In March of 1969, I left my hometown of Millcreek to serve
in the infantry in Vietnam. After the war, I moved back home to the Salt Lake
Valley to teach sixth grade science and math. Like many who fought on the
ground in Vietnam, I had been exposed to agent orange and I had no idea.
It wasn’t until 2005, after I had been experiencing some
health problems, that a doctor told me that agent orange had deteriorated my
lungs so severely I had no other choice than to receive surgery to have one of
my lungs removed. Now I live with one functioning lung, Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and asthma.
I called the Salt Lake Valley home for the majority of my
life, but as the pollution increased over time, living there with one lung
became impossible. I could not breathe, and ultimately decided to move to
Midway, where the air is less polluted.
As a veteran, I care about how this nation protects not only
my fellow veterans, but all of our civilians. If the air above our country
continues to weaken people’s health and displace them from their homes, what
does that mean for the security of this nation?
When the United States joined the Paris Agreement in 2015,
it joined other leading nations to combat climate change and transition to
clean energy to avoid the worst impacts of rising global temperatures. I was
immensely proud of our nation that day. But when President Trump pulled out of
that agreement, he decided that corporations and special interests were more
important than the security and prosperity of Americans.
Steve Smith is a retired teacher and Vietnam veteran
Steve Smith is a retired teacher and Vietnam veteran
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