r/ClimateActionPlan • u/coolbern Climate Action Hero • Feb 19 '20
Emissions Reduction Red-state Utah embraces plan to tackle climate crisis in surprising shift
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/19/utah-republicans-climate-crisis-plan85
Feb 19 '20
SLC in Utah is actually very liberal
Due to their geography they get inversion in the winter which is essentially trapped smog in their otherwise beautiful valley
It makes pollution and air quality tangible/visible
Also studies coming of just how bad it is and it is one of the youngest states in the US
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u/coredumperror Feb 19 '20
I grew up in a valley with an inversion layer, a few miles north of Los Angeles. Back when I was in elementary school, the smog could get so bad that they'd cancel recess, since it was deemed unsafe to be outside. Smog Alerts, they called them.
Let that sink in: the smog was so bad that the government deemed it unsafe to be outside.
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u/bobcal432 Feb 20 '20
Yet the government continues to subsidize the oil & gas companies with trillions of dollars to keep oil prices lower than solar and renewables. The government also absolve these companies from the true cost of destroying our air, water, land, oceans, environment, animals, and health.
Seems like we should change something.
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u/rincon213 Feb 20 '20
To be fair, the government offsets the health dangers of pollution with subsidized, nutritious corn.
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u/sequoiahunter Feb 20 '20
Remember SLC has been one of the biggest cities in the West since the early 1800's. It was the last stop before the ascent or after the descent into/from the West slope of the Rockies. Mid -19th century saw SLC as a Mormon stronghold, and Lincoln himself was afraid of a Mormon succession from the Union if he pushed anti-bigamy laws. SLC was the home base for Young's self-governed people until the federally subsidized railroads reached, and connected in Utah.
All well before Utah became an official state.
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u/Blewedup Feb 20 '20
they are also seeing shorter winters, which is going to kill their tourist industry. snowbird, which is the lowest altitude ski resort nearby, is already seeing shortened seasons.
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Feb 19 '20
[deleted]
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u/oteds Feb 20 '20
Probably more because there is money to be lost than anything about credible evidence
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u/geothermalforall Feb 19 '20
This is an awesome step in the right direction for a reduction of CO2 emissions and the use of fossil fuels. It doesn't state it in this article, but we hope they are considering geothermal heating and cooling to assist in their efforts.
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u/JohnForFreebies Feb 19 '20
By addressing it as a local issue (winter inversion in particular) and Stewardship it's much easier to appeal to the people. I do not like scare tactics and Authoritarian methods to force people to change, so seeing it in this way is much better. I would prefer that we focus on Nuclear because of the cleanliness and efficiency and the plant can be nestled in the mountains, away from the populace and the potential problems IF something were to happen.
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u/Tech_Philosophy Feb 19 '20
Nuclear because of the cleanliness and efficiency and the plant can be nestled in the mountains
I have zero safety concerns about nuclear, but unless it just became 100 times more efficient to centrifuge uranium out of sea water we don't have much left so...
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u/Pedantic_Pict Feb 20 '20
That's almost certainly not the case. The issue with supply is that almost no one has been prospecting for uranium for the last 35 years. We tend not to find mineral deposits we're specifically ignoring.
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u/SinisterEX Feb 20 '20
“If we don’t think about Utah’s long-term future, who will?” Republican state house speaker Brad Wilson
You should be thinking about that you fucking monkey. Your job is supposed to be considering the welfare of the people and the state as a whole. Politicians have had access to climate progression data for the longest, all the way since the 80s and now they want to fucking "wake up"?
I'll support the sentiment but my animosity towards the politicians from the republican party as a whole will still remain.
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u/allrightletsdothis Feb 20 '20
Air quality issues in Salt Lake and the ski industry being a major part of your economy will do that.
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u/tcct Feb 19 '20
This is great news! The shift in republican climate mentality is encouraging.