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Breathe of Fresh Air for Utah

Bernal, Omar

Fedo, Aimee

Glass, Gabe

Hodson, Whitney

Wice, Brady

Wing, Josh

Salt Lake Community College

Comm 1010-060

November 27, 2012

1

Table Of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................................... 3

PROJECT DESCRIPTION...................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................5

METHODS.................................................................................................................................................... 5

Part 1 – Problem......................................................................................................................................... 5

Part 2 – Analyze the Problem...............................................................................................................5

Part 3 – Criteria.......................................................................................................................................... 9

Part 4 – Brainstorm................................................................................................................................ 11

Part 5 – Organize..................................................................................................................................... 12

Part 6 – Yes We Can!.............................................................................................................................13

CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................................... 15

WORK CITED......................................................................................................................................... 16

Appendix A................................................................................................................................................. 18

Appendix B................................................................................................................................................. 19

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Within the pages of this report you will read about a common problem that affects

everyone in the world. We have analyzed how we can help reduce air pollution in the Salt

Lake Valley, and in general. We studied the problem to find out what and where we can

help combat this growing problem. We know that automobiles, trains, factories and

plants, and littering are causing most of the problem. We were able to indentify some

important characteristics of the problem and research the history of these characteristics

to help us come up with criteria that is important in changing the way we do things. Some

of the solutions we were able to indentify are: changing the way we build things,

educating the public, creating incentive programs to get people to buy electric cars and

utilize public transportation.

3

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

As a group we are to collaborate on an issue in our community and come up with

a solution to help fix the problem. For this assignment we were to use the reflective

thinking process to assist us in finding a solution that we all agreed upon. In this process

we were to start by creating a group contract that we all would abide by and agree upon a

community issue that we could find a solution for and execute that solution. Second we

analyzed the problem, you can’t fix the problem until you understand why or what is

causing the problem. Third we came up with a list of criteria to help us with identifying

which solution we all could agree with. Forth we brainstorm for a list of possible

solutions. Fifth we use a table and point system to assist us in organizing our criteria

against our solution to find the solution that was most important to us as a group. Final

step was to implement the solution that we came up with as a group (Adler & Elmhorst,

page 248-250).

We decided to tackle air pollution in the Salt Lake Valley, after all this affects us

all. As we all know this problem is caused by a number of things from transporting cargo

by semi or train from city to city or your daily drive to work. The purpose of the group

was to identify a solution that we could implement with a defined criteria to accomplish

our goal. We believe that by spreading the word and educating people on ways that won’t

cost much we’ll make the biggest difference.

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INTRODUCTION

We have spent the past three weeks implementing the reflective thinking process

to assist in coming up with a solution to promote existing air quality reduction programs

in the Salt Lake Valley. During the process we were able to collaborate as a team and

accomplish our goal of finding a solution. The process we went through to come up with

the solution was to have group discussions and brainstorming exercises. Our purpose is to

find a way to reduce air pollution in the Salt Lake Valley. We find it’s important because

the air we breathe affects our health and both physically and emotionally. In this paper

we will be discussing ways to reduce air pollution by utilizing effective education on

ways everybody can help, personal and business incentives, and promoting hybrid cars.

METHODS

Part 1 – Problem

There are several ways to reduce air pollution in the Salt Lake Valley. Using less

fossil fuels by raising the standard of the fossil fuels efficiency and engaging in energy

conservation by maximizing natural resources available, encouraging a culture of energy

austerity expanding alternative sources of energy, and more importantly raising public

awareness of current programs. A more visual recognition of what the everyday person

can do to help reduce air pollution needs to be implemented so we can reach our short

and long-term goals.

Part 2 – Analyze the Problem

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The project was split up into five sections to aid in researching information;

characteristics of the problem, stakeholders, history, policies/ politics, and resources

available. As a group we decided to all research what we could find and maximize our

knowledge and awareness on the issue. This seemed to work out quite well as everyone

had something to add in all different areas, this culminated in us having to spend a little

extra time sorting and simplifying what we wanted to concentrate on, and how best to

achieve our desired results. After finding the best points to look at we broke it down and

found more detailed information on those points.

When looking at the characteristics of smog, we decided to break it down into

multiple ideas. The most obvious problem is it is just plain ugly looking, waking up and

looking outside at a cloud of brown is never fun, when you are above it looking down, all

you can think about is having to go in it. It is terrible for our health and can be

devastating to the environment, both living and inanimate. With that said, it was

mentioned that thanks to the pollution we get the amazing red purple sunsets that we do.

After looking at the characteristics we decided that the main reasons that smog is a

problem include that it is bad for your health, causing problems ranging from a runny

nose to immune system problems to birth complications. It has a damaging effect on

plants as well; the smog actually lowers plants immune systems causing plants to

synthesize up to 50% less, and that in turn keeps the concentrations of smog higher. It can

also cause acid rain that hurts both plants and animals, as well as turns the soil and water

into a much more acidic compound, harming the ecosystem. The acid rain and smog also

wear on stone and metal, corroding them at faster rate. After looking at the data we

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collected we decided that if left unchecked, smog could ultimately alter the world

ecosystem drastically.

After looking over the characteristics we started to talk about who was affected

and how. We agreed that everybody is affected but it was also still an important subject

as not everybody is affected the same way. The owner of the refineries up North may not

like the smog and as such move to Park City to be away from it, if we crack down on

large emission industry, then the owners will be paying more and will not be as happy

with their profits. In turn they may pull out and find a state with lower emission standard.

There are plenty of people who simply are affected by not being able to go outside:

exercise can actually cause more harm than good to your lungs, causing permanent

scarring inside your lungs. Many people can become sick from the smog, as the

particulates in the air get lodged and stuck in your lungs. That is not to say that people are

not doing anything about it, after we all spent some time doing more research, we learned

that Utah, and many of the states in the U.S. and countries around the world, are in fact

working hard to combat the smog problem but with the amount of people and energy

needed it is hard to keep the air as clean as we would prefer.

In the past we have had pollution problems, from coal fires, to nuclear meltdowns

but what our group realizes was that we never really fixed the overall problem, just parts

of it. When humans realized that the Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in industrial gases and

aerosol cans were causing holes in the ozone, we stopped using them but didn’t

reevaluate our overall pollution problem. Today our biggest problem is cars and trucks,

mainly because they are often idling, weather you are waiting for a light or doing drive

through, it is just a waste of energy. In the last while there have been multiple initiatives

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created to spur the progress of lowering Utah’s pollutions levels. Some ideas are as

simple as idle free stickers and zones, using public transit and carpooling, biking, to

advanced ideas like Hydrogen fuel cells and solar power plants. While looking through

the different policies in place and all the ones that were aimed to help air pollution, we

started to wonder if the reason these and other solutions are not having as big an effect as

imagined is simply the public not being educated on these options. It is easier to jump in

the car your self rather than figuring out a whole carpool, yet if companies would set up a

program to make carpools easier, or have incentives to make a carpool, it would have a

massive impact.

When we looked into different policies and the politics of keeping the Salt Lake

valley air clean, it was clear that many people cared for our air, but at the same time we

were willing to forgo that just because we feel other policies are un-fair. We found that

Utah itself has lots of pollution laws and policies and that the U.S. has their own set of

rules that the nation as a whole has to follow. In Utah some of the more obvious policies

are the Turn The Key, Be Idol Free stickers and just the No Idol Zones, the refineries are

regulated and have to pass safety and emission tests. We also have the color-coded scale

to help make it easier to tell when a day is better or worse.

After talking about the problem and how we could best help the situation, we

decided that the most effective approach would be to help educate people even more.

This way we could use public places to hold free seminars on simple tricks and tips to

help keep trash and resources from turning into pollution and fouling up our air. With the

Internet we can set up a site that has links to sites about pollution and how to help. We

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would try to coordinate with other organizations that are already working on ideas and try

to branch out to new people or organizations.

Part 3 – Criteria

In the criteria part of our paper we decided to take some time and actually think

about what our best decision would be as far as making a solution for our paper. We

came up with our top five solutions that we felt would make the best fit. Our five

solutions are: building green, public awareness, public transit, personal incentive,

corporate incentive, and electric cars. We then inserted the criteria that we had come up

with into the model shown on page A 20. The criteria we decided to use were money,

time, effectiveness, emissions tracking, and safety standards.

To help get the word out and start slowing pollution sooner we decided to try and

make money a lower priority. No matter what some money will be needed to start the

whole process. By keeping costs low it also lets others use any of our ideas without

breaking the bank. As time goes on and as we got more organized with other groups we

could start to incorporate bigger and more expensive ideas to help cut pollution faster and

in higher quantities.

When we started to implement our ideas and start our talks it would be hard to get

the word out. We would want to set multi-year goals as none of this would happen

overnight. We had roughly a month to start this project and give a proposal so we had to

plan accordingly. Building green would be a longer time investment and the proposal in

its own would be difficult to see results instantly. Public awareness takes the least amount

of time for a proposal and can be implemented in a huge variety of spaces. The hardest

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part about public education is getting more people to come and then to actually

implement the ideas. Public transit would take less time than building green but certainly

more than public awareness. With public transit this is something already being done but

its finding a way to make it better that consumes the effort. Incentive programs are trying

to be worked in by a lot of state and companies but it takes more time to hear back and

also how long do we wait till we see the benefits. Electric cars are already making their

way into the world as we speak but it takes time to implement all these different

solutions.

We need to come up with a solution that is effective towards what we wanted to

accomplish in our scenario but also being time appropriate seeing as we wanted to

somehow get something accomplished with this before it was turned in. You can’t look at

any of our solutions and tell us there is one that isn’t effective. So the tricky part is

picking the most effective that helps in the shortest time.

Emission tracking is a great way to put a tangible number to your cars or trucks

exhaust and other forms of pollution. There are plenty of different ways to implement this

idea, from online calculators, tracking with emissions and stricter inspections, and even

putting some form of number to industry. By tracking peoples emissions we could set

monthly limits and even charge for going over or just charge a flat rate for a designated

quantity of emissions. If we started tracking the emissions now, we could set a goal to

lower them in five years and use it as a marker for years to come.

When it came to safety standards there was one solution that really came to mind

with us. Public awareness is the solution that we think fits this best. Safety of our people

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is what’s really at stake here, at home, for all of us in the Salt Lake Valley. Some days the

smog is so bad that we really shouldn’t go outside and just stay inside to stay away from

it all. We need to make it aware to all of the people how bad the smog is damaging our

community and the environment around it.

Part 4 – Brainstorm

Brainstorming is a good way to get everyone’s ideas out on the table. It helps

everyone in the group share their ideas freely and without judgment. It can be hard to

brainstorm when so many ideas have already been but forth, but it does create a very

open and non-judging atmosphere

In our brainstorming for this project we discussed many different aspects to

come up with our chosen topic and how we got here.

Our first brainstorming session was to come up with a topic for our project. The

process we went through to complete this exercise was completed in a five-minute

brainstorming session. The topics we came up with were: recycling and littering, drug

help/drop off, rehab help for people and teens, graffiti and tagging, homeless people and

panhandling, pet friendly areas and open spaces, drug disposal, neighborhood watch,

UTA transit, bike friendly roads, and finally air pollution.

Our second brainstorming session was about brainstorming solutions to air

pollution, we spent seven minutes on this session to give us a little extra time to think of

solutions. Ideas ranged from: alternative fuels, electric vehicles, public transit, building

green, public education, biking, walking, recycling, bigger taxes on industrial areas, idol

free zones, campaigning and making people aware of the environment impact, car

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pooling, more UTA use, incentive programs to reward those who work hard at lowering

their pollution footprint, and driving low emission cars.

Lastly, through our brainstorming we chose to do public awareness and education. We

chose this because it ties in all the solutions we came up with. We feel that by educating

the public we can have a much wider affect on the problem while still keeping the cost

relatively low and easier to implement.

Part 5 – Organize

As a group we discussed each item to decide which ones are practical and which

ones were not. As we discussed each item we would put a star next to the ideas we would

come back too and discuss in further detail. We had to do this twice in order to narrow

our list to six. We created a chart (see below) that had all the solution a crossed the top

and each criterion running down the left side. We then placed number ranging from 1

through 10 in each box, with zero (0) being the least important and ten (10) being the

most important. After we discussed each solution and assigned each criterion a value, we

totaled the solution to find out what was the most important to the group. With 50 points

being the max value. We decided that based on the value of each solution we would be

able to pick which one was going to be the most important to the group. We believe that

“public awareness” is the best solution because as a group with little money and time, we

wanted to educate and motivate a larger number of people in hopes of having a lasting

effect. We held a second chance discussion just to make sure we all still agree. We

reviewed the other proposed solutions to make sure we didn’t forget to bring something

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up. After reviewing the list of solutions we decided that the “public awareness” was still

our best chance at making a difference. We did not have to revise our solution.

Criteria Evaluation Chart

Solution

Criterion

Building

green

Public

awareness

Public

Trans

Personal

Incent

Corp

Incentive

Electric

cars

Money 4 6 2 10 10 10

Time 2 8 4 6 10 0

Effectiveness 8 10 6 2 4 10

Emissions

Tracking 10 2 4 0 0 10

Safety

Standards 2 10 2 10 4 4

Totals 26 36 18 28 28 34

Scale 0 = Low Importance 10 = High Importance

Part 6 – Yes We Can!

We are implementing a” We Care” campaign to help improve Utah’s air quality.

First we are setting up an educational website in order for our group to provide facts and

statistics. We would like to inform Utahan’s on the health risks we all face due to Utah’s

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poor air quality. You will also learn what you can do on an individual basis to help

improve our air quality. We will provide links to Utah’s Moms For Clean Air, Utah

Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Breath Utah, Utah Clean Air Alliance, and the

Division of Air Quality (DEQ). Within this website you will have the opportunity to help,

whether it’s donating money, volunteering your time, riding your bike or walking, these

are all things that can help improve our air quality.

We will also create a Facebook page for our campaign so our group will have a

more interactive voice. Everyone in our group will help monitor our Facebook page in

order to respond to comments and address questions. We can try and advertise ourselves

on others pages’, we can also set some people up to monitor the page and post new

information as it comes up.

The purpose of our webpage and Facebook is to implement awareness and in

doing so we would like to promote other organizations campaigns. The above mentioned

sites are full of great resources and volunteer opportunities. Anyone wanting or willing to

donate time, money or even advice for this cause will have every opportunity to do so

after visiting our website or facebook page. Our group will also has an opportunity to

bring more awareness to this problem through our presentation in our communication

class on Nov. 27, 2012.

Due to the different individuals that have created campaigns and foundations in

support of reducing air pollution here in Utah, there is more awareness to the problem.

Together they have brought Governor Gary Herbert’s attention to our problem. With

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more awareness brings new voices in support of this problem, together we can make a

difference.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion after working through the steps outlined in our book, we came to

the solution of public awareness, we felt that education would both benefit everybody

while still being relatively easy and inexpensive to implement. If we were to take the next

step and try to implement this on a large scale we would start off by coordinating with

existing groups as well as set up seminars and public talks on what can be done to easily

cut back on how much pollution we create. The group itself worked out great with

everybody bringing their own concerns and ideas to the table, and still working together

to find a solution that we were all happy with. By having everybody do research helped

to gather a broad and diverse amount of information. We split the paper up by the

different sections to try and get a good base to work with. After the initial merging of the

paper sections we started to edit and refine our paper, adding in some sections and

streamlining others. With the final edit done we were able to put the final touches on the

paper and prepare it to be turned in. In this exercise we worked well as a team, started

with a problem and worked our way to a solution, and to top it off the solution is easily

implemented in almost any space.

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WORK CITED

Adler, R. & Elmhorst, J (2013). Communicating at work: SLCC Custom text (2nd ed). Boston:

McGraw Hill.

"Air Pollution and What You Can Do." Air Pollution and What You Can Do. N.p., n.d. Web. 20

Nov. 2012. <http://www.arb.ca.gov/html/cando.htm>.

Bong J. Lee, et al. “Plasmma-Enhanced Gasification Of Low-Grade Coals For Compact Power

Plants.” Physics Of Plasmas 18.10 (2011): 104505. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5

Nov. 2012

"Breathe Utah." Breathe Utah. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://www.breatheutah.org/>.

"Clear The Air Challenge / Drive Less & Drive Smarter / Clean Up Air Quality / Utah." Clear

The Air Challenge / Drive Less & Drive Smarter / Clean Up Air Quality / Utah. N.p., n.d.

Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://www.cleartheairchallenge.org/>.

Manuel, John. Balancing Act. Rep. 11th ed. Vol. 117. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2012.

<http://content.ebscohost.com.dbprox.slcc.edu/pdf23_24/pdf/2009/3B5/01Nov09/472436

09.pdf?

T=P&P=AN&K=47243609&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHr7ESep684zOX0

OLCmr0qep7dSsaa4TLKWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOGqrkyyrq5IuePfgeyx44

Dt6fIA>.

Morse, Richard K. "Cleaning Up Coal." Foreign Affairs 91.4 (2012): 102-112. Academic Search

Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2012.

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Senapati, Manas R. Fly Ash from Thermal Power Plants – Waste. Rep. 12th ed. Vol. 100. N.p.:

n.p., n.d. 22 Apr. 2009. Web. 2 Nov. 2012.

"State of Utah - GOPB (Budget Section)." State of Utah - GOPB (Budget Section). N.p., n.d.

Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://governor.utah.gov/budget/>.

"Utah DEQ: DAQ." Utah DEQ: DAQ. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.

<http://www.airquality.utah.gov/>.

"Utah Moms for Clean Air." Utah Moms for Clean Air. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.

<http://www.utahmomsforcleanair.org/>.

"Utah Physicians for Healthy Environment." Utah Physicians for Healthy Environment. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://www.uphe.org/>.

"Utah's Pollution Problem: Small Steps Making Positive Impact for Air Quality." Salt Lake City

and Utah Breaking News, Sports, Entertainment and News Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 18

Nov. 2012. <http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700123043/Utahs-pollution-problem-

Small-steps-making-positive-impact-for-air-quality.html?pg=all>.

Venables, Mark. Back To Black. Rep. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2012.

<http://content.ebscohost.com.dbprox.slcc.edu/pdf9/pdf/2008/2WMX/08Nov08/3642604

1.pdf?

T=P&P=AN&K=36426041&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHr7ESep684zOX0

OLCmr0qep7VSsae4TbKWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOGqrkyyrq5IuePfgeyx44

Dt6fIA>.

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Appendix A

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Group Contract

Appendix B

Bernal, Omar - 100 points

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Omar receive 100 participation points because he attended, participated, completed

assignments, meet all deadlines, and showed courteous and respectful behavior in all

group meetings.

Fedo, Aimee - 100 points

Aimee receive 100 participation points because he attended, participated, completed


group meetings.

Glass, Gabe -100 points

Gabe receive 100 participation points because he attended, participated, completed


group meetings.

Hodson, Whitney - 100 points

Whitney receive 100 participation points because he attended, participated,

completed assignments, meet all deadlines, and showed courteous and respectful

behavior in all group meetings.

Wice, Brady – 90 points

Brady receives 90 participation points because he missed the first group meeting.

The first meeting was the most important meeting. We decided on a issues and

created a group contract. We feel that he went over and above on the rest of the

meeting to justify the addition point awarded.

Wing, Josh - 100 points

20

Josh receive 100 participation points because he attended, participated, completed


group meetings.

21

Appendix B

Weekly Tracking of Participation

30-Oct 1-Nov 6-Nov 8-Nov 13-Nov 15-Nov

Whitney Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3 Meeting 4 Meeting 5 Meeting 6 Points Earned Total

Attendance 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 2 12Participation 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 4 24Assignment Completion 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 5 30Meeting Deadlines 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 5 30Being Courteous 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 0.666667 4.000002

Each Member Intial's 16.666667 100.000002 Total

Brady Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3 Meeting 4 Meeting 5 Meeting 6 Points Earned Total

Attendance 1 1 1 1 1 5 2 10Participation 1 1 1 1 1 5 4 20Assignment Completion 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 25Meeting Deadlines 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 25Being Courteous 1 1 1 1 1 5 0.666667 3.333335


Aimee Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3 Meeting 4 Meeting 5 Meeting 6 Points Earned Total



Omar Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3 Meeting 4 Meeting 5 Meeting 6 Points Earned Total



Gabe Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3 Meeting 4 Meeting 5 Meeting 6 Points Earned Total



Josh Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3 Meeting 4 Meeting 5 Meeting 6 Points Earned Total

Attendance 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 2 12Participation 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 4 24Assignment Completion 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 5 30Meeting Deadlines 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 5 30

Points per Meeting

Points per Meeting

Points per Meeting

Points per Meeting

Points per Meeting

Points per Meeting

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