Posted by Todd Miller [172.70.210.153] on Friday, August 05, 2022 at 17:03:07 :
In Reply to: Re: weird question of the week posted by Johnd [172.70.134.223] on Friday, August 05, 2022 at 15:53:31 :
All so ironic. I hated the SCAQMD and CARB when at 16 I started modifying my car. In those days people had to take their vehicle to this state run smog test building and it would take hours while waiting in line. I didn't care much for big government and still don't, but I eventually changed my mind about the SCAQMD, Southern California Air Quality Management District. I grew up on the beach, not at the beach, but ON the beach, and anybody who remembers swimming or surfing in those days will remember the sick feeling their lungs felt after an hour or hour of strenuous activity. It was so awful. It actually felt like your lungs were poisoned, and out parents did not understand because exercise was not a priority in those days, and it was only kids who surfed or swam on a regular basis. Visibility was never more than a half mile because of the smog, and to us that was just normal. Then CARB and the SCAQMD were created and given the authority to stop factories from polluting the air and make onerous emissions requirements for cars and trucks.
The great news is that my kids grew up in So Cal without the poisonous smog. We still have the haze from the inversion and dust, but the pollutants are gone. I taught my daughters to surf without them ever knowing that awful feeling in their lungs.
There was one good thing about the smog. During the Santa Ana winds, the smog would lay offshore and the sunsets were the most colorful, spectacular sunsets ever. Not kidding. The sunsets were amazing; purples, greens, and every shade of red and yellow.
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