Tuesday, January 20, 2009

a breathing matter

we have the worst air in the nation. for those of you readers who don't live along the wasatch front just know that the air in our valley is sometimes soupy and gunky and....hard to breathe for weeks in the winter.

every time i curse the small particulates ("CURSE you PM 2.5!") Ollie reminds me why inversions are a blessing.

HUH? a blessing?

excerpt from a letter Oliver wrote to our officials:

Our inversions ought to be considered a blessing, reminding us that we are responsible for what we put into our air, a call to behave ethically. As a community, we need to be dis-incentivising pollution, and rewarding those who choose not to waste. There is no accountability for those who pollute indiscriminately and affect adversely the well-being of all of us along the Wasatch Front. The young among us suffer disproportionately, and because their suffering manifests itself slowly, they and their families are left with the burden and cost of treating it, often without help. This needs to change, and you can do something about it. Do not leave office without changing our course towards a future with clear skies.


holding one of the signs my best friend sus made for a recent very packed hearing with the department of air quality.

Please join these awesome super moms in taking a proactive stand for clean air.

signed,
keep breathing... even if you do visit their website and find out the dreadful air quality data.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen! I am very with you (and I know dads included with those moms). I love Oliver's blessing-perspective. It's true.

Anonymous said...

oo, my son has asthma. i love this. thanks for posting it.

Anonymous said...

It makes me wonder where the gol darn heck those stuffed shirts live! Are they not human? Do they have filters implanted into their lungs and eyes? Y'all should get some gas masks on and protest in front of their homes on those days!

Anonymous said...

hey mc! thanks for the comment.

pamo, ohhhhh. pobrecito! hopefully this inversion ends this weekend.

tam, aren't you glad for lake michigan winds to blow out chicago pollution?