Wear Your Official Utah State Face Mask!

OK, So Utah has a state flower (Sego Lily), a state cooking pot (Dutch oven) and a state rock, (coal). I still say coal is a mineral, not a rock, but this is the Legislature talking, so who cares?

And a state gun, of course, the Browning Automatic 1911.

So why not, these days, a state face mask? I propose the standard issue surgical mask, of which many brands exist. Some even prevent the spread of flu!

Everyone says "Oh, Utah's air has always had this problem," but I challenge you to find a copy of the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News or Standard-Examiner dated before 1970 containing an officially issued government warning not to breathe deeply outdoors.

Sure, there were days the air was bad -- we could see the smoke plume from the copper mine in Magna steadily filling the valley -- but nothing like today.

Nothing. Sorry, I was here, it is true.

Saturday I'm going (via mass transit) to this rally (click!) in SLC to demand the Legislature do something a bit more aggressive than just handing out bumper stickers urging folks to car pool. A recent plan to take measures that won't meet federal standards is a good place to start (click) but it should not stop there.

The Legislature is fond of saying that attacking industrial pollution scares away jobs and only deals with 10 percent of the problem. Nobody ever says how many jobs Utah's foul air scares away, California seems to have no trouble attracting jobs (click)  despite strict standards, and if we can take care of 10 percent of the problem, that's a good place to start.

Yes, car pooling would help, but spending more on mass transit and less on highways would would make mass transit more convenient and shift population patterns to a healthier method of getting around. If the car is an expensive hassle, and FrontRunner/Trax/bus can do the job, people will find a way.

The real trick will be breaking Utahns' habit of wanting to live in that quiet rural subdivision (which they rapidly make noisy and non-rural by crowding in) and live close to where they work so they burn less gasoline getting to their job. Sure, big city taxes and housing costs are higher, but what is the cost of replacing your car every three years? And filling your tank once or twice a week?

The cooking pot, lily and gun are all marketing symbols, meant to show what joys the state has to offer.

A state mask will be different, a way to tell our own residents, our own lawmakers and policy makers, what sort of state we are really building here.

If that sends a bad message, well, build differently.