Climate Change, Effect of Pollution

 

Climate Change - Scientific Considerations, Pollution

Atmospheric pollution has been a concern for the past several decades because it affects our health through the air that we breathe, and also because it affects the weather – specifically, the temperature of the air. Several sources of pollution have been discussed, including industrial emissions, vehicular exhaust, and acts of nature, like dust storms and volcano eruptions.

Toxic emissions from vehicle exhausts have been brought under control by means of catalytic converters and other devices, and industrial pollution (in America) has been greatly reduced, as required by increasingly strict federal requirements. At present, man-made pollution is relatively small compared with the gases and particulates exuded by nature herself. There is a limit to what man can do to make the atmosphere cleaner, but much has been accomplished, as can be testified by those who lived in the times of coal fired steam locomotives, and smokestacks that released, not just smoke, but also various industrial gases, some of which reeked of sulfides and other foul substances. Certain pollutants, like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide interact with water in the atmosphere to produce liquid acids, which fall as acid rain and so have a deleterious effect on plant life. Much industrial pollution of this kind has been minimized, but at present we have no control over volcanic emissions.

However, a cleaner atmosphere doesn't equate to a cooler atmosphere. Pollutants in the air tend to block radiation. There are those that attempt to produce theoretical arguments that particles heat the air by absorbing solar radiation and then emitting thermal radiation into the atmosphere; but actual observation and recorded data demonstrate that phenomena like volcano eruptions can have pronounced cooling effects. One example is the “year without a summer” caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815. Another example is the effect of smoke. During the first Persian Gulf war Saddam's army set fire to scores of oil wells, which generated huge volumes of smoke. Despite the heat generated by the fires, the summer was one of the coolest on record for that area, because the smoke blocked much of the sunlight. Pollution also deters radiation cooling at night, as demonstrated by the use of smudge pots by fruit and vegetable farmers on still cool nights.

It is important to minimize atmospheric pollution for health purposes, but that would inhibit, not promote, cooling. Some scientists have proposed a kind of artificial volcano eruption effect by creating a high-altitude layer of smoke generated with relatively safe gases. Many arguments could be raised against such a proposal, including the fact that we need sunlight for plant growth.

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