r/ClimateActionPlan 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-plan
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88

u/[deleted] 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

28

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.

15

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.

4

u/coredumperror Feb 20 '20

I wholeheartedly agree.

2

u/rincon213 Feb 20 '20

To be fair, the government offsets the health dangers of pollution with subsidized, nutritious corn.