Utah: Nation's Dirtiest? And a card

Air. We have the dirtiest air in America.

In Utah -especially the Salt lake Valley - there is a nasty phenomenon called inversion. The definition of an inversion is the layer of air near the earth is cooler than an overlying layer. What it means is that pollution gets trapped and can't go away until the next storm. We get this in the winter and there are regular warnings for asthmatics (me) and people with compromised immune systems (me) to stay indoors. This inversion is so bad it's effecting healthy people and the warnings extend to all people, not just the weak. I haven't seen any of the mountains that ring this fair valley in days. In the valley itself people say it's like walking through fog...ON THE GROUND! Environmental compliance agents drive through neighborhoods to police the rules. If you are caught burning wood or a variety of other things you'll be fined. It's really bad. Strong people can't breathe well, are coughing and many are too worn out to function. When air particulates get this high heart attacks and strokes go up as much as ten-fold. The hospitals have to over staff like crazy to deal with it. It's scary.

For me, as one suffering an immune disorder, this is a hard, hard thing to manage. I'm mostly sitting still, trying to breathe. My chest aches like pneumonia and the tiredness is like a heavy drape. My back swells in response to my immune system fighting the bad air and the swelling presses on my insides, causing internal bleeding. So I add low blood pressure and anemia to the mix. Ugh. It's hard to function like this. Each hour seems to bring with it a loss - mostly of motion.

Fortunately I'm more angry than depressed and as soon as this terrible air blows away (and it's safe to leave the house) I want to get involved with the Mother's for Clean Air group and see what good I can do. This is unacceptable. Utah needs to put better environmental laws in place. You can read the latest inversion story here if you're interested. It's supposed to blow over on the weekend. I'm trying to ride it out but if things get much worse, Chris is going to drive the kids and I somewhere else - Wendover, Vegas... anywhere with clean air.

I made this valentines card before the inversion:


It doesn't show up well small, you can see it bigger here

Stamps:
Dianne's Pumpkin Claire Flamingo Right (SALE)
Dianne's Vampire Claire Flamingo Left (SALE)
Flower Curl Heart
"Be My Valentini"