Hello clean-air-and-climate friends: Please join us on zoom (link available via email) from 7-7:40pm MT every other Wednesday night: W Mar 8, W Mar 22, etc. All are welcome to a discussion of our campaign and our progress in qualifying for the Nov 2024 ballot by collecting 135,000 signatures from F Feb 17 to W Nov 22, 2023.

Policy: Utah deserves a way to eliminate the state sales tax on grocery store food that doesn’t threaten education funding, which is what the state legislature is trying to do. Our proposal gives voters a choice, an alternative that invests in our future instead of stealing from our children. You can learn more from our open letter, and you can sign on to the open letter by emailing your name and location to us at info@DarnAir.org. Please try to add your name by W March 8 at 11am.

Signature-gathering opportunities: Check out the Guide to Gathering Signatures and this 2-pager with instructions for signature gatherers, and then click on the links below for event calendars; experienced volunteers have added their names and contact info in red to events they’re going to be at, so reach out to them if you want to join them! (Or try to add a Comment on the calendar, or email us at info@DarnAir.org.) No experience necessary, we will provide training and materials!

  • North of SLC: We’ve got a group of students at USU planning some signature-gathering indoors on campus starting M March 13. (Note that this week is spring break.)
  • South of Provo: There’s a big push in St George this week thanks to Lisa and Mike and Karen and Dave and others! Note that Utah Tech is in session this week (week of March 6) but has spring break next week (week of March 13). And the St George Home Expo is coming up Fri-Sat March 17-18. Also FYI we have permits to gather at the liquor stores in St George, Hurricane, and Cedar City.
  • West side, SLC to Provo: There are promising events at the Maverik Center, including the Pac-12 women’s gymnastics competition on Saturday March 18.
  • East side, SLC to Provo: The Spring Home & Garden Festival at the Mt America Expo Center in Sandy is Fri-Sun March 10-12; we have a permit to gather outdoors from the 40,000 people expected to attend. And we can gather at UVU, both indoors during school times (but note that this week is spring break) and outdoors at the Home & Garden Show at the UCCU Center on campus Fri-Sat March 17-18. We can also gather outdoors at the Eccles Theater (comedian Brian Regan Wed-Sat March 15-18), at Vivint Arena (Utah Jazz on Sat March 18), and at the U of U (this week is spring break, but students are back next week, plus Kim Stanley Robinson is speaking on M March 13).

Purchasing power: We have the materials that we need for now, but in the weeks ahead we will need to order more of our awesome stickers, so please consider a donation to help us buy more stickers!

Tales from the Trails: Please send funny or interesting stories like the ones below to us at info@DarnAir.org!

  • Yoram had a great time gathering signatures at USU last week, but one student refused to sign because “I don’t believe in climate change”, which seemed bad enough until a few minutes later, when another student refused to sign because “I don’t believe in democracy!” (But most students were supportive, and Yoram got 150 signatures in about 3 hours!)
  • As required by state law, we held public hearings around the state Feb 10-12. The hearing in Price was actually thought-provoking and heartwarming, and if you have 90 minutes for it then here is the audio. Some of the other hearings were less enlightening, but still amusing. In Nephi, after more than an hour of comments about election fraud and how global warming is a hoax, one fellow gets up and says “I actually reject most of the conspiracy theories that have been mentioned today… but the thing is that behind closed doors even people high up in the green movement will admit that carbon dioxide is not the problem.” (Conspiracy theories for me but not for thee!) And the St George hearing got off to a bad start with the very first commenter, who began: “When the communists who are destroying our country right now came into power a little over 2 years ago…” Finally, here’s a brief exchange from the hearing in Logan, starting with climate skepticism from Dr David Medlyn: “Trees photosynthesize [CO2] and therefore carbon emissions are not concerning.” The response from Clean The Darn Air’s Charles Ashurst: “Global warming is happening and there is no way to dispute the facts.” (Go Charles!)

In the news: Here’s more from the Tribune about the legislative efforts to amend the funding guarantee for public education. (See also the banner headline.) The Tribune has a story on the EPA efforts to crack down on ozone emissionsfrom Utah’s coal-fired power plants. And the AP has a headline on “Nevada battery recycler wins $2B loan from Energy Department“. And SW Utah coordinator Lisa Rutherford has a Tribune op-ed on another climate-related issue: water.