Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Smoke gets in your eyes......from far away!

It's been very hazy here on the usually sunny and clear Front Range of Colorado the past few days. Yesterday when I was out riding I thought that the sky last looked as it did when we were having large fires in nearby forests.

Well, it turns out I was right. The Daily Camera reports that the haze covering Boulder is the result of smoke getting into the jetstream and being swept here from Utah and California fires. In fact, it is enough smoke for it to be unhealthy for some folks to go outside.

This is a reminder that in matters of the environment, there is no such thing as a local issue. You burn coal in Wyoming, it effects people everywhere. You pollute the river in Pittsburgh, and it pollutes the water everywhere. You cut down your forest, and it raises the temperature all over the world. Some people think all decisions like this should be local, but that is ridiculous. We are all on this planet together, and we impact each other with our actions.

Finally, the comic Prickly City is picking on Economists this week. I can't get it to embed properly, so you can enjoy it HERE.

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