Breathe In

There was a time when you went outside to get “a breath of fresh air.” Yet, the city of Richmond has earned a reputation that makes that act an impossibility.

In a recent story broadcast by Charles Fishburne we got a taste of an Environment Virginia study that called the air quality of the city into question. Ms. Corrie (of Environment Virginia) stated that Richmond is the 17^th smoggiest metro area in the entire country. For a city of Richmond’s size that seems like a pretty terrible record to have. Anyone that lives here can tell you there are days it’s not safe to breathe outside.

On the other side of this issue we have VA Rep. Eric Cantor who is leading congress to study how the EPA is affecting prices, jobs and reliability of electric power. In other words how loosening those regulations would allegedly produce more jobs, drive prices down, and make electric power more reliable.

So I guess our choices are breathing or jobs?

Here are two things. First, why does the city of Richmond have to care how the EPA regulations fall? If there is a problem with the air quality in this city, then the city should be already taking steps to improve the smog situation and work at a solution. Not wait for the EPA regulations to force or allow them to do something. I’m fairly sure the Federal Government wouldn’t try to stop us from cleaning up the city.

Second, am I the only one that gets tired of the same old rag in congress where everything is a choice between the environment and jobs? It’s like a ghost story they tell us to insure that the right people continue making the most money possible. As long as congress keeps threatening job loss the voters seem like they are always going to back them up. But is it really possible to be this consistently cut and dry? Is there no way possible to breath clean air, fish in clear streams, and swim in clear beaches without being jobless and have no electricity? There have got to be better solutions out there.

In the wake of the economy’s record these past few years the threat of jobs and price hikes might have become a dog without teeth. How many of us have learned to live with much less? How many are surviving on one income when we believed it wasn’t possible? People already don’t have jobs, and are dealing with higher prices of gas and food. So how much more could that possibly change? Do we really have to still live in fear of the “Boogey Man” that our congressional leaders keep trotting out?

You know what my family and I have been doing? Going outside more. City parks are free, and a great place to entertain ourselves, meet friends and have picnics as inexpensive alternatives to going out to eat. In all honesty, being able to breath saves us money!

I challenge the people of this city to do two things. Seventh District Representative Eric Cantor needs to be told that we feel the EPA regulations are there for a reason, and to stop using the environment as a scapegoat that only serves to tell us Capitol Hill is fresh out of ideas. Secondly, the citizens of Richmond need to make our city accountable to us, and not to the EPA. There are hundreds of things the city could do to make the air quality breathable again. Just a few ideas: more intentional greenspaces to freshen the air in key areas, directing the flow of large truck traffic around residential areas, zoning the city to decrease the need for citizens to drive as much making work, play and shopping closely available.

This city was once envied because of its innovation in creating an electric trolley system. That spirit of ingenuity and forward thinking cannot be allowed to wane! Creating a new fleet of mass transit vehicles or even something as simple as walking and biking paths in already established neighborhoods could be a statement made not only to the citizens of this city but to the state and again the country.

Richmond is a great city, with the potential to be even greater. It has some incredible parks, which sadly are going to become vacant if we and our children get asthma from the air we live in. This is our city, and regardless of what the EPA does or doesn’t do, we need to act in a way that makes this city a place of health for ourselves and for every generation that comes after us.