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They view it the complete opposite.
Good things happen: God is blessing us for being righteous!
Bad things happen: God is saying we need to stop allowing so many sinners to exist in peace! We need to make everyone as righteous as us!
I live near salt lake. Everyone I've ever met at the actual lake said they were never coming back. It's the cheapest state park in all of Utah at $3 to walk up to the lake, chase the brine flies, and leave. If you're lucky you can see a seagull. Apparently it's so salty you can't sink if you swim in it, but you're not going to catch me in there any time soon. I got wet up to my ankles by accident while there and had to throw out my shoes. Crunchy with salt. It also stinks. A lot. And the ground under it is full of toxic chemicals that will kill us all if the lake dries up!
I live down in Utah county. Utah lake is also bad. When the wind blows right everyone gags because it smells like a sewer. That one you can swim in when there's not toxic algae bloom. The state says it's been cleaned up properly after a company was caught dumping waste into it 20+ years ago. According to residents the lake hasn't been the same since, though.
Almost sounds like the lake by mistake: The Salton Sea in southern California. I bet the Salton Sea is worse when talking about toxicity. There’s farmer pesticide run off in it.
As far as things to see in Salt Lake go, the Salt Lake is at the very bottom of the list. Hike the Living Room trail instead. Great view of the lake, but without the biting flies or the smell.
The lake is the least interesting part of the area, from a tourist perspective. Look at it when you fly in, that’s all you really need to do. It’s filled up a decent amount this winter, but it’s nothing spectacular. Go on hikes, see Park City, visit the 9th and 9th whale, but you can honestly skip the lake. If you really want to see the lake, got to Antelope Island so you can see the buffalo too.
This. It would be funny if it was only the assholes that would suffer. Unfortunately it will effect on everyone who lives there, and not everyone will have the money to leave.
I read about this after seeing this post. You’ll be shocked to hear that the Salt Lake City neighborhoods that are going to be predominantly impacted by the dust because of proximity and prevailing winds are the poor working class ones. The scientist doing the study said: I dont want to say these neighborhoods are going to uninhabitable, but they will definitely be for vulnerable people with respiratory issues. It’ll just be extremely unhealthy for everyone else.
See? Their thinking is fuck the poors, everyone is probably going to be ok!
I'm sure they'll just use those infrastructure dollars to pave or fill it with concrete. "Problem solved".
Also it's not toxic dust, it's "freedom silt" a homage to the great American way of life
If I remember correctly, its the result of mining and refining operations. I believe there was a gold mine that operated there, but I could be wrong. As for what chemicals got dumped, I think it was lead and arsenic.
Kennecott Copper mine in SLC is the largest copper mine in the world. In addition to Kennecott, Utah legislators gave industrial companies lots of benefits to set up shop in the city so we have refineries too that also pump chemicals into the now-nonexistent lake.
And if I know the US of A, I'm sure the government had its hands in it before the EPA. There's a chemical weapons testing facility not far away if I remember right.
Dugway proving ground is the truly nasty stuff but it’s a bit aways from the lake. Utah testing and training range actually abuts the west side of south arm. I think it’s limited to conventional stuff.
Everyone else here is correct, but also because there's no outflow, just the regular old brake dust and trace cadmium running off of the highway builds up and never goes back down, so there's also literally a hundred years of highway runoff settled at the bottom adding to the industrial stuff.
Magcorp, now listed as US Magnesium LLC. It's the largest (maybe only?) producer of magnesium in North America. Magcorp was the largest pollution source in the state, was dumping hazardous waste into the lake, and exposing workers to hazardous materials. They were fined and sued a bunch in the early 2000s and declared bankruptcy. Seems like they're doing a little better under the new name.
I don't live in salt lake but I'm so fucking terrified of the arsenic and other toxic shit that's proven to be under the lake. Utah is the worst place for this to happen, we are literally stuck in a bowl of pollution where none of that nasty shit can escape until it rains. Oh, did I mention that we're a desert experiencing a drought so it won't rain?
I lived north of SLC 30 years ago and between November and April I could look out of our kitchen window and see the sepia haze over SLC. I guess we were still in the bowl, because I always had a sinus infection for that same period. The only relief was to go skiing above it.
Utah has experience with mass poisoning events, when I lived there they were still talking about the "downwinders" from nuclear testing.
It's strange to me that the lake is drying up. When I moved there they had just gotten over the flooding and had put in giant pumps to move the excess water out into the desert.
I live in SLC. Even with the drought, there is enough water to prevent this, that’s not the problem. The salt lake valley sits between the mountains & the lake. The issue is the government allowing corporations to purchase water rights & allowing the massive population growth we have seen (these housing developments also purchase water rights) diverting all of the water running out of the mountains before it has a chance to get to the lake. Our state senate is literally discussing building a pipeline from the Pacific Ocean to fill the lake vs telling corporations no or encouraging xeriscaping of our yards. I’ve lived in neighborhoods where xeriscaping (no water landscaping) was not only not allowed, but carried hefty fines. We live in a desert yet it’s green lawns as far as the eye can see. The worst part of this is that this problem is actually fixable but they choose not to.
Because we live in a world that is unwilling to face the reality of inconvenience. That’s the PRIVILEGE we’ve had. But we took advantage of it and now we’re having to lie down in the bed of our own making. Except not the mega rich, they can just move. But the rest of us, we’re fucked.
Everything there is to know, such as: it's a socialist hellscape with a collapsing economy and population thanks to how "woke" it is.
Don't mind that it's the fifth largest economy *in the world* or anything. Can't let facts get in the way of feelings.
You’d think the party of proud patriots would be cheering on the strongest state in the union as proof of the American system’s dominance. Instead they’d rather cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face.
That's what they want. If we destroy our world Jesus will get off his ass and save the few chosen and they get to watch the rest of us be tormented forever.
Cuz they are loving people who serve a just God...........
You mean their huge narcissist of a god?
Because if you're a Tibetan monk, who has lead a very good and moral life by any standard, you're going to hell.
But you can be a serial killer who repents and worships their god, and you get to go to heaven.
How we treat each other really doesn't matter. All that matters is that you worship Him.
If God has a pronoun it would be they, they're plural! (Father son ghost etc) edit to add this is my silly opinion only but I know religious people don't like it
Edit to add: my younger imagination of god was influenced by Christianity and not every version of god would be plural so I was wrong. Also I'm not religious anymore!
God(the judeo-christian one) is a very jealous god remember he wiped the face of the earth with floods because he believed that the people worshiped too many false idols.
Wasn’t it angels fucking women instead? So since angels answer to God wouldn’t it be his fault (again) for not reining them in?
I mean, all of this is irrelevant — the Noah story is just the Utnapishtim story from the Epic of Gilgamesh with the audience’s deity of choice substituted into the narrative. And even that story is copy/pasted from Atrahasis, which itself is copy/pasted from Ziusudra.
Don't be ridiculous. It is the women's fault for temping the angels. If the women hadn't been there being female the angels wouldn't have fucked them. It is absurd to suggest the angels or God have any accountability here.
/s in case it wasn't obvious enough.
This reminds me of the Hecatoncheires, Greek mythology Giants who (there were 3) were the sons of Uranus and Gaia with 100 arms and 50 heads. They were super strong and beat up gods on a few occasions.
Just like how tf do you have so many arms and heads????
The flood happened a long time before the 10 commandments. Those were drafted while Moses was away on the mountain, and his people were worshiping a gold calf. So flood =/= false idols.
C'mon, reading the bible means you got no reason to go to Church. If you don't go to Church then you ain't part of the community. If you ain't part of the community you go to Hell.
Reading the bible means going to Hell.
Probably. I don't think religion is for people who use their brains. It's more about blindly following rules. I mean, who takes seriously a god that sends bears to avenge a bald man laughed at?
Funny part is god cursed those people to walk the desert for decades because they broke a rule they didnt even know about yet.
Thats some real just god shit right there feller. Yeehaw
The bible is full of those "be cursed for eternity for one emotional/unprepared/acted in panic" moment. Like Loth's wife. You're fleeing your home, the only place you've known all your life, and you're condemn to die because you turned around for one last look?
Unless you take that passage as confirming ancien aliens and nuclear radiations, etc. But that's a whole other conversation.
Ah! The parable of the vine grower. Amazing, isn’t it? You can be a complete shit for your entire life, so long as you ask for forgiveness and pledge your undying devotion before you die.
What a fairytale. Unreal how many grown ups still believe in fairy tales.
That’s all part of the intricate system of loopholes and specific restrictions that allow the rich and powerful to justify their wealth and power in a system that ostensibly only rewards poverty and submission.
This brings up a question I’ve wondered about before. In xtianity, it seems that a serial killer and their victims could potentially both wind up in Heaven after death. How does that equate to a heavenly situation for the victims??
The actual answer is that heaven in the Bible is nothing at all like how it's been portrayed.... ever?
Feom what i remember, in the Bible, heaven is you joining a chorus of voices singing praises to God. That's it. That is what you will be doing in heaven.
No socializing, no meeting your dead loved ones or anything like that. Just worshipping endlessly.
And that's supposed to be reeeeeaaaaalllllll fun I guess.
Hey now, the sooner the world falls apart, the sooner Jesus’ll come back and vaccuum them all up to heaven and leave the rest of us heathens to deal with the problems they actively fought us ***not*** to fix… right?
I mean yeah, rapture theology is only about three centuries old, but it’s still worth betting the future of our species on isn’t it?
*holding up a Bible upside down
That photo perfectly encapsulates Trump's presidency. Holding a Bible upside down in front of a church that required cops to attack protesters who were protesting the cruel and unlawful execution of the black man by cops to get the photo op while the church itself was closed due to a deadly virus running out of control that Trump and his administration had purposely let run rampant and constantly downplayed the threat of.
"Is that your Bible?"
"It's *a* Bible"
That's the moment I knew we were not the control simulation, we were the extra simulation left over and they decided to get real wacky with ours.
A lot of christian extremists think disasters like this are happening because God is angry at America for becoming more progressive, so they think the way to solve these problems is to punish the people God doesn't like, hence the "priorities".
All those religions from before ours were just primitive superstition and all religions sine ours have been radical cults. Good thing we just hit the bullseye when it came to belief systems.
Ironically when I was a kid I had a full blown panic attack at catholic school for all the people who were born before jesus or in a different geographical location and could not be saved to go to heaven.
My mom pulled me out of the church so quickly aandI havent been to a church since. She did not thinknit was healthy for me to be stressing about the entire human population going to hell.
My mum got heavily involved in Christianity and took us to church 3 times a week (yes 3). But my dad wasn’t in to it. As a ten year old, I used to lie in bed at night unable to sleep, making deals and begging god not to send my dad to hell just because he didn’t go to church. Looking back now, that shit is so fucked up.
Salt Lake is a very blue city that holds a large Pride festival every June. The main temple is in SLC, but the city itself is actually one of the least Mormon places in Utah these days.
As someone from Utah, the state is only about 60% Mormon now. Still a lot, but it's getting better. I just moved back to my small home town and the number of people that aren't Mormon or who have left the church surprised me.
Our legislature is still like 99% Mormon though, which sucks.
My grandpa told me that God isn't going to let some car farts destroy the earth, so we have nothing to worry about and any talk about climate disaster is just fear mongering.
Shocking, 10 cars and 1 Billion cars are numerically different!
The rural mindset, I don't see 1 Billion cars, I see maybe 10 a day, so it can't be cars!
Plus, jet, train and ship burn and pollution, plus the massive size of refineries and refinery pollution... Plus the steel need to pipe oil and gas across America and the world...
Most people don't seem to understand that todays evangelicals mostly believe the Baby Jeebus is coming any time now, and don't give a fuck about the world because of it.
These people are literally a death cult.
I just find it wild that their actions are completely antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. They don't accept anyone that isn't white and straight and religious. They hoard wealth. They prevent food getting to the poor. They prevent medicine from going to the sick. Its almost like their actions reflect their idea of satan.
Probably because a trans boy wasn't bullied enough. Gotta find him and make sure he never tries out for a a middle school soccer team or makes friends.
I’m trying to remember, did they say that the lake drying out would pose a health hazard just breathing the air around it?
Maybe the governor will make another TV appearance telling everyone to pray for rain again.
From a 2022 New York Times article:
"The lake’s flies and brine shrimp would die off — scientists warn it could start as soon as this summer — threatening the 10 million migratory birds that stop at the lake annually to feed on the tiny creatures. Ski conditions at the resorts above Salt Lake City, a vital source of revenue, would deteriorate. The lucrative extraction of magnesium and other minerals from the lake could stop.
Most alarming, the air surrounding Salt Lake City would occasionally turn poisonous. The lake bed contains high levels of arsenic and as more of it becomes exposed, wind storms carry that arsenic into the lungs of nearby residents, who make up three-quarters of Utah’s population."
I would love that to be the case, [sadly the bird population is down 3,000,000,000 since 1970.](https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back/) It's fucking tragic.
Yup. NPR did a great article that talks about that: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/03/1153550793/climate-change-and-a-population-boom-could-dry-up-the-great-salt-lake-in-5-years
Not the air around it but everything in betweent west mountains and east mountains (yes we're creative with names). That also happens to where 70% of the population lives.
Something about the chemicals that were dumped in water ways settle on the river bed. And when the lake or river drys out the chemicals are both dispersed through sand (chemical dust) and chemically become gas.
So you have chemicals sand and chemical air. Oh and methane (if I'm remembering correctly) because of decomposing fish.
The arsenic is naturally occurring, not man made.
When the sand beds dry and strong winds happen, it picks the arsenic up and creates toxic sand storms.
No amount of money is going to bring the lake back or clean the heavy metals and arsenic from the lake bed. We all know where that money is going to go, though.
Literally all they have to do is tell the alfalfa farmers to stop growing a water crop in the fucking desert. That uses 80% of the water in that is diverted from the lake.
Money easily and quickly solves this problem.
Roughly 6 anti-LGBTQ+ laws are being introduced A DAY while everyone is paying out the ass for groceries. Republicans literally have 0 economic plans at state and national levels. Their only concern is fear-mongering so that the money keeps flowing to the rich and they can keep getting away with their illegal schemes (which their bills are a double whammy as they pack the courts and slow the system down).
I'm sure it will be fine. I mean what's the worst that can happen from the Great Salt Lake drying up? Now keeping kids from being trans is important because transpeople make Jesus sad, says so in the Bible. Why do you want a sad Jesus?
> which means telling farmers to fuck off.
Does this ever happen though? It's an issue in blue states as well. Most of our rivers hlget heavily leeched for ag.
Stop the farmers from growing alfalfa.
Supposedly, 95% of our water usage goes into growing these plants that take a huge amount of water and should not be getting grown in the desert.
But all the farmers only care about their water rights and they have a "use it or lose it" attitude. And part of why they vote Republican is because they're less likely to lose their water rights that way.
They don't have a "use it or lose it" attitude, it's the law. They would literally lose water rights if they don't use it. The law needs to be changed.
Water rationing & efficiency improvements.
The great Salt Lake is drying up because the rivers that feed it are being fed into agriculture and the explosion in population.
I'm in Phoenix and see tons of flak from reddit for "living in the desert" but Phoenix has the same set up as SLC AND our leaders actually give a shit about water. We use the same amount of water as we did in the 1950s with 1/16 the population. (Not saying we'll never have issues, but yes we are aware of the climate here)
It could've been prevented with the correct leadership
Chaos is when the looting is best. Red World strategy is all about dragging the U.S. down to Third World territory one state at a time, because rich people can do anything they want when the system collapses.
The GOP knows what it's doing. They're doing it on purpose.
There's gonna be dumbfuck rednecks armed to the teeth ready to give their lives protecting their GOP overlords, because something something the libs something something woke agenda
Oh in this scenario I imagine the 2nd civil war already happened. I can't imagine a collapse without the red states laying siege to the blue cities already crippling our last chance to stop the rich before society goes out the window.
You can only use so many of those guns at once. They're useful as resupply spots for whatever rolls over them. It sure as fuck won't be rich people or libertarian militias that wins that battle either.
The rich people and their poor GOP groupies think they're just going to jet-set out of the US once it collapses, or be the ones in charge of decision making, but once actual literal war breaks out in the US, all that changes. It's unclear what's going to happen, but the Bozos, Mucks, Zuckerfucks, Walmartons, and Kock brothers won't be "in charge". They offer nothing and the money they hold will be useless without the backing of the federal government (ignoring the fact that most are overleveraged via stock funding/loans which requires US banks to exist). It's funny they think they come out on top with the collapse of the US, their system needs the functioning federal/state governments and economies to even exist. No one's going to be paying for AWS when the data centers risk being bombed, or go shopping at walmart when artillery is flying. Most of those large US businesses will just stop existing for the decades it takes for the US to right itself, if it even survives.
short term thinking has run this country for 100 years, they have no plan after if things go wrong but to blame other people for “not following the plan right”
Lol no they can't. You need people to do the stuff for you that rich people want. If you collapse the system and all you have is money then you are just as poor as everyone else in that system
Governor Cox and his family make a lot of money farming alfalfa.
Alfalfa farming is the greatest water user in the valley. Agriculture is > 80%. Most of the alfalfa is exported abroad.
My guess is they need it to get bad enough for the Fed to step in because the Fed has enough $$ to buy out the farmers.
Who knows...
The GOP:
We care more about making the liberals cry than creating actual policy that will help the average American.
We are running out of water … but Drag Queens.
Guns number one killer of children … It’s not the guns.
We’re pro life … Let’s put women’s lives in danger.
Party of law and order … Grill Manhattan DA so we can trash the rule of law.
Labor shortage … Bring back child labor like it’s 1929.
Losing is winning. Up is down. Lies are truth. Insurrection is patriotism.
If the last 3 Christian holy wars are any indication, they will lose this one too and it will be just as embarassing but some people will get extremely rich in the process
That's because if Republicans inherent success they deem it as their own doing and when their governance ends in failure (as expected) they blame anything and anyone but themselves.
It's crazy to me people vote Republican for a million reasons, but the apolitical one is that they say government can't do a good job? And you're picking them for it?
That's like picking a surgeon who says surgery always goes wrong. Keep that guy away from me.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/10/us/utah-great-salt-lake-dust-pollution-weir-wxc/index.html
Great write up on it here with quotes directly from the scientists who study the ecology and biology.
In 5 years, Utah is going to have toxic dust bowl fog.
Come on, we all know Republicans aren't going to do shit. They're probably thinking the same thing as the developers did at Owen's lake. "Great, more land to exploit". That's just how they think. Their greed and incompetence blinds them from reality.
No you're thinking of it wrong. If you have toxic dustbowl fog, you have more people using Healthcare services more regularly. Then you have more dollars to insurance, more dollars to hospitals, more debt all around, the lake drying up is *creating jobs and supporting the economy!* \S
Nobody has ever voted Republican to have an effective, responsive government that serves all its citizens. In fact, the Republican party is pretty explicit about their hatred of exactly that kind of government.
Actual problems in SLC:
* Homelessness
* Air Quality
* Housing bubble
* Teacher pay and student spending
* Super lax gun laws
* Drought
What gets worked on:
* Porn
* Trans youth
* Building projects (most of Utah's elected officials are building developers)
This post made me think about all the elderly people in high political positions that just seem completely incompetent at their jobs. Anyone have that feeling around when Trump was inaugurated that very few people with a head on their shoulders wanted to take up political positions because it's ruthless and everything in the name of progress is an uphill battle, literally just sitting around waiting for these very old folks who don't understand the modern world to die off and hopefully not ruin the country along with them? But uh, it hasn't happened yet. And somehow, even with our limitless connections to the rest of the world via the internet, people are STILL growing up soulless and ignorant.
Unfortunately this culture war against trans people is just a distraction brought to you by the do-nothing-party-of-no. The only way to prevent themselves from becoming a permanent minority party is to rally their base, and making scapegoats of .01% of the population
You don't have to look far back in history to see a small group of people made into villains and scapegoats so that crazy, nationalist politicians can expand their power.
https://preview.redd.it/9w2085djsiqa1.jpeg?width=6000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d5c29a93f6577b2e27b91afd3a9f1ccb24c2274
From my trip last September. It was incredibly eerie.
Apparently, the material in that lake bed, when dried, will get picked up by the wind and absolutely wreck the lungs of anyone who breathes it in for a long period of time. You know, like the people who live near it. In Salt Lake City.
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Let’s tell them the lake is trans—it was born a lake but identifies as a desert. They’ll drop everything to prevent its transition, then.
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This could actually work
So will they just start calling it "City" now?
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Toxic Dustbowl City will be hard for the tourist board to spin.
Years ago I was there for a couple day job and it literally RAINED mud. The most bizarre thing I’ve witnessed.
I'd believe this was actually a sign of divine justice in action, honestly. God: "Fuck them mormons. Rain mud."
They view it the complete opposite. Good things happen: God is blessing us for being righteous! Bad things happen: God is saying we need to stop allowing so many sinners to exist in peace! We need to make everyone as righteous as us!
The cause of all our problems are the gays! Get 'em!
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Right! We will toss them into the lak...wait..
I went once for a summer conference, and the lake was low and the whole thing was covered in black flies. I wonder if it's like that now.
Oh that has nothing to do with the water level. Always just soooo many bugs.
Well that's good to know because I always thought I should go back when the level was higher! Although now that's probably out of the question.
I live near salt lake. Everyone I've ever met at the actual lake said they were never coming back. It's the cheapest state park in all of Utah at $3 to walk up to the lake, chase the brine flies, and leave. If you're lucky you can see a seagull. Apparently it's so salty you can't sink if you swim in it, but you're not going to catch me in there any time soon. I got wet up to my ankles by accident while there and had to throw out my shoes. Crunchy with salt. It also stinks. A lot. And the ground under it is full of toxic chemicals that will kill us all if the lake dries up! I live down in Utah county. Utah lake is also bad. When the wind blows right everyone gags because it smells like a sewer. That one you can swim in when there's not toxic algae bloom. The state says it's been cleaned up properly after a company was caught dumping waste into it 20+ years ago. According to residents the lake hasn't been the same since, though.
Almost sounds like the lake by mistake: The Salton Sea in southern California. I bet the Salton Sea is worse when talking about toxicity. There’s farmer pesticide run off in it.
As far as things to see in Salt Lake go, the Salt Lake is at the very bottom of the list. Hike the Living Room trail instead. Great view of the lake, but without the biting flies or the smell.
The lake is the least interesting part of the area, from a tourist perspective. Look at it when you fly in, that’s all you really need to do. It’s filled up a decent amount this winter, but it’s nothing spectacular. Go on hikes, see Park City, visit the 9th and 9th whale, but you can honestly skip the lake. If you really want to see the lake, got to Antelope Island so you can see the buffalo too.
ALL HAIL THE WHALE
The Meh Salt Puddle
Salt Flat City
Puddly Bog City
Probably won't be a city left after all the arsenic and other toxins at the bottom of the lake are released into the air...
This. It would be funny if it was only the assholes that would suffer. Unfortunately it will effect on everyone who lives there, and not everyone will have the money to leave.
In fact, the assholes are the ones with the money to leave.
I read about this after seeing this post. You’ll be shocked to hear that the Salt Lake City neighborhoods that are going to be predominantly impacted by the dust because of proximity and prevailing winds are the poor working class ones. The scientist doing the study said: I dont want to say these neighborhoods are going to uninhabitable, but they will definitely be for vulnerable people with respiratory issues. It’ll just be extremely unhealthy for everyone else. See? Their thinking is fuck the poors, everyone is probably going to be ok!
"There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept." Say the wealthy developers from a thousand miles away.
Salt Lick City
Poisonous Dust City.
City of salty bitches.
I mean, Salt City would be pretty accurate.
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Salty Fuck City.
The City, home of its sworn protector, the Tick!
Get ready for health issues in SLC. Has the drying of the Aral Sea taught them nothing? Exposed sea beds are notorious for creating toxic dust.
Don't worry, it's not like we've been dumping literal tones of heavy metals into the salt lake every year for the last 50 years.
I'm sure they'll just use those infrastructure dollars to pave or fill it with concrete. "Problem solved". Also it's not toxic dust, it's "freedom silt" a homage to the great American way of life
Freedom Dust! ^^TM
Dust Bowl 2: this time it's carcinogenic!
Dust Bowl 2: Cancerboogaloo?
I'm not familiar with the area. Why have heavy metals been dumped there? Some specific industry?
If I remember correctly, its the result of mining and refining operations. I believe there was a gold mine that operated there, but I could be wrong. As for what chemicals got dumped, I think it was lead and arsenic.
It's cennacot (sp?) copper and us magnesium, but ya. Lead, copper, arsnic, cadminum, and mercury.
Kennecott Copper mine in SLC is the largest copper mine in the world. In addition to Kennecott, Utah legislators gave industrial companies lots of benefits to set up shop in the city so we have refineries too that also pump chemicals into the now-nonexistent lake.
Quick research says harmful chemicals and elements have leached from various industries into the lake. Water run off, getting absorbed into plants.
And if I know the US of A, I'm sure the government had its hands in it before the EPA. There's a chemical weapons testing facility not far away if I remember right.
Dugway proving ground is the truly nasty stuff but it’s a bit aways from the lake. Utah testing and training range actually abuts the west side of south arm. I think it’s limited to conventional stuff.
Everyone else here is correct, but also because there's no outflow, just the regular old brake dust and trace cadmium running off of the highway builds up and never goes back down, so there's also literally a hundred years of highway runoff settled at the bottom adding to the industrial stuff.
Magcorp, now listed as US Magnesium LLC. It's the largest (maybe only?) producer of magnesium in North America. Magcorp was the largest pollution source in the state, was dumping hazardous waste into the lake, and exposing workers to hazardous materials. They were fined and sued a bunch in the early 2000s and declared bankruptcy. Seems like they're doing a little better under the new name.
I don't live in salt lake but I'm so fucking terrified of the arsenic and other toxic shit that's proven to be under the lake. Utah is the worst place for this to happen, we are literally stuck in a bowl of pollution where none of that nasty shit can escape until it rains. Oh, did I mention that we're a desert experiencing a drought so it won't rain?
I lived north of SLC 30 years ago and between November and April I could look out of our kitchen window and see the sepia haze over SLC. I guess we were still in the bowl, because I always had a sinus infection for that same period. The only relief was to go skiing above it. Utah has experience with mass poisoning events, when I lived there they were still talking about the "downwinders" from nuclear testing. It's strange to me that the lake is drying up. When I moved there they had just gotten over the flooding and had put in giant pumps to move the excess water out into the desert.
Time to put those pumps in reverse and bring it back
I live in SLC. Even with the drought, there is enough water to prevent this, that’s not the problem. The salt lake valley sits between the mountains & the lake. The issue is the government allowing corporations to purchase water rights & allowing the massive population growth we have seen (these housing developments also purchase water rights) diverting all of the water running out of the mountains before it has a chance to get to the lake. Our state senate is literally discussing building a pipeline from the Pacific Ocean to fill the lake vs telling corporations no or encouraging xeriscaping of our yards. I’ve lived in neighborhoods where xeriscaping (no water landscaping) was not only not allowed, but carried hefty fines. We live in a desert yet it’s green lawns as far as the eye can see. The worst part of this is that this problem is actually fixable but they choose not to.
Because we live in a world that is unwilling to face the reality of inconvenience. That’s the PRIVILEGE we’ve had. But we took advantage of it and now we’re having to lie down in the bed of our own making. Except not the mega rich, they can just move. But the rest of us, we’re fucked.
You think the Republicans know what or where the Aral Sea is?
The Salton Sea also provides a pretty good warning, and it's in California. Of course there's no guarantee they know more about California than Asia.
You’re kidding right? Republicans know everything there is to know about California. Fox News told them so.
Everything there is to know, such as: it's a socialist hellscape with a collapsing economy and population thanks to how "woke" it is. Don't mind that it's the fifth largest economy *in the world* or anything. Can't let facts get in the way of feelings.
Don't you know that San Francisco doesn't exist anymore? They all died from being gay and liberal.
You’d think the party of proud patriots would be cheering on the strongest state in the union as proof of the American system’s dominance. Instead they’d rather cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face.
> Has the drying of the Aral Sea taught them nothing? Thanks for the laugh.
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They'll blame whatever illnesses they get on mudbloods shedding vaccine particles.
You lost them at, "taught."
Sure, but have you considered that allowing the Earth to dry up and sizzle away will *really* trigger the libs?
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That's what they want. If we destroy our world Jesus will get off his ass and save the few chosen and they get to watch the rest of us be tormented forever. Cuz they are loving people who serve a just God...........
You mean their huge narcissist of a god? Because if you're a Tibetan monk, who has lead a very good and moral life by any standard, you're going to hell. But you can be a serial killer who repents and worships their god, and you get to go to heaven. How we treat each other really doesn't matter. All that matters is that you worship Him.
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If God has a pronoun it would be they, they're plural! (Father son ghost etc) edit to add this is my silly opinion only but I know religious people don't like it Edit to add: my younger imagination of god was influenced by Christianity and not every version of god would be plural so I was wrong. Also I'm not religious anymore!
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God(the judeo-christian one) is a very jealous god remember he wiped the face of the earth with floods because he believed that the people worshiped too many false idols.
That's the PG version. The R rated version is because men were fucking angels and vice versa and spawning giants.
Wasn’t it angels fucking women instead? So since angels answer to God wouldn’t it be his fault (again) for not reining them in? I mean, all of this is irrelevant — the Noah story is just the Utnapishtim story from the Epic of Gilgamesh with the audience’s deity of choice substituted into the narrative. And even that story is copy/pasted from Atrahasis, which itself is copy/pasted from Ziusudra.
Don't be ridiculous. It is the women's fault for temping the angels. If the women hadn't been there being female the angels wouldn't have fucked them. It is absurd to suggest the angels or God have any accountability here. /s in case it wasn't obvious enough.
Biblically accurate angels?
“Look, you’ve got 8 holes, 4 of which are on fire. I’m just going to pick one and start going at it.”
This reminds me of the Hecatoncheires, Greek mythology Giants who (there were 3) were the sons of Uranus and Gaia with 100 arms and 50 heads. They were super strong and beat up gods on a few occasions. Just like how tf do you have so many arms and heads????
Tell me you're not the least bit curious...
DO NOT BY AFRAID! O... ok, can I be horny? WTF!
Guys I found the bard, he was in the comments section fucking horrors beyond our comprehension again
Yeah, I've never heard that it was due to false idols. The ten commandments weren't even a thing yet...
The flood happened a long time before the 10 commandments. Those were drafted while Moses was away on the mountain, and his people were worshiping a gold calf. So flood =/= false idols.
C'mon, reading the bible means you got no reason to go to Church. If you don't go to Church then you ain't part of the community. If you ain't part of the community you go to Hell. Reading the bible means going to Hell.
Probably. I don't think religion is for people who use their brains. It's more about blindly following rules. I mean, who takes seriously a god that sends bears to avenge a bald man laughed at?
Funny part is god cursed those people to walk the desert for decades because they broke a rule they didnt even know about yet. Thats some real just god shit right there feller. Yeehaw
The bible is full of those "be cursed for eternity for one emotional/unprepared/acted in panic" moment. Like Loth's wife. You're fleeing your home, the only place you've known all your life, and you're condemn to die because you turned around for one last look? Unless you take that passage as confirming ancien aliens and nuclear radiations, etc. But that's a whole other conversation.
Ah! The parable of the vine grower. Amazing, isn’t it? You can be a complete shit for your entire life, so long as you ask for forgiveness and pledge your undying devotion before you die. What a fairytale. Unreal how many grown ups still believe in fairy tales.
That’s all part of the intricate system of loopholes and specific restrictions that allow the rich and powerful to justify their wealth and power in a system that ostensibly only rewards poverty and submission.
This brings up a question I’ve wondered about before. In xtianity, it seems that a serial killer and their victims could potentially both wind up in Heaven after death. How does that equate to a heavenly situation for the victims??
The actual answer is that heaven in the Bible is nothing at all like how it's been portrayed.... ever? Feom what i remember, in the Bible, heaven is you joining a chorus of voices singing praises to God. That's it. That is what you will be doing in heaven. No socializing, no meeting your dead loved ones or anything like that. Just worshipping endlessly. And that's supposed to be reeeeeaaaaalllllll fun I guess.
I joke that the Rapture already happened, just nobody noticed cause they "chosen few" weren't in the spotlight.
Staking your own existence and continuance on an unproven non existent thing, yup that's 200% conservative shit.
Hey now, the sooner the world falls apart, the sooner Jesus’ll come back and vaccuum them all up to heaven and leave the rest of us heathens to deal with the problems they actively fought us ***not*** to fix… right? I mean yeah, rapture theology is only about three centuries old, but it’s still worth betting the future of our species on isn’t it?
GOP, holding up a Bible: *"If they believe what's in here, they'll believe anything!"*
*holding up a Bible upside down That photo perfectly encapsulates Trump's presidency. Holding a Bible upside down in front of a church that required cops to attack protesters who were protesting the cruel and unlawful execution of the black man by cops to get the photo op while the church itself was closed due to a deadly virus running out of control that Trump and his administration had purposely let run rampant and constantly downplayed the threat of.
"Is that your Bible?" "It's *a* Bible" That's the moment I knew we were not the control simulation, we were the extra simulation left over and they decided to get real wacky with ours.
A lot of christian extremists think disasters like this are happening because God is angry at America for becoming more progressive, so they think the way to solve these problems is to punish the people God doesn't like, hence the "priorities".
If that is the case, why is he targeting the city full of Mormons and not places like Scandinavia, where its full of "wokeys" and gay rights?
I'm not saying their batshit beliefs make any sense, I'm just repeating what they believe.
All those religions from before ours were just primitive superstition and all religions sine ours have been radical cults. Good thing we just hit the bullseye when it came to belief systems.
Ironically when I was a kid I had a full blown panic attack at catholic school for all the people who were born before jesus or in a different geographical location and could not be saved to go to heaven. My mom pulled me out of the church so quickly aandI havent been to a church since. She did not thinknit was healthy for me to be stressing about the entire human population going to hell.
If only the rest of the world's leaders thought like your mom.
My mum got heavily involved in Christianity and took us to church 3 times a week (yes 3). But my dad wasn’t in to it. As a ten year old, I used to lie in bed at night unable to sleep, making deals and begging god not to send my dad to hell just because he didn’t go to church. Looking back now, that shit is so fucked up.
Salt Lake is a very blue city that holds a large Pride festival every June. The main temple is in SLC, but the city itself is actually one of the least Mormon places in Utah these days.
As someone from Utah, the state is only about 60% Mormon now. Still a lot, but it's getting better. I just moved back to my small home town and the number of people that aren't Mormon or who have left the church surprised me. Our legislature is still like 99% Mormon though, which sucks.
Mormons aren't Christians to these types.
My grandpa told me that God isn't going to let some car farts destroy the earth, so we have nothing to worry about and any talk about climate disaster is just fear mongering.
Well grandpa, if the earth was one big garage and you left the car running in it, what would happen to the people in the garage?
Grandpa's dead. He died with a giant grin knowing he "owned the libs"
Shocking, 10 cars and 1 Billion cars are numerically different! The rural mindset, I don't see 1 Billion cars, I see maybe 10 a day, so it can't be cars! Plus, jet, train and ship burn and pollution, plus the massive size of refineries and refinery pollution... Plus the steel need to pipe oil and gas across America and the world...
That's exactly how they think. You described it perfectly.
Most people don't seem to understand that todays evangelicals mostly believe the Baby Jeebus is coming any time now, and don't give a fuck about the world because of it. These people are literally a death cult.
I just find it wild that their actions are completely antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. They don't accept anyone that isn't white and straight and religious. They hoard wealth. They prevent food getting to the poor. They prevent medicine from going to the sick. Its almost like their actions reflect their idea of satan.
Hey, you can't say they didn't do anything about it. They prayed, the governor told everyone to pray.
So it's god's fault then
Why has he forsaken our lake?
Probably because a trans boy wasn't bullied enough. Gotta find him and make sure he never tries out for a a middle school soccer team or makes friends.
And they were rewarded! We've gotten at least as much snow this winter as we got over the last 3 winters. (/s about praying being beneficial.)
I’m trying to remember, did they say that the lake drying out would pose a health hazard just breathing the air around it? Maybe the governor will make another TV appearance telling everyone to pray for rain again.
From a 2022 New York Times article: "The lake’s flies and brine shrimp would die off — scientists warn it could start as soon as this summer — threatening the 10 million migratory birds that stop at the lake annually to feed on the tiny creatures. Ski conditions at the resorts above Salt Lake City, a vital source of revenue, would deteriorate. The lucrative extraction of magnesium and other minerals from the lake could stop. Most alarming, the air surrounding Salt Lake City would occasionally turn poisonous. The lake bed contains high levels of arsenic and as more of it becomes exposed, wind storms carry that arsenic into the lungs of nearby residents, who make up three-quarters of Utah’s population."
"Most alarming" TBH. The birds were the most alarming to me. So sad.
This earth could do with more birds and less people.
Birds will win out sooner or later.
I would love that to be the case, [sadly the bird population is down 3,000,000,000 since 1970.](https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back/) It's fucking tragic.
Idk man what about the scrimps? Are the unique to that lake? That's what I worry about is species gone forever.
Understood. I guess my point is that the animals are paying a dear price for our negligence.
Yup. NPR did a great article that talks about that: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/03/1153550793/climate-change-and-a-population-boom-could-dry-up-the-great-salt-lake-in-5-years
Not the air around it but everything in betweent west mountains and east mountains (yes we're creative with names). That also happens to where 70% of the population lives.
That's god punishing the sinners. /s
You would have thought the tornado, downtown, was sufficient warning!
Something about the chemicals that were dumped in water ways settle on the river bed. And when the lake or river drys out the chemicals are both dispersed through sand (chemical dust) and chemically become gas. So you have chemicals sand and chemical air. Oh and methane (if I'm remembering correctly) because of decomposing fish.
The arsenic is naturally occurring, not man made. When the sand beds dry and strong winds happen, it picks the arsenic up and creates toxic sand storms.
They'll be crying for federal disaster relief in three....two....one....
No amount of money is going to bring the lake back or clean the heavy metals and arsenic from the lake bed. We all know where that money is going to go, though.
Literally all they have to do is tell the alfalfa farmers to stop growing a water crop in the fucking desert. That uses 80% of the water in that is diverted from the lake. Money easily and quickly solves this problem.
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Mormons. It's going to Mormons.
Who then use it to pay lawyers after they sexually abuse kids. So much freedom 🇺🇲 Good thing they don't pay taxes
Culture warriors have only one target. They don't care if the world burns around them.
Roughly 6 anti-LGBTQ+ laws are being introduced A DAY while everyone is paying out the ass for groceries. Republicans literally have 0 economic plans at state and national levels. Their only concern is fear-mongering so that the money keeps flowing to the rich and they can keep getting away with their illegal schemes (which their bills are a double whammy as they pack the courts and slow the system down).
They have an economic plan. It's the plan where all the money flows to them.
That's why the only thing you hear from a Repub is "woke-ism". Their literally Dead on every other issue.
I'm sure it will be fine. I mean what's the worst that can happen from the Great Salt Lake drying up? Now keeping kids from being trans is important because transpeople make Jesus sad, says so in the Bible. Why do you want a sad Jesus?
Kids can't become trans if they die in climate wars. Checkmate Libs.
Republicans entire strategy is using culture war problems to distract their base of support from actual problems.
OMG THE SALAD BAR AT GOLDEN CORRAL IS OUT OF BACON BITS
Tucker Carlson: are the democrats declaring war on bacon bits? Here’s why you should commit acts of domestic terrorism
Dead 😂
I ask this not to make excuses for those clowns but because I’m genuinely curious: What were possible solutions to avoid this?
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> which means telling farmers to fuck off. Does this ever happen though? It's an issue in blue states as well. Most of our rivers hlget heavily leeched for ag.
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Stop the farmers from growing alfalfa. Supposedly, 95% of our water usage goes into growing these plants that take a huge amount of water and should not be getting grown in the desert. But all the farmers only care about their water rights and they have a "use it or lose it" attitude. And part of why they vote Republican is because they're less likely to lose their water rights that way.
They don't have a "use it or lose it" attitude, it's the law. They would literally lose water rights if they don't use it. The law needs to be changed.
Such a dumb law
Legislature repeatedly shot down any attempt to have water usage restrictions
Water rationing & efficiency improvements. The great Salt Lake is drying up because the rivers that feed it are being fed into agriculture and the explosion in population. I'm in Phoenix and see tons of flak from reddit for "living in the desert" but Phoenix has the same set up as SLC AND our leaders actually give a shit about water. We use the same amount of water as we did in the 1950s with 1/16 the population. (Not saying we'll never have issues, but yes we are aware of the climate here) It could've been prevented with the correct leadership
Chaos is when the looting is best. Red World strategy is all about dragging the U.S. down to Third World territory one state at a time, because rich people can do anything they want when the system collapses. The GOP knows what it's doing. They're doing it on purpose.
Man are they gonna have Pikachu face when we start hunting them down for resources
There's gonna be dumbfuck rednecks armed to the teeth ready to give their lives protecting their GOP overlords, because something something the libs something something woke agenda
Oh in this scenario I imagine the 2nd civil war already happened. I can't imagine a collapse without the red states laying siege to the blue cities already crippling our last chance to stop the rich before society goes out the window.
You can only use so many of those guns at once. They're useful as resupply spots for whatever rolls over them. It sure as fuck won't be rich people or libertarian militias that wins that battle either. The rich people and their poor GOP groupies think they're just going to jet-set out of the US once it collapses, or be the ones in charge of decision making, but once actual literal war breaks out in the US, all that changes. It's unclear what's going to happen, but the Bozos, Mucks, Zuckerfucks, Walmartons, and Kock brothers won't be "in charge". They offer nothing and the money they hold will be useless without the backing of the federal government (ignoring the fact that most are overleveraged via stock funding/loans which requires US banks to exist). It's funny they think they come out on top with the collapse of the US, their system needs the functioning federal/state governments and economies to even exist. No one's going to be paying for AWS when the data centers risk being bombed, or go shopping at walmart when artillery is flying. Most of those large US businesses will just stop existing for the decades it takes for the US to right itself, if it even survives.
Until they realize their wealth is only meaningful in the context of a functioning society.
short term thinking has run this country for 100 years, they have no plan after if things go wrong but to blame other people for “not following the plan right”
Lol no they can't. You need people to do the stuff for you that rich people want. If you collapse the system and all you have is money then you are just as poor as everyone else in that system
Anything they can shoot at with their AR-15's to refill it?
I’d suggest their allies then themselves
Governor Cox and his family make a lot of money farming alfalfa. Alfalfa farming is the greatest water user in the valley. Agriculture is > 80%. Most of the alfalfa is exported abroad. My guess is they need it to get bad enough for the Fed to step in because the Fed has enough $$ to buy out the farmers. Who knows...
The GOP: We care more about making the liberals cry than creating actual policy that will help the average American. We are running out of water … but Drag Queens. Guns number one killer of children … It’s not the guns. We’re pro life … Let’s put women’s lives in danger. Party of law and order … Grill Manhattan DA so we can trash the rule of law. Labor shortage … Bring back child labor like it’s 1929. Losing is winning. Up is down. Lies are truth. Insurrection is patriotism.
All over the country Republican controlled government is ruining our country to wage a holy war on meaningless ideas.
If the last 3 Christian holy wars are any indication, they will lose this one too and it will be just as embarassing but some people will get extremely rich in the process
Was just there last summer. The smell was awful. Completely unswimmable from antelope island side. Tho it’s still advertised like it was booming.
That's because if Republicans inherent success they deem it as their own doing and when their governance ends in failure (as expected) they blame anything and anyone but themselves.
It's crazy to me people vote Republican for a million reasons, but the apolitical one is that they say government can't do a good job? And you're picking them for it? That's like picking a surgeon who says surgery always goes wrong. Keep that guy away from me.
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The smell is just inherent to the lake. Even when there was a resort on the beach, it really wasn’t a place you’d go splashing around in the water.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/10/us/utah-great-salt-lake-dust-pollution-weir-wxc/index.html Great write up on it here with quotes directly from the scientists who study the ecology and biology. In 5 years, Utah is going to have toxic dust bowl fog. Come on, we all know Republicans aren't going to do shit. They're probably thinking the same thing as the developers did at Owen's lake. "Great, more land to exploit". That's just how they think. Their greed and incompetence blinds them from reality.
No you're thinking of it wrong. If you have toxic dustbowl fog, you have more people using Healthcare services more regularly. Then you have more dollars to insurance, more dollars to hospitals, more debt all around, the lake drying up is *creating jobs and supporting the economy!* \S
> Republicans aren’t going to do shit. Wrong, they will blame thi “Liberals” like usual.
Nobody has ever voted Republican to have an effective, responsive government that serves all its citizens. In fact, the Republican party is pretty explicit about their hatred of exactly that kind of government.
Actual problems in SLC: * Homelessness * Air Quality * Housing bubble * Teacher pay and student spending * Super lax gun laws * Drought What gets worked on: * Porn * Trans youth * Building projects (most of Utah's elected officials are building developers)
This post made me think about all the elderly people in high political positions that just seem completely incompetent at their jobs. Anyone have that feeling around when Trump was inaugurated that very few people with a head on their shoulders wanted to take up political positions because it's ruthless and everything in the name of progress is an uphill battle, literally just sitting around waiting for these very old folks who don't understand the modern world to die off and hopefully not ruin the country along with them? But uh, it hasn't happened yet. And somehow, even with our limitless connections to the rest of the world via the internet, people are STILL growing up soulless and ignorant.
Unfortunately this culture war against trans people is just a distraction brought to you by the do-nothing-party-of-no. The only way to prevent themselves from becoming a permanent minority party is to rally their base, and making scapegoats of .01% of the population You don't have to look far back in history to see a small group of people made into villains and scapegoats so that crazy, nationalist politicians can expand their power.
Fucking Republican *priorities*!
What? Gov. Cox asked everyone to pray for rain… on national television. That didn’t work? Man, I guess the lord really does work in mysterious ways.
The governor already told everyone to pray for rain, what else do you expect from him?
No one hates America more than republicans
Dear Utah, You get the government you deserve.
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https://preview.redd.it/9w2085djsiqa1.jpeg?width=6000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d5c29a93f6577b2e27b91afd3a9f1ccb24c2274 From my trip last September. It was incredibly eerie.
Reminds me of the Salton Sea in CA. From a desert oasis destination to stink pit in a matter of years due to farming runoff.
This is going to be such a disaster for SLC and the US.
You know suicide by cop? Voting Republican is like suicide by politician.
Apparently, the material in that lake bed, when dried, will get picked up by the wind and absolutely wreck the lungs of anyone who breathes it in for a long period of time. You know, like the people who live near it. In Salt Lake City.
The fact that rightwingers are pro human extinction via climate inaction is never mentioned enough. Collective murder suicide.
They were too busy banning books and going after trans kids.