New Digs: From the Porch

New Digs: From the Porch
Originally uploaded by Theorris

I took this view from my front porch a week or so ago when we had a particularly good sunset and before the inversion smog beset the Salt Lake valley. For those of you foreign to mountain valleys, an inversion forms when cold air (usually created by snow on the ground) is trapped in the valley like a bowl, and wind does very little to clear it out. Think of putting cold molases in a bowl and attempting to get that out by just running cold water over the top of it.

While inversion is a natural phenomenon, there is an unfortunate side effect of trapping all the pollutants spewed out by human devices in the cold air. This pollution is the main reason I refuse to drive. Although that is a difficult choice in this modern age, and I have taken to using a car-sharing program, in times like this I am reminded that we all need to do our part to eliminate needless pollution.

Of course all my consternation about pollution is thrown into sharp relief because I'm probably going to buy a car in the next few months. One thing is certain, however: I shall never commute via car to work again.