Travel Habits

The following is new today on the LDS Church Intranet:



Choose Travel Habits to Improve Air Quality

The choices we make as individuals collectively make the biggest difference in our air quality. In cooperation with state and local leaders, we encourage you to change your travel habits to improve air quality.

Drive Less
Use mass transit - call 1-888-RIDE-UTA (7433-822)
Rideshare, vanpool, or carpool
Walk or bike
Telework or compress workweeks
Use alternate transportation especially on "red" and "yellow" air quality days
Take the school bus to school

Drive Smarter
Arrange errands into one trip
Maintain vehicles
Avoid peak drive times
Drive the speed limit

Be Idle Free
Only warm up your engine for 30 seconds before driving
Turn vehicles off while waiting

FACT: If Wasatch Front drivers parked their vehicles for one day per week, emissions would decrease by 6,500 tons each year. (Source: DAQ Mobile Source)

For more information, visit cleanair.utah.gov, travelwise.utah.gov, and slcgov.com/slsolutions.
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Utah: the greatest snow, I mean pollution, on earth

How noble of the State of Utah to consider taking the pollution and waste away from the world to safeguard and keep with us here in these treasured mountain valleys. We will agree to pollute ourselves, so that you, the world, may remain clean.

What sacrifice.

So send us your carcinogens; your toxic waste; your combustible by-products. Of course it will cost you. But don't worry. We'll use the prostituted money from whoring our land away to help improve our public schools, so you don't need to worry about us or our increased risk of cancer. Utah deserves a great big shout-out for volunteering to be the sacrificial polluted lamb of the world.

Nuclear waste from other foreign countries? Sure. Oil shale from our mountains? Why not. New coke-burning oil refineries? Bring it on. If only President Clinton wouldn't have put such an effort into protecting our land against our wishes. Shame on him! We wanted the chance to pollute southern Utah as well.

Early settlers of Utah spoke about the need to care for and protect the land; to exercise wise stewardship for future generations. Fortunately today, a time when the future of our planet is more perilous and polluted than ever before, we're not concerned about all that. After all, pollution will bring money, jobs, and people here which is a big deal during a down economy. Right?

And so we have Energy Solutions. They own our NBA arena, so they must be great. All they want to do is import nuclear waste from foreign countries into Salt Lake City, that's all. What's the big deal? We should just leave this up to our State Legislators who, I'm sure will do the right ($$) thing.

We also have Consolidated Energy Systems. All they want to do is burn coke, a petroleum product that pollutes more than most forms of coal and emits chemicals that are carcinogenic; all in a residentially-zoned neighborhood. Why should Davis County even care? It's not like anyone would even notice another oil refinery up there. We should just leave this up to our State Legislators who, I'm sure will do the right ($$) thing here also.

So again, thank you to Utah, the Savior of our dying planet, for the willingness to take all of the unpleasant pollution of the world into your borders. We couldn't clean this place up without you...


Other-Worldly by tephdra
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Hugh Nibley: Environmentalist

Hugh Nibley is one of the most prominent and outspoken environmentalists the Church has ever seen. I find it ironic that someone with a Temple blog dedicated to him is so against the environment. I enjoy the Temple blog, but unfortunately his recent post has left a bad taste in my mouth.

I was out of town this weekend meeting with several leaders in the LDS Church physical facilities department discussing, among other things, the future of Church facilities and sustainability and how the Church desires to be more green. Imagine my shock when I get home and read on a major LDS blog (supposedly faith-promoting) how environmentalists are worldly, sterilizing, fascist dictators; that the choice is between the Lord or the Environment; and that this is the true separation of the wheat from the tares. Unfortunately this sounds like someone who has been listening to talk radio too much. It’s funny how the only type of environmentalist that exists in his post is a generalized extremist or whacko. You won’t see me using those same tactics by trying to group him into an abortion-clinic-bombing fanatic, but that is the tactic being used by grouping anyone who is concerned about the environment into a fanatic. What an unfortunate, mean-spirited, divisive post. If anything, posts like this and talk radio in general are creating the wedge that is dividing Zion. Most religious groups in the world, including Latter-day Saints, have a strong environmental ethic. Furthermore, many consider our pollution and poor treatment of the earth a moral issue.

So on to the topic at hand: Hugh Nibley. I have listed quotes from the Millenial Star post with adjacent quotes from Hugh Nibley:

HAYMOND: “The Adversary’s environmentalism plan is plotted squarely against God’s plan of salvation.”

NIBLEY: “...we have Brigham's reply, ‘This is our home.’ ‘This earth is the home he has prepared for us, and we are to prepare ourselves and our habitations for the celestial glory in store for the faithful.’ ‘This is the habitation of the Saints; this is the earth that will be given to the Saints.’ Again we have the support of the ancients. The earth, says Aristotle, was made to be a home for man, permanently, and for that he must achieve a stable balance with nature, harmonious and pleasant to all. Cicero echoes this sentiment when he says that the earth is a fit home for both gods and men, and man has his part to play in taking good care of the garden. This must be a stable, eternal order with man at the top of the animal scale, held most responsible if things go wrong. Notice that all these references are to one's local home as well as earthly habitation."


HAYMOND: "Having a stewardship of the earth does not mean that we give up our freedom, our life, liberty, property, and family (Alma 46:12-13). Such an overarching and overzealous concern for the Earth is worldly, most literally, and is the religion of environmentalism rather than the religion of God.”

NIBLEY: "Where do you move when pollution is universal? Now the dispute takes on a wholly new direction. It is a new ball game. Heretofore we have always heard that air is free, and it is a free country, and business cashed in on the boundless ocean, as a free dumping ground for industrial garbage."

"Brother Brigham states the problem in terms of a flat-out contest between the most vital necessity of life and pure greed, a principle as old as the human record, rooted in a fundamental fact of nature: ‘The world is after riches. Riches is the god they worship. . . .’"


HAYMOND: “It would not surprise me if the oil debacle is being artificially created by those in power positions who are worshiping the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:12) and want to force us to drive less, use cleaner forms of fuel, and to minimize air pollution to 'save our planet.' I have heard estimates that the world’s oil reserves are enough to serve all energy needs for decades, yet we are seeing today the effects of shortages in supply. Why? Are we really that blind to see this socialist scheme?”

NIBLEY: “The contribution of such combustion centers to acid rain, greenhouse effect, and damaged ozone is irreversible. Here an entire issue of the National Geographic (December 1988) asks on the cover, ‘Can Man Save this Fragile Earth?’ We have long known that there is something wrong, if only by the duck test: if it looks bad, tastes bad, smells bad, and sounds bad in duplicitous argument, then it must be bad.”

“There is no more ancient, pervasive, or persistent tradition than that of the adversary, the Prince of Darkness, most often and most widely described as the lord of the underworld. For the classical writers, Spain was his kingdom, with its blighted regions of mines, smelters, and foundries—all worked by starving, filthy, driven slaves, converting the landscape into barren wastes of slag and stunted vegetation.”

“I could be accused of being prejudiced and extremist, but I would not have taken my position at all if I was not forced into it by the bristling headlines that have suddenly emerged on every side; and the issue never would have reached the covers and front pages of staid conservative journals had it not been thrust upon them by the crushing accumulation of evidence sounding alarm in all quarters. I was brought up in an alarmist atmosphere first by my grandparents, then by the Axis Powers, and now by a sea of frightening statistics; but especially the scriptures kept me thinking. After hearing Jack Anderson this morning, I feel that if anything, I am much too complacent.”


HAYMOND: “Our exceedingly environmentally sensitive society has bought into the campaign that our human ‘species’ is destroying the Earth, and that we are in imminent danger of disaster. I believe WALL-E is another card in the deck of fear-mongering tactics employed by our common Enemy to get power, money, control, oppress mankind with false ‘prophets,’ and reign with blood and horror prior to the return of the Savior.”

NIBLEY: “an early Christian tradition that the evil spirits which constantly seek to defile and corrupt human society ‘move about in thick polluted air,’ as a most fitting environment for their work. In a passage from a famous Hermetic work, the Koreø Kosmu (excerpt 23), the Air complains to the Creator, ‘O Master, I myself am made thick and polluted, and by the stench of dead things from the dump I reek to heaven, so that I breed sickness, and have ceased to be wholesome; and when I look down from above I see things which are too awful to behold.’”

“I do not worry very much about Geneva anymore; it is only a small fumarole at the base of a mighty volcano which is now shuddering and groaning ominously. Brother Anderson said that he hears the great waterfall roaring just ahead. So let us both end with the Book of Mormon:

'For behold, ye do love money. . . . O ye pollutions, . . . who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? . . . Why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans, . . . and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord . . . for vengeance upon your heads? Behold, the sword of vengeance hangeth over you; and the time soon cometh that he avengeth the blood of the saints upon you, for he will not suffer their cries any longer.' (Mormon 8:37–41).”


In conclusion, contrary to what talk radio and others may try to tell you, the environment is not a political issue, it is a human issue. We are all on this planet together and we need to take care of it and we aren’t doing such a good job. Incentives and restrictions help us to do this better. It has nothing to do with socialism or fascism or sterilization, but has everything to do with being better stewards.


*Nibley quotes taken from the essay ‘Stewardship of the Air’. (There is also a link to this and many other such essays on the sidebar.)
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Bicycle Commute

Bicycle path adjacent to the Freeway

So I decided to take up the BCC Bike Commuting Challenge and commute to work on my bike this morning. This was my first attempt at such a feat as I have previously always used buses and trains to get to work. I certainly don't live in the best location for a bike commute, but decided to give it a shot since I am desperate for an excuse to get back in shape.

Since I live west of downtown Portland, my commute went adjacent to the Freeway, up through Washington Park and the West Hills and then down into Portland. It was a nice mix of beautiful, not-so-beautiful, and learning that I am not in very good shape...Skyline Boulevard in particular was brutal...

In fact, to give you an idea of the hills involved, here are some names of the roads I traveled:
-Cedar Hills Boulevard
-Knollcrest
-Skyline Boulevard
-Fairview Boulevard
-Vista Avenue

Favorite moment of the commute: Watching a Unicyclist cruise down the hill at like 30 MPH. I honestly thought it was a runaway clown who was going to crash and die. After I stopped to turn around and watch, he actually handled the hill quite impressively for not having any handlebars.

Least favorite moment of the commute: Getting lost in Washington Park - that place is a maze.

Downhill through Washington Park and into Portland was especially beautiful though. If you can, I highly recommend pulling out your bike to commute. You will save some money, get in shape, and help the environment. BCC was kind enough to post some pictures of my commute, and I have posted them and others below for your viewing enjoyment.

Did I mention Skyline Boulevard was brutal...?


Neighborhood I rode through


A beautiful cottage I rode past - it's even for sale


The Rose Garden at Washington Park


Washington Park with downtown Portland in the background


Drinking water supply for Portland - the sign says it's a crime to throw anything into the water


I made it - Downtown Portland
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The Pollution Market: Capping and Trading Emissions

As a follow-up to my last post in which I mentioned the need for laws limiting environmental destruction, I have finally learned about this ‘cap and trade’ issue I keep hearing about. I wasn’t exactly sure what people were talking about, so here’s the low down. The cap part is a government-mandated restriction on emissions. The trade part provides a profit incentive by creating a new commodities market. A power plant that cuts its pollution more than required could sell the extra allowances to plants that could not cut emissions enough. While it may sound counter-intuitive to be able to buy pollution on the free market, this system allows us to reach environmental goals with the support of business.

The 1977 Clean Air Act had a ‘command and control’ approach, offering a one-size-fits-all solution that didn’t solve the problem of emissions control. By the late 80’s, Environmental Defense Fund president Fred Krupp proposed the first emissions cap and trading system which was written into the Clean Air Act of 1990 to help curb acid rain from sulfur dioxide emissions. The law required a 50% cut in sulfur dioxide emissions to help bring rivers and lakes back to life. It set a permanent upper cap on emissions and split up the quantity of pollution among the power plants. "But it was the second part of the law – the emissions-trading system – that completely transformed the paradigm that had historically pitted environmentalism against economic growth." (*page 5-6)

Two months later PG&E CEO Richard Clark said, "…now that there’s a way to make money from cutting pollution, I have a dozen proposals for emissions reductions from my own employees on the shop floor, and a dozen more from outside consultants. The environment isn’t just a money loser – it’s a profit center." (*page 6) "Within five years, U.S. utilities cut emissions 30 percent more than the law required, even while increasing electric generation from coal by 6.8 percent and reducing retail electricity prices." (*page 7) This type of innovation allows the cap, over time, to be lowered in order to reduce overall emissions, which is the goal in all of this.

With such results from sulfur dioxide, this same type of system can and should be applied to carbon dioxide emissions as well. Venture capitalist John Doerr said, "Every single day, we dump 70 million tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere like it’s an open sewer, like it’s entirely free to do that. It’s really hard to change consumer behavior when consumers don’t know how much their behavior costs." (*page 8)

*From the book ‘Earth, the Sequel: the Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming’ by Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn, published in 2008.
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Choose The Right…Turn

UPS is making like Derek Zoolander, and not turning left. They have eliminated left-hand turn routes from their 95,000 truck fleet using a "package flow" software program. It has been a year now and the results are in:

"Last year, according to Heather Robinson, a U.P.S. spokeswoman, the software helped the company shave 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, which has resulted in savings of roughly three million gallons of gas and has reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons." (source)

No more engine idling, waiting for the left-turn light. Maybe they are also using these trucks. Obviously the main reason for doing this was to save money, but the situation is a win-win for everyone involved. UPS saves time and money, our air is cleaner, and their vehicles aren’t on congested roads as much. Additionally, this type of study is further proof that one-way streets, jughandles, and traffic circles are more efficient than our current two-way streets. But updating infrastructure is costly and time-consuming. So what can we do? One possibility is to think about alternative routes while driving around town that will save us time by not making left-hand turns. This would especially be easy to do in areas we are familiar with. For those who may think small suggestions like this are crazy, you may be right, but I offer the following words from Alma to his son:

"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass…" (Alma 37:6)

Finally, the church obviously has an enormous fleet of vehicles worldwide. Any attempt at reducing this fleet would be good to hear about. Walking, biking, or using public transit is ideal for missionary work in urban areas and even suburbs. One good thing happening in US missions: senior couples generally bring their own vehicle rather than the mission providing one. Another area the church appears to be doing well at is limiting the number of vehicle miles each month by the missionaries. This was done even when I served a mission and helps immensely in reduced trips, planning, and efficiency. Finally, the church has an ongoing vehicle fleet sale out of Salt Lake City. I was pleasantly surprised to see that two of the 18 current vehicles for sale are Hybrids (week beginning 18 Feb 2008). It would be good to see more, but this is still a good start.

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Action Day for Utah 02/19/08

http://airnow.gov/

Action Day Tips
Days when ozone is expected to be high:
-Conserve electricity and set your air conditioner at a higher temperature.
-Choose a cleaner commute—share a ride to work or use public transportation. Bicycle or walk to errands when possible.
-Refuel cars and trucks after dusk.
-Combine errands and reduce trips.
-Limit engine idling.
-Use household, workshop,and garden chemicals in ways that keep evaporation to a minimum, or try to delay using them when poor air quality is forecast.

Days when particle pollution is expected to be high:
-Reduce or eliminate fireplace and wood stove use.
-Avoid using gas-powered lawn and garden equipment.
-Avoid burning leaves, trash and other materials.
(Source)

"Action days are usually called when the AQI gets into the unhealthy ranges. Different air pollution control agencies call them at different levels. In some places, action days are called when the AQI is forecast to be Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, or Code Orange. In this case, the groups that are sensitive to the pollutant should reduce exposure by reducing prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors. For ozone this includes: children and adults who are active outdoors, and people with lung disease, such as asthma. For particle pollution this includes: people with heart or lung disease, older adults and children. Occasionally, an action day is declared when the AQI is Moderate, or Code Yellow, if the levels are expected to approach Code Orange levels." (source)

Image by tephdra

Utah's Winter Air Quality Program: "Red Light, Green Light"
Temperature Inversions Impact Air Quality

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