Salt Lake megalopolis, many of them children and the elderly. Why should they be forced to inhale a haze of toxic car exhaust and power plant emissions?
If our caring legislature can outlaw hazardous tobacco smoke, what is it doing to improve the air quality in Utah?
The answer is: Nothing. In fact, they are making the problem worse by funding projects like the Legacy Highway, a proposed freeway which will destroy wetlands and farmlands, increase urban sprawl, and cost taxpayers billions in construction costs alone.
In addition, the Utah Department of Transportation approved the project without bothering to research other options, a violation of federal law. Despite rampant population growth and the fact that 50 to 60 percent of the region’s air pollution already comes from vehicles, UDOT has failed to come up with a viable long-term transportation strategy. Of the $9.7 billion slated for Utah’s transportation needs over the next 20 years, $9.2 billion will be spent on roads.
Logan’s air is bad as well. For a few days in February we had the worst air quality in the entire state, doubling the toxicity standards created by the Environmental Protection Agency and exceeding the limit for the second year in a row. If Logan exceeds EPA standards again in 2003, the city will be subject to federal transportation restrictions and will likely lose federal funds.
While most folks want their children to breathe clean air, studies show Americans won’t quit their car and truck habit until it becomes too inconvenient and expensive. This won’t happen while gas prices remain artificially low.
As long as our leaders continue to subsidize the automobile and oil industries with costly military operations overseas and Legacy Highways here at home, we will remain addicted to our car-centered lifestyles.
As usual, government and vested business interests aren’t going to fix the problem. Besides, it’s our own exhaust we’re choking on, so it’s up to us to change things.
A partial solution is simple: Drive less. Short trips to school and work are hardest of all on your car’s engine, and most fatal accidents occur close to home.
Logan has the best bus system I have ever seen, offering quick and convenient service to all corners of the city and hourly busses to outlying communities like Hyrum and Richmond. A bus ride in most cities costs $1 or more each way, but here in Logan it’s free.
Local buses are scheduled to arrive and depart in unison from the transit center near Smith’s. This alleviates the long waits for transfer busses so common in other urban areas and makes it easy to get most anywhere in town within 20 minutes. Furthermore, busses are equipped with bike racks, making it easy to get to the nearest bus stop, usually just a few blocks away.
Our laziness has dirtied the air we breathe, and our efforts can go a long way toward fixing things. Take the bus. Ride a bike. Walk through our beautiful town. And if you smoke, for goodness sake be sure to use a water pipe.