Marion Craig Memorial Essay Contest
2nd Place Entry

Keeping the environment clean has become a more pressing concern, especially in Utah. Issues such as clean air, energy losses, and using up landfills are becoming even more of a cause for concern. These issues are especially important to Utah. If citizens took a bit more time and effort to recycle, carpool, and other little various things, we could help the environment immensely. Utah could have cleaner air; fossil fuels and other types of nonrenewable energy would be saved longer. The environment would be much cleaner.

Air along the Wasatch Front can get so dirty the pollution can be seen with the naked eye. Pollution is a major concern with Utah environmentalists. The pollution is mostly caused by automobile emissions and major industries. Research has proven that air pollution has a direct relationship to increased strokes and asthma attacks in America. Cleaning up the air will have good effect on asthma victims, and fewer strokes will occur. Power plants are also a major cause for air pollution in Utah. If scientists spend more time looking for a sufficient non-polluting renewable source of energy, the sooner the air can be cleaned up.

Energy is a growing concern not only in Utah, but internationally as well. Nonrenewable fossil fuels are rapidly diminishing. Not only are the amounts decreasing, but coal, oil, and nuclear power has been detrimental to human health. Using renewable resources are practical to use; hybrid cars and other ways of using nonpolluting renewable resources have been introduced to the public. The problem is that the public isn't purchasing them. The knowledge that better energy sources are out there needs to be advertised. There are many ways that knowledge about saving energy can be given to the public so that more energy can be saved.

Recycling is a very easy and efficient way to help the environment. Many of Utah's local waste management companies provide recycling. Recycling reduces the costs of waste management and it is much cheaper than harvesting virgin material. Landfills, apart from being very ugly to look at anyway, threaten water supplies also. Recycling helps reduce these risks, and can also help air quality. It is a very useful and efficient way to help the environment.

All in all, if people took these tiny steps and tried to do little things to help, the environment would be much cleaner and everyone would benefit. If air pollution is reduced, people would have less strokes and asthma attacks. Advertisement of renewable energy saving products will help air pollution and countless other types of pollution decrease. Finally, if recycling were used more, water supplies wouldn't be as threatened and unsightly landfills wouldn't have to grow. It is so simple to make little changes; Utah's citizens should consider the benefits of doing these things.

--Megan Hurst