Utah’s very own Dr. Arden Pope of Brigham Young University recently published a study showing that Americans have cleaner air to thank for a 5 month increase in life-span compared to 30 years ago.

As reported by the BYU press release:
“Such a significant increase in life expectancy attributable to reducing air pollution is remarkable,” said C. Arden Pope III, a BYU epidemiologist and lead author on the study in the Jan. 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. “We find that we’re getting a substantial return on our investments in improving our air quality. Not only are we getting cleaner air that improves our environment, but it is improving our public health.”

You can see the full report and links to other news coverage of the study here.

For Utah Moms for Clean Air, this is good news. It means all the effort we are putting into cleaning up our air really will pay off. So keep up the good work so we can all enjoy more time on this earth breathing a little easier!

‘Advocacy groups greening Utah’ Environmentalism Study shows groups are increasing at nearly double the rate of other nonprofits: By Judy Fahys,
The Salt Lake Tribune, 01/04/2009.

‘Grass roots environmental groups growing in Utah’: January 5, 2009, The Associated Press.

‘Moms group all fired up to help curb air pollution’: Deseret News (Salt Lake City) , Jan 5, 2008 by Elaine Jarvik Deseret Morning News.

‘Fight against W. Bountiful power plant continues’: By Judy Fahys, The Salt Lake Tribune, 1/12/2009.

‘Concerned Utahns Saying No to Davis County Energy Plant’: Jan 12, 2009 by Jeff Robinson.

‘Davis Health Department opposes power plant’: By Joseph M. Dougherty, Deseret News Monday, Jan. 12, 2009.

‘Proposed plant draws opposition’: January 13, 2009, Standard Examiner.

‘Davis County Resident Explains Opposition to Cogeneration Plant’: Jan 14, 2009 by Jeff Robinson.

‘Every little bit hurts’: Public Forum Letter, 01/15/2009.

‘Air testing underway in Park City’; Dirty weather inversion could last another week, Patrick Parkinson, Of the Record staff,01/20/2009.

‘Blanket of Smog Typical of Winter in Salt Lake Valley’, Jan 21, 2009 by Elizabeth Ziegler.

‘BLM allowed to conduct controlled burns despite poor air quality’, January 23rd, 2009 @ 10:02pm, By Sarah Dallof.

‘Group tries to draw attention to air quality issues’: By David Servatius, Deseret News, Friday, Jan. 23, 2009.

‘Group asks Utah lawmakers to help fix pollution problem’: January 23rd, 2009, By Whit Johnson.

‘Storm hits northern Utah, and haze moves out’: January 25th, 2009 By Nicole Gonzales.

‘Car-driven amnesia churns out chewy air’: Rebecca Walsh, The Salt Lake Tribune, 01/28/2009.

Thanks to all who came out to our public meeting on Wednesday. It was great seeing so many new faces — people have again been spurred to act by this latest inversion. It is clear that the passion and energy is here to help solve our air quality problems. Now we need to channel that energy and make sure the leaders and decision-makers hear our call!

The Salt Lake Tribune’s Rebecca Walsh has this to say about the meeting and the issue generally. (copied below

Walsh: Car-driven amnesia churns out chewy air

Rebecca Walsh The Salt Lake Tribune 01/28/2009

Alice Bain woke up with a bloody nose last Thursday — a calling card of the soupy air.

It was sort of inevitable. Bain has adjusted to the Wasatch Front’s forced weeks of retreat from breathing. An artist and children’s author, she’s developing asthma living here. She carries a surgical mask in her purse and wears an organic vapor respirator when she can smell the air. But that drip from her nostril was the final indignity.

She launched a Facebook network — Salt Lake City Air Quality Protest — that morning. Four days later, she had 409 friends.

“People are ticked. They’re just mad,” Bain says. “Something has to be done. We have to stop doing what we’re doing and re-evaluate.”

That’s the hard part.

When the January air turns chewy, something switches ever so briefly in our brains. Suffering with low-grade sore throats and hacking coughs, everyone is an armchair environmentalist.

“There are definite spikes of interest when you can taste the air,” acknowledges outgoing Utah Moms for Clean Air president Cherise Udell.

Lucky then, I guess, that last week we couldn’t breathe. Utah Moms’ winter organizing meeting this week was standing-room only — packed with the moms and their toddlers, but also grandparents, college students and tweens from Morningside Elementary earnestly prodding no-idling pledges out of their elders.

(more…)

Winter Organizing Meeting
Get involved in the fight against air pollution. Together we can make a difference!

Tuesday, January 27
6:30 pm
Anderson-Foothill Library
1135 South 2100 East, Salt Lake City

* Discuss causes of air pollution
* Help set our priorities
* Strategize for this year’s legislative session
* Meet other parents concerned about Utah’s air
* Learn what we each can do to improve our air

Please pass this information to anyone you know that would be interested in attending. For teleconferencing options, please contact us at supermoms@utahmomsforcleanair.org

Reported in the New York Times today, “President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday.” Together those 13 states represent half of the cars sold in the US.

Once these stricter emissions standards are in place, “automobile manufacturers will quickly have to retool to begin producing and selling cars and trucks that get higher mileage than the national standard, and on a faster phase-in schedule.”

Utah is not one of the 13 states, but this change will make such a possibility much more conceivable. But it will take convincing our own legislature of the importance of the change.

Read the full story here at the NY TIMES.

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As today’s storm blows through Utah and scrubs our air clean, please consider one basic action you can take to keep our air clean: shovel your snow instead of snowblowing it!

Small two-stoke engines are highly polluting and contribue significantly to our local air pollution. According to the EPA, a snowblower sends almost a pound of carbon monoxide into the air each hour it runs. As a comparison, you would have to drive about 70 miles to match the CO emissions produced in one hour by a snowblower.*

The main emission concerns with snowblowers’ small engines are hydrocarbons from unburned fuel and carbon monoxide from partly burned fuel, says Nigel Clark, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at West Virginia University. In older snow blowers, Clark says, up to one-third of the fuel doesn’t get burned. In essence, two-stroke engines are very inefficient.

To minimize your contribution to our air pollution consider:

Bringing out your shovel and enjoying not only the peaceful rhythm of shoveling but also the cardiovascular benefits of physical exercise.

Not everyone can shovel due to physical limitations, so if you are willing and able, offer to shovel a neighbors walk and not only spare the air but create neighborly goodwill. And kids: consider going door to door offering to shovel for a few bucks.

For tips on how to shovel and protect yourself from injury visit Mother Earth News.

If shoveling is not for you, consider buying an electric snowblower, the greener snow blower choice. According to the E.P.A. electric blowers are greener because they do not emit pollution from exhaust emissions nor through fuel evaporation. To reduce the cost of a new blower, consider buying one with one or more neighbors.

If you must keep your current two-stroke snowblower, please do your part to limit your emissions by keeping your engine tuned, changing the oil and replacing filters regularly.

To keep our air clean we must all do our part!

*Some of the information above was taken from the EPA website: www.epa.gov and motherearthnews.com

Salt Lake Tribune Public Forum Letter written by our own Travis Harvey.

“Smog Solutions

This week none of us is breathing easy because of the life-threateningly high levels of PM 2.5 that are accumulating in our valley air (“Cleaner air lengthens lives, study suggests,” Tribune , Jan. 22). During weeks like this it is obvious that the strategies we are employing to protect our air quality and the health of Utahns are not enough.

I urge the Utah Legislature and Gov. Jon Huntsman to make it a priority this legislative session to set higher standards than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Utah has unique geographical and meteorological conditions that, in conjunction with our polluting cars and industry, create the dangerous smog that right now we all breathe and see. The national standards set in Washington do not adequately protect us.

Let’s stop relying on the EPA and use the resources, ingenuity and determination of Utahns to solve our own problems and improve our health and quality of life.

Travis Anna Harvey

Brighton”