More quality air, less driving

The haze of the winter inversion crept into the Wasatch Front earlier this year. Ket Bott, air-pollution meteorologist from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality., said typically, the inversion doesn't come until November, but early season cold storms created an inversion for October.

Bott said an inversion is a set of temperature layers that are inverted, thus calling it an inversion. Normally, the higher you go up into the mountains, the colder the temperature gets, but this is not true for an inversion. Cold air sinks into the valley, while warmer air rises. The warmer air becomes a lid, trapping the cold air and pollutants below.

"We sit in a soup bowl," Bott said. The mountainous geography of Utah does not allow for great air circulation, causing the inversion. His concern with this early inversion is the pollution buildup.

"Pollution can be detrimental to everyone," Bott said.

Mark Clemens, manager of the Utah Chapter for the Sierra Club, agreed that pollution affects everyone.

"Even the most fit person is affected by bad air quality," Clemens said. The pollution in the air can affect our lungs. He said the pollution we breathe in is like living with a heavy smoker, always breathing in second hand smoke.

"The pollution in the air can be devastating," Clemens said, "and we contribute pollution to the inversion."

Cheryl Heying, director of the division of air quality for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, said the largest contributing factor to air pollution is the tail pipe. About half of Utah's pollution is coming from vehicles, one-third from industry, and the remainder from other pollutants. Industry continues to lower emissions in the air, but Heying said she would like to see more individual choice in improving air quality. One example she gave was to drive less.

Clemens would like to see Weber State University students implement the choice of driving less.

"Fifteen minutes of walking, biking, or taking public transportation to school would be better for the environment, than driving your car," Clemens said.

WSU sophomore, Eric Randall, said he would not be able to take the UTA near his home. The bus does not come in time for his 7 a.m. class, and he would have to drive to the bus station in order to ride the bus.

"Riding the bus would be difficult because things come up all the time, and then riding the bus would be a hassle," Randall said. "If I had a consistent routine, I would ride the bus."

Clemens understands that walking everywhere may not be doable.

"Driving less doesn't mean you will walk everywhere," he said, "but lots of times you can walk, if you make that choice for clean air."

Clemens made an individual choice to aide in improving the air quality. He walks to work four out of five days a week.

"Twenty four hours a day you are making decisions for air quality," Clemens said. He said it is important for individuals to make decisions for tomorrow.

Heying recommended www.cleanair.utah.gov for those wanting to know how to make a difference in improving air quality. This Web site has 50 suggestions of how to prevent pollution for home, work, driving less and driving smarter.

Simple choices Heying said WSU students could make today to improve air quality are driving more efficient cars, making sure tires are properly inflated, not leaving cars idling and conserving energy by turning off lights.

Although being environmentally aware is important for improving air quality, Clemens said there is another aspect.

"Part of improving the air quality is making decisions both individually and politically," Clemens said. "Students should register to vote and carefully review the platforms of politicians."

Clemens said people need to ask themselves whether candidates are supporting smart growth, public transportation, and bike lanes, so make better air quality choices.

"Polluting the air doesn't just affect us, but others around us," Bott said. "We only have so much air quality, and so we must have some concern about our behavior and how it affects others."