We really have the world here in our little valley, friends. Towering, breathtaking mountains. Unique and strangely beautiful lakes. The barren, ghostly desert of the Salt Flats and deep, trout-filled rivers flowing down our ridiculously amazing [and plentiful] canyons. We have an extremely diverse and incredible land to call 'home'. And although the people here may mirror the environment, reaching extreme ends of the spectrum, from the staunch conservative to the raging radical, we all share this space. We're all walking and hiking and working and living here. And we're all breathing the same [as of late] shitty air. We can obviously all see that something is very wrong. Likely, most of us can feel it too. We've all had a hand in getting the air to this point, and we are the only folks who can do anything about improving it. Last Saturday, thousands of locals [over 4,000, to be more precise] took to the steps and sprawling lawn of the Capitol to get started in making changes. The Clean Air: No Excuses Rally saw an inspiring gang, pushing loudly and peacefully for government mediation and forward progress on the issue. The photos below will offer a peek at the crowd and some of what they had to say [we're a tad partial to, "I'm too young to smoke"]. With community push like this, we're bound to see the improvement and political movement that's needed for a fix. For more information or to find ways to help, check out the Utah Department of Environmental Quality or HEAL Utah.

*Note: If we have not succeeded in stirring you to action, you should try re-reading the preceding paragraph in the slow, deliberate, heart-string-tugging voice of Morgan Freeman.