The recent opinion piece by Elizabeth Joy and Kim Frost (of UCAIR) list the reasons for the bad air, wildfires, fugitive dust, toxic dust from the desiccating exposed bottom of shrinking Great Salt Lake resulting from the lack of rain and runoff. The authors go on to give advice on how to handle the bad air by paying attention to the AQI.
That advice is good, but then the authors go on to promote Gov. Cox’s slow the flow initiative by saying cut back on watering your landscape?
Not watering your landscape increases fugitive dust, making the air quality worse, this makes no sense. Of course, there are no real solutions given to help the air quality other than try not to start fires. No mention of driving less on bad air days, reducing your carbon footprint etc.
But the big elephant in the room is why are we in a record-breaking drought? Climate change! How about proposing solutions to why we are in drought-exacerbated bad air? Of course you will not hear a hint of the words climate change from UCAIR; they were set up by a Republican governor (Herbert) with state money. Telling us how to deal with bad air and not proposing real long term solutions is not helping.
Jon Bischoff, Salt Lake City
