It's time for the Utah Legislature to take air quality seriously, while they still can. 

• Cat Palmer
• A photo by Cat Palmer, taken outside the Utah State Capitol during winter inversion conditions.

Utah is a great place to live, and numerous articles tout it as the "best run state." We've all seen out-of-state license plates moving into and traveling through our neighborhoods. We're proud that Salt Lake is the real mountain city, not that (ahem) other city east of here.

But how often do residents lack a clear view of the beautiful Wasatch Range? Exposure to pollution raises the risk and intensity of problems like asthma, decreased lung function and heart attacks. It can lower resistance to diseases, colds and pneumonia. Families have moved out of Utah due to health issues caused by poor air quality.

How many times have we heard Utah politicians claim they care about children? As if. If they really cared about all children, they would care about the toxins children and pregnant people are breathing, and the long-term health effects this causes.

Dirty air is an issue the Utah Legislature must address this year.

Cars, trucks and heavy-duty vehicles
We all hate to admit it, but did you notice the air quality improvement during the pandemic? It was because fewer people were driving.

If you can work remotely—even part time—you should do so. If your company prohibits this, ask them to reconsider and allow it, at least on the worst air days.

Salt Lake City has adopted ordinances aimed to help mitigate vehicle-related pollution, but due to a lack of enforcement, we're not moving the needle. I regularly see people parked in front of the signs stating that we are an "Idle-free City" while—you guessed it—their car is idling. The signs are posted at drive-thrus all over town.

Instead of putting up signs that everyone will ignore, the powers-that-be should consider limiting the number of drive-thru windows, like the Salt Lake City Council decided to do in Sugar House earlier this year.

Credit where credit is due: Construction in Salt Lake's 9th and 9th neighborhood and on 300 West prioritized pedestrians, transit riders and cyclists. Walkable neighborhoods like this exist all over Europe.

Utah needs more of these, but they are unusable for many when the air is at its worst. And when we are planning these areas, we must not forget accessibility for all, by ensuring safety for wheelchair users and people with accessibility needs.

Make UTA work
The Utah Legislature must stop treating public transit as an afterthought. Because of poor infrastructure and lack of planning, it is inexplicably more expensive and more time-consuming to take public transit than it is to just get in your car on poor air-quality days.

FrontRunner trains do not run on Sundays. Trax trains don't run late at night, and their schedules are cut back on weekends—even if there's a Jazz game or, as we recently learned, even if New Year's Eve falls on a Sunday.

UTA should be more accessible. Life doesn't stop on weekends, the trains shouldn't either.

I noticed the bus route on my street on the east side of Salt Lake is using an eco-friendly electric bus. We should have more of these all over, especially on the west side, where we now know the particulate count is higher.

Get Involved
There are all sorts of local grassroots organizations out there fighting the good fight. I have been a clean air activist for more than 15 years and part of the SLC Air Protectors almost since Day 1. You may have skills to offer the movement that you aren't even aware they needed.

Back in the day, Mickelle Weber and I started Utah Artists for Clean Air and would shoot images for anyone to use to spread awareness. I have teamed up with different organizations to get our message out, but still, it is an uphill battle. We once sent an image to the governor depicting Santa in a gas mask surrounded by a bunch of children in gas masks holding a sign that said, "All we want for Christmas is clean air!"

Time for our leaders to lead
Unfortunately for Utah politicians, in order to act on air quality, they would have to acknowledge science, step away from election-year identity politics and take a stand. But maybe we can frame the issue in a way the Legislature understands: Cold hard cash.

Poor air quality is costing the state money. Pollution prevents businesses from recruiting employees who want to move here. Our air is often the worst in the nation and sometimes the worst in the world. Who'd want to move their family to a city with so much dirty air to breathe?

I love our state and our city. I believe improvement is possible, but we need politicians who care enough to advocate for our health and well-being.

If they can put walls up on porn, take away parental medical rights and try to dismantle Utah's amazing, mail-in voting process, surely they can do something about this—before it really is too late.

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