I was at the BSU / Oregon game this year. The inversion was horrible, could’t even see the foothills from the stadium. Oregon lady and family sitting behind me asked if it was this way very often, that they had read how clean Boise was. I assured them that it was this way most of the time. Even in the summer all you had to do was climb up in the foot hills and look at the grey smog over the valley.

She seemed to be quite shocked that it was so bad. I heard her whisper to her husband. ( I don’t care what you say I’m not moving here). I smiled knowing I was doing my part. A fellow Boisean beside me whispered. ( Good job)

EDITOR NOTE–A true “Bad Boise” growthophobe!

Guardian seems to be equating the inversion to the people who live here. However, the inversion is a natural phenomenom that occured before people ever lived in this valley.

Yes, auto exhaust and wood smoke add particulates to what is simply water vapor, but this is moot when talking about viewing the foothills.

It’s SQUANK, my friends… right here in River City!

Woman, grab your children, run and hide.
Don’t let it catch up with you.
You gotta fight it to stay alive,
And if it gets you, man, you’re through.

It smells so rotten and rank.
Well, everybody calls it the squank.

It’s sick, depressin, gettin’ bigger all the time.
Don’t help it any way you can.
It’s grey and brown and sometimes lime
And it’s spreadin’ all over the land.

And soon we’ll be all breathin’ out of tanks
If somethin’ ain’t done about the squank.

The meanest thing the world’s ever bred
By me and you and my kinfold too.
A monster can’t live unless it’s fed,
And it’s being fed by me and you.
And soon it’s gonna leave the world blank,
And we’ll all be erased by the squank.

“Squank,” by those well-known tree-huggin’ enviro–wack-jobs, Z.Z. Top. (Off’n their first album.)

The Yellow Alert seems to be working well… the streets have been almost EMPTY the last few days! (Or maybe I just can’t see the cars through the Squank any more…)

I would like to know where the all high and mighty Robert was born and raised. If he cannot answer Idaho, then he is part of the problem. I think his closed mindedness (if that is even a word) belongs on the east coast. I hear the same rambling stupdiness (hopefully that is a real word) back east all the time. Go home Robert, they really miss you!

EDITOR NOTE–Snoop, I think you were aiming for “stupidity.” In fairness to all, we ARE saddled with the natural inversion and the very real problem is GROWTH. More people mean more cars and more pollution. Doesn’t really matter who got here first.

Yes Treva, the coal soot was so bad in London, they had to grow garden plants under glass cloches.

So, besides choking and squinting, what are we doing to modify our behavior and mitigate our contribution to the pollutants trapped by naturally occurring inversions? I have cut down drastically on my car trips, but could do more. We have no wood stove, and don’t burn leaves or yard waste (which isn’t very smart in the first place).

For our family, the hardest thing to eliminate is my husband’s commute. There are no alternatives to him driving to work alone. He often bikes if at all possible, which he prefers, but at his current location, this is impossible. But, there are many people who could use alternative transit and, for whatever reasons, choose not to do so. We’ve got to get a handle on this though, or I fear “squank” will be the rule, rather than the exception.

One obvious improvement would be to extend the hours of bus service so that folks don’t get stranded at work after 5pm. Too bad at this point it seems we’d rather breath “squank” than give up the convenience and comfort of our own vehicles.
Another would be to reduce the use of wood stoves and fireplaces. I know they’re quaint and attractive, but are really appropriate only for a minority of situations, and certainly not in densely populated areas.

My neighbors continue to use their wood stove regardless of any air quality alerts because it makes them “feel cozy”. Another burns everything he can get his hands on because it’s “easier than going to the dump”.

Somebody throw me a Christmas bone and tell us how we can protect what remains of our air quality.

Man! How long are we going to beat this dead horse of an issue? It is what it is! Let’s just continue to hold it in check and quit wishing it would go away. I have said this before but Snoop, being a “native ” of anything is a pure accident of birth. You had absolutely nothing to do with where you were born so just let it go.

Snoop, How about right here in Idaho. 61 years now and It is true. Some grow old and wize and others just grow old.

Just think what Boise is going to attract with hype like “most secure” place. We are going to get even more scared, gullible people than we already have. I remember when the Chamber drooled over King and Queen Agee of MK fame and demise.

How lucky we were to have them as residents of Boise they crowed. They said the same thing about Larry Johnston of Albertson fame and we all know where that got us. The Boise Chamber attracts the worst of newcomers, the people who want to exploit everything we have, sell it and then leave. But that is the history of this valley and state since the white man moved in.

I hope the people who buy into the idea of “security” love the suffocating smog blankie we get every winter and fire season.

Helen Keller said..” Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.”

this morning the weather is so nice that I can hear the Robins coughing in the trees