As the Wasatch and Oquirrh mountains disappear daily behind a curtain of choking haze, and air-quality alerts warn people from Logan to Sandy to stay indoors, we wonder why our political leaders aren't doing more to lead us to the promised land of clearer views and cleaner lungs.

One of the few to take the lead is Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, who has introduced modest but real steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the capital city. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, are implicated in global warming. They are not the same thing as the other tailpipe gases and particles that are most responsible for smog. But since the only way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles is to increase vehicle efficiency, that is, miles traveled per gallon of fuel, if you do that you also will reduce particulate emissions.

Unfortunately, Anderson has found few allies among the political elite in Utah for his crusade to reduce greenhouse gases. For that, the Democratic mayor may have to turn in an unlikely political direction, toward a California Republican.

Despite driving a Hummer and being the governator of the state that is famous, or infamous, for its love affair with the automobile, Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to defend the Golden State's new greenhouse gas emission law against legal attacks from the car builders. In 2002, California passed a law that requires carmakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 30 percent by 2016. To do that, they must increase the fuel efficiency, or mileage, of their vehicles.

The car builders contend in their lawsuit that only the federal government has authority to regulate fuel efficiency standards, and that allowing each state to do so would create chaos in the market.

Of course, the auto manufacturers also have fought against stricter fuel efficiency standards in Congress. They don't want to be weaned from behemoth sport utility vehicles, which are extravagantly inefficient but are also the most profitable products in their inventories. The new California law would force that issue.

Since the left-coast state also accounts for about 20 percent of the American automobile market, the new standards there would force the nation in the same direction, especially since seven northeastern states also are adopting the California standards.

Utahns face basically the same choices Californians do. They either can drive fewer miles in smaller, more efficient cars, ride bicycles and use mass transit, or they can stop breathing.

Tough decision.