Dust storms signal danger for Utah

Recently, Australia has turned into a terrestrial version of Dante's inferno: breathtaking fire storms, 10 years of unrelenting heat and drought, collapse of the agricultural industry and soaring suicide rates among farmers. Last week, monster dust storms traveled thousands of miles, shut down air traffic, set off smoke alarms inside buildings and raised pollution levels to 100 times higher than acceptable thresholds. Australians described it as hell on earth.

Scientists implicate multiple factors: a climate in crisis, deforestation, overgrazing and poor water-use practices. Utahns are probably not losing much sleep over Australia becoming hell on earth, but they should. The dust storms we experienced this week and earlier this year should herald a warning.

Strong parallels link Australia and Utah. We live on a desert that is becoming hotter and drier, with those trends predicted to accelerate. Native vegetation currently preventing desert soil from becoming airborne is already under stress. Our forests are being decimated by pine beetles, and forest-fire season is now 79 days longer than 25 years ago. The fires are more frequent, larger and more intense. Now add this: The governor's office, for some reason, feels obligated to sign the Snake Valley water agreement with Nevada that will make the poor water-use practices in Australia look like pure genius by comparison.

Snake Valley ranchers, and well respected geologists, hydrologists and biologists, know that there is no excess water in the western desert. The aquifers whose water would be siphoned to Las Vegas provide the only lifeline for plants like the greasewood that are the last line of defense between us and dust storms like the ones in Australia last week.

Dust storms are far more than a periodic, unaesthetic nuisance. They are a serious health hazard. The particles inhaled cause the same kind of systemic inflammation as those from vehicle tail pipes and factory smoke stacks. Even though the dust storms are usually short-lived, their health impact can last long after they are gone.

Within minutes to hours after a spike in air pollution, health consequences are already under way. Blood pressure rises, vascular inflammation and clot formation begins, followed shortly by increased numbers of heart attacks, strokes and deep vein thrombosis. Inhalation of particle pollution can actually bypass the lungs, migrating directly from the linings of the nose, along the nerves to reach the brain stem. There they cause inflammation and stress on brain cells, acutely compromising their function leading to long-term neurodegeneration. This occurs in children as well as adults.