Seen as Nature Lovers’ Paradise, Utah Struggles With Air Quality (New York Times, February 23, 2013)  Salt Lake County has experienced 22 days this winter in which pollution levels exceeded federal air quality standards, compared with just one last year. … It is not that the region necessarily emits more pollution than other large metropolitan areas, or that the problem is especially new, Mr. Bird said. What makes the situation here different is the confluence of topographic and meteorological factors. … “If the 40,000 women in Utah who are pregnant suddenly started smoking, that would constitute a genuine health emergency,” said Dr. Brian Moench, an anesthesiologist who leads Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, a group that has urged Gov. Gary R. Herbert, a Republican, to declare a public health emergency. “But our levels of air pollution are causing the exact same consequences as if all these women were smoking.” … In an interview on Thursday, Governor Herbert said the state had taken a number of steps to address the pollution: urging people to take mass transit, meeting with energy companies to develop emission reduction plans and reducing the use of state vehicles. Governor Herbert’s recommendations are a start. Investment in landscapes—both recreational and conservational—is critical to long-term mitigation of air-quality issues. Plenty of federal incentives exist, (e.g. Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG), intended to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches in conjunction with agricultural production) but these are miniscule in comparison with farm stimulus payments and agricultural subsidies.  For more see http://westernconservation.org/docs/recommendations.pdf
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Seen as Nature Lovers’ Paradise, Utah Struggles With Air Quality (New York Times, February 23, 2013) 

Salt Lake County has experienced 22 days this winter in which pollution levels exceeded federal air quality standards, compared with just one last year.

…

It is not that the region necessarily emits more pollution than other large metropolitan areas, or that the problem is especially new, Mr. Bird said. What makes the situation here different is the confluence of topographic and meteorological factors.

…

“If the 40,000 women in Utah who are pregnant suddenly started smoking, that would constitute a genuine health emergency,” said Dr. Brian Moench, an anesthesiologist who leads Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, a group that has urged Gov. Gary R. Herbert, a Republican, to declare a public health emergency. “But our levels of air pollution are causing the exact same consequences as if all these women were smoking.”

…

In an interview on Thursday, Governor Herbert said the state had taken a number of steps to address the pollution: urging people to take mass transit, meeting with energy companies to develop emission reduction plans and reducing the use of state vehicles.

Governor Herbert’s recommendations are a start. Investment in landscapes—both recreational and conservational—is critical to long-term mitigation of air-quality issues. Plenty of federal incentives exist, (e.g. Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG), intended to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches in conjunction with agricultural production) but these are miniscule in comparison with farm stimulus payments and agricultural subsidies. 

For more see http://westernconservation.org/docs/recommendations.pdf

Patients released from the hospital following a heart attack are more likely to die over the following years if they go home to an area with higher levels of air pollution, according to a new study in the European Heart Journal.

So how to reduce exposure, and thus at least this known risk?

Study: Where Air Pollution Is Bad, Heart Attacks Are More Deadly (The Atlantic, February 20, 2013)

Guess what? Landscape architects have some ideas about how to reduce exposure. 

Floating Islands to the Rescue “Our river wetlands are degraded because of conditions of our watershed and the ones we created by eliminating the flood plain,” Dr. Theiling said. “We are not getting the natural ecosystem service benefits of nutrient processing and sediment assimilation that we would get if this land were in its natural state.” Thus the floating islands. A company based in Shepherd, Mont., has developed one that is about the size of a backyard: known as theBioHaven, it is designed to grow in drainage ditches and remove unwanted nitrogen and phosphates from field runoff. The islands are inspired by the kind of floating peat bogs found in the waters of northern Minnesota and draw upon nature’s design to solve human problems.
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Floating Islands to the Rescue

“Our river wetlands are degraded because of conditions of our watershed and the ones we created by eliminating the flood plain,” Dr. Theiling said. “We are not getting the natural ecosystem service benefits of nutrient processing and sediment assimilation that we would get if this land were in its natural state.”

Thus the floating islands. A company based in Shepherd, Mont., has developed one that is about the size of a backyard: known as theBioHaven, it is designed to grow in drainage ditches and remove unwanted nitrogen and phosphates from field runoff. The islands are inspired by the kind of floating peat bogs found in the waters of northern Minnesota and draw upon nature’s design to solve human problems.

How New York City’s Coastline Became a Place to Put the Poor (New York Times, December 3, 2012) In retrospect, after the storm, it looked like a perverse stroke of urban planning. Many of New York City’s most vulnerable people had been housed in its most vulnerable places: public housing projects along the water, in areas like the Rockaways, Coney Island, Red Hook and Alphabet City. …  It’s impossible to talk about the landscape of modern New York without talking about [Robert] Moses, who leveraged his position as head of the Mayor’s Committee on Slum Clearance to mass-produce thousands of units of high-rise public housing, often near the shoreline. His shadow looms over much of the havoc wreaked by the storm. The Rockaways were irresistible to Moses. Once a popular summer resort for middle-class New Yorkers, who filled its seaside bungalows and crowded into its amusement parks, the area had fallen on hard times when cars, new roads and improved train service made the beaches of Long Island more accessible.
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How New York City’s Coastline Became a Place to Put the Poor (New York Times, December 3, 2012)

In retrospect, after the storm, it looked like a perverse stroke of urban planning. Many of New York City’s most vulnerable people had been housed in its most vulnerable places: public housing projects along the water, in areas like the Rockaways, Coney Island, Red Hook and Alphabet City.

… 

It’s impossible to talk about the landscape of modern New York without talking about [Robert] Moses, who leveraged his position as head of the Mayor’s Committee on Slum Clearance to mass-produce thousands of units of high-rise public housing, often near the shoreline. His shadow looms over much of the havoc wreaked by the storm.

The Rockaways were irresistible to Moses. Once a popular summer resort for middle-class New Yorkers, who filled its seaside bungalows and crowded into its amusement parks, the area had fallen on hard times when cars, new roads and improved train service made the beaches of Long Island more accessible.

Going With the Flow: Flood Control in the Netherlands Now Allows Sea Water In (New York Times, February 13, 2013) The reality of rising seas and rivers leaves no choice. Sea barriers sufficed half a century ago; but they’re disruptive to the ecology and are built only so high, while the waters keep rising. American officials who now tout sea gates as the one-stop-shopping solution to protect Lower Manhattan should take notice. In lieu of flood control the new philosophy in the Netherlands is controlled flooding.
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Going With the Flow: Flood Control in the Netherlands Now Allows Sea Water In (New York Times, February 13, 2013)

The reality of rising seas and rivers leaves no choice. Sea barriers sufficed half a century ago; but they’re disruptive to the ecology and are built only so high, while the waters keep rising. American officials who now tout sea gates as the one-stop-shopping solution to protect Lower Manhattan should take notice. In lieu of flood control the new philosophy in the Netherlands is controlled flooding.