Holladay vs Olympus Cove (Salt Lake City: 2014, to live, dangerous)

[ExpatMom]

We can't seem to find anything to our taste in Olympus Cove and Holladay right now. My realtor suggested looking in Canyon Rim. Can anyone share any thoughts about Rosecrest Elem and Evergreen Middle School?

[skibarbie]

Common sense on the "death zone" and physics too... Heavier particulate, aka pm2.5, sink to the valley floor.
Lighter, more toxic crap is at the top of "the inversion" which is ususally around 4800 and above depending upon the depth of the inversion.
I had a customer stop in this afternoon that was bragging about "living above the inversion". I did not have the heart to tell her the poison in the air at her elevation was worse than those that live below her...
We can only hope that our stupid legislators will punish MagCorp and the other violators... Cars are not the problem...

[CCSLC]

How can you say "cars are not the problem" when every academic study, nonprofit health group, and air pollution scientist indicates that cars are either the BULK of the problem or at least a major component of it? MagCorp, while certainly not without blame, has gotten cleaner over the years our inversion has gotten worse (and as the number of cars on the road has increased).

[skibarbie]

I should have said "cars are not the only problem"....be nice if our "leaders" would insist on statewide emissions.

[dcisive]

Personally I level a large part of the blame on the pickups and trucks that burn diesel belching those huge plumes of black smoke, along with people who think they are doing themselves and everyone else a favor by hanging onto those older cars and trucks that wreak of exhaust fumes not in alignment with the newer car emissions. I would agree we need to get as if not MORE stringent than California with our emissions standards. We are way too lenient with too many older non compliant vehicles and even newer one's that aren't doing us any good.

[CCSLC]

If you see a vehicle "belching those huge plumes of black smoke," do us all a favor and REPORT IT (you can also call 385-468-SMOG to report)!

You do need to get the license plate number, which can be challenging in some situations, but it's worth the effort when that vehicle is flagged in the system at its next emissions inspection.

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by skibarbie

Common sense on the "death zone" and physics too... Heavier particulate, aka pm2.5, sink to the valley floor.
Lighter, more toxic crap is at the top of "the inversion" which is ususally around 4800 and above depending upon the depth of the inversion.
I had a customer stop in this afternoon that was bragging about "living above the inversion". I did not have the heart to tell her the poison in the air at her elevation was worse than those that live below her...
We can only hope that our stupid legislators will punish MagCorp and the other violators... Cars are not the problem...

Sorry, you're living off some misconceptions. Cars are very much the problem. Study after study cites cars as the greatest single source of PM 2.5. And common sense often doesn't work when applied to physics. PM 2.5 is not a heavy particulate, quite the contrary. PM 2.5 does sink, eventually, but the particles are so small that they remain suspended a very, very long time, far longer than the duration of an inversion. That's why they are transported hundreds of miles, such as from coal burning power plants to the northeast. That's also why they're bad for you - they are inhaled into the tiniest parts of the lung because we don't have any biological filtration system like we do for larger particles. If there's stratification of pollutants in an inversion (I've been looking for info on this, I haven't found much), the PM 2.5 is worst at the bottom because that's where most of it is being created - at street level, because most of it is from CARS. It's not sifting down from above.

That said, the "lighter stuff" at the top of the inversion may well be volatile hydrocarbons. that's what it smells like to me. that can indeed rise because they're less dense than oxygen and nitrogen (aka air), so they rise, same a balloon.

As for what's the most toxic, who knows? It probably varies from person to person.

Finally - do you plan to vote against those stupid legislators and for more forward-looking replacements?

[skibarbie]

Hello Kletterman, did you not read my "disclaimer"?
I am a registered voter in Utah, are you?
The really toxic crap does not sink so those that "live above the inversion" are in the worst case scenario.

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by skibarbie

Hello Kletterman, (1) did you not read my "disclaimer"?
(2) I am a registered voter in Utah, are you?
The really toxic crap does not sink so those that "live above the inversion" are in the worst case scenario.

(1) Sorry, it's not very clear to me what that "disclaimer" is.
(2) No. Happily that will change very soon. And I'm very much looking forward to voting for a more progressive leadership than seems to be in place. For all the good it's likely to do any time soon...

[dcisive]

I found it very interesting that yesterday I heard on the news they have determined that approximately 10% of the pollution we experience is actually transported via the jetstream from Bejing China. It's amazing that that junk travels that far and we get to have it on hand. Also much of the Pacific Ocean fish now captured on the United States West Coast has at it's minimum traces of radio activity from the Fukishima melt down in Japan. Guess I'm off fish for sure.......