Clearing the Air

  Nearly every winter, Utah’s dense metropolitan area suffers from choking air pollution. You may want to blame others like industry or those neighbors who just moved into the state, but it’s a headache we all share, and it will take all of us to help change it. Wednesday, we’re asking how you get people to make personal, sometimes inconvenient changes for the greater good, and we’d like to hear from you. What would it take for you to adjust your own behavior to improve Utah’s air quality?

Thursday, we continue our series on Utah’s bad air with this question: why has air quality become such a hot-button issue? There are now four dozen groups advocating for clean air, but the voice of Dr. Brian Moench tends to rise above all the others. He’s been credited with transforming what was once a tree-hugger issue into a serious political concern. He’s also been accused of exaggerating the facts. We’ll talk about the role Moench and others play in the air quality debate and examine the political obstacles they face.

Industry, business and the general public all contribute to Utah’s bad air, but there’s general agreement that cars and trucks are a major part of the problem. That means that our reasonable habits of driving to work, waiting in a warm car to pick up the kids up from school, or driving to the mountains to ski or hike all contribute to our bad air. Monday a panel of guests will join us to discuss what it takes to change our habits, on a personal level, and what those individual efforts mean for big change. We’re hoping to hear from you: how have you changed your habits?