SOAR Blog

I pledge to reduce my greenhouse gas emissions by 450 pounds during May, which many U.S. cities, including Salt Lake City, recognize as Bike Month.

I have the farthest commute of all the SOAR team members (about 30 miles), so I’m not going to attempt to commute the entire way by bike. But I will take the bus two to three times per week, and stop asking my husband to drop me off and pick me up from my home bus stop (I learned at the Bicycle Leadership Conference that 40 percent of trips in the U.S. are just two miles and are the most polluting). If I do this during the month of May, UtahCommuter.com tells me that I can reduce my vehicle trips by 450 to 680 miles and my greenhouse gas emission by 380 to 575 pounds.

Me prepping for the Momentum bike fashion show at Interbike

I first started using mass transit because it was cheaper than buying snow tires for my 1988 California-raised Volvo. Even though the threat of snow is gone (let’s hope), I still try to commute by bus twice a week. The entire commute from point to point takes about 30-40 minutes longer than it would if I drove by myself, but I think it is worth the extra time spent. One-way bus fare cheaper than a gallon of gas and the time I have on the bus to read Newsweek and study Portuguese is priceless. Plus, I get home to my husband in a much better mood not having fought traffic for 45 minutes.

I’ll also reduce my green house gas emissions by biking around town more. I’ve been assessing every road I drive on for its bikeability and often think, “I could totally bike this. Why am I even driving a car?” I see bike trips to the gelaterie are in my not-so distant future.

You can learn how many pounds of carbon emissions your commute reduces by registering at UtahCommuter. com (hint: if you only commute by a car alone, your commute reduces NONE! Think about it.)

Efforts to restore Utah Lake to its former beauty and pristine state are well underway, with the preliminary draft of a Master Plan unveiled this past month by the Utah Lake Commission.

Utah Lake covers more than 150 square miles, is 14-feet deep at its greatest depth and when full contains more than 870,000 acre feet of water.

Utah Lake during winter

According to a 2005 lake-wide study (the most recent such study conducted), it was estimated that non-native common carp constituted 91 percent of all fish within Utah Lake, with a projection of more than 7.5 million two-year-old (or older) carp inhabiting the lake.

Unfortunately, as bottom feeders, carp are also one of the greatest contributors to most public complaints surrounding Utah Lake - its turbidity (or murky) coloration. Carp are not the only culprits of the often cloudy condition of the lake, however, as manmade contributors (agricultural and factory runoffs), algae blooms and high-winds can combine to stir up the shallow waters to create less than attractive waters.

As a shallow habitat Utah Lake can and does support a variety of warm water gamefish, including white bass, walleye, channel catfish and several panfish species, including crappie and perch (each of which have been introduced to the lake).

Nevertheless, the list of Federal and state agencies that have a say in the management of Utah Lake is almost overwhelming and includes the

• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services
• U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
• U.S. Bureau of Land Management
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• National Parks Service
• Utah Reclamation Mitigation & Conservation Commission
• Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands
• Utah Division of Water Resources
• Utah Division of Water Rights
• Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
• Utah Division of Parks & Recreation
• Utah Division of Water Quality
• Utah Division of State History

All told, six federal agencies, eight state divisions, and dozens of other local municipalities, governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations, each have a hand in what happens to Utah Lake.

On top of these organizations, the Utah Lake Commission was

“formed to promote beneficial utilization of the natural resources of the lake . . . in keeping with the Public Trust Doctrine.”

As noted above, the preliminary draft of the commission’s Master Plan has been written and is now available for public comment and feedback. Reed S. Price is the Executive Director of the Utah Lake Commission and he can be reached by phone at 801-851-2900 or by email at rprice@utahlakecommission.org.

In addition, interested individuals are also invited to participate in the following online survey to provide public input to the commission.

Dear President-Elect Obama:

The price of unleaded gasoline has finally dropped below $2.00 per gallon here in Utah, a pleasant fact that dramatically hit home this morning when I filled the tank on my 1990 Mazda Miata for less than $20.00. Hooray!

Credit: New York Times, David Maxwell photographer

It’s clear that challenges in the global economy have contributed to this price drop at the pump, with multiple news sources say gas prices are at their lowest levels since  January 2007.  (For example, see this article in the San Antonio Business Journal.)

As happy as I am that prices have retreated as much as they have recently, I do have one nagging concern: Will lowered gas prices provide a disincentive for efforts to develop/create alternative energy options, particularly in the automotive/transportation industries? I certainly hope not.

So . . . President-Elect Obama (and the Democrat-controlled Congress) I urge you - do NOT let this be the case.

I’m keenly aware that we’re in the midst of an “economic slowdown” (née recession). I get that.

Nevertheless, please make sure that we do everything that we can as a country to reduce our dependence on both foreign oil and oil period.

Just because costs have dropped so much - both at the pump and by the barrel - do not let such falling gasoline prices thwart efforts to pursue and encourage alternative energy options (both here and abroad). Thank you.

Sincerely,

David (”Poppa P”) Politis

Garbage day is Monday at the Politis household, which means that every Sunday night before retiring for the evening, Poppa P gets to take the trash cans out to the curb.

And for 10 years, that has also meant taking the green recycling can out to the curb as well, filled (as often as not) with newspapers, cardboard and other paper products, as well as with empty soda bottles and aluminum cans too.

In spite of the fact that I assiduously collected newspapers, aluminum cans and glass of all types and colors as a 13-year-old to help pay for a month-long summer trip to visit cousins in Ogden, Utah, the truth is that for most of my life I’ve been a reluctant recycler. But not anymore.

Intellectually, I realize that throughout modern history unscrupulous profiteers have illegally dumped toxic liquids, chemicals and materials into our water, air and land, and wantonly harvested plants, animals and compounds from the earth with little thought about long-term consequences and/or sustainability. In this regard, I am glad that there are now tougher laws in place to halt, minimize and prevent such actions in the future and to seriously penalize those who thwart such regulations.

That said, I have often felt overwhelmed at the enormity of the task, particularly as one individual out of a worldwide population of more than 6 billion.

“What can I do?” I have wondered when contemplating the environment. “And will my solitary actions make any difference?”

Today being Earth Day 2008, I realize that I do not have such questions any more.

Continue Reading »