Dear SLC Inversion,
I hate you…but I’m sorry.
I hate you for the reputation that you are giving Salt Lake City. I cringed when I saw the ‘Smog Lake City’ article in Powder Magazine. I’m terrified of what the future may hold if Outdoor Retailers or Sundance Film Festival pulled their businesses because of our air. I hate you for the health effects you are inherently giving us all. Every time I hear statistics about how bad it is for our lungs to breathe in the air–I seriously consider buying one of those masks. The fact that I have never smoked a cigarette in my life and may be in danger of having lung cancer, angers me. It also outrages me, that there are days when our kids cannot play outside, or even worse, that our kids may be impacted by this air, simply because mothers breathed it in during pregnancy. I hate you because you make our beautiful city, disgusting. Salt Lake is known to have some of the most spectacular mountains in the country and yet some people come here to visit them or locals gaze out their windows and can’t see past the next street. I hate you because at times you give us the worst air in the nation. I hate you because you are an example that our Earth is suffering, in very painful, ugly and apparent way.
As much as I hate you, I am sorry. You are getting blamed and not enough people are doing things to fix it. Growing up in a family with solar panels and three electric cars, I am frustrated for you. I hear people complaining constantly without taking action. I know it is hard, though. It is hard to change old habits- especially when they cost money and change people’s lifestyles that they have grown to love. I could do more and I’m guessing every one else could too. We could turn off lights when we leave rooms, we could idle less, carpool more, and put pressure on SLC Legislature to start making bigger changes that will really count.
I’ve heard the argument that SLC is a valley and to some degree, there’s nothing we can do. Inversion, while I do apologize for that as well, I think it’s an excuse we have created to give ourselves slack. We can’t keep saying “maybe tomorrow” or “next time” when the air is visible today. It’s not my job to blame the red-air days on the geographical outline of our state, it’s my job to stand up and point out that, yes, our state is prone to inversions, so we need to step up and do better than everyone else in the nation to make our air breathable. Inversion, I’m sorry that you keep coming back, you don’t want to be here either. We’re in a toxic relationship that is literally suffocating me.
Inversion I hate you- and sometimes I hate everyone for doing this to all of us.
Love,
The girl with the weird looking BMW.
P.S. It’s electric.