pollution (Page 19)

People living in the eastern part of the U.S. and Canada sawwho went outside at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, August 31, saw astrange, bright, silvery cloud of light that suddenlyappeared. It lasted for about half an hour, then graduallyfaded. It may have accounted for UFO reports from that area,but it was actually a satellite launch vehicle dumping itsfuel.

Joe Rao writes in space.com that New York amateur astronomerJohn Bortle first reported the sighting. In another part ofNew York, Bill Bogardus and his wife saw the cloud anddescribe it as “?about the size of the moon?It was aroundish, yet not all that round, object drifting towardsour location very slowly, slower that most satellitesbecause it took at least twenty minutes to move from wherewe first saw it…”
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One scientist says that the real amount of global warming isbeing masked by air pollution, and if pollution is reduced,the Earth will heat up more quickly. Another scientistclaims acid rain is good, because it slows down globalwarming.

Researcher Meinrat Andreae says tiny particles of sulphur orcarbon in the air help to cool the planet down. Some ofthese particles come from volcanoes, but most of them comefrom the burning of fossil fuels. These aerosol particlesabsorb or scatter radiation from the sun, and create modifyclouds and thus more rain.
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Asbestos was once considered so safe that it was used notonly in buildings but even in water pipes. Now we know iteventually leads to a deadly cancer and deaths of peopleexposed to it keep climbing every year. Is there somethingthat seems innocent in our current environment that willbecome the deadly asbestos of the future?
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Despite “Clear Skies” and other government programs, there are still 100 million people in 21 U.S. states who breathe unhealthy levels of tiny particles from coal-burning power plants, cars and factories, according to the EPA.

Chris Baltimore writes that 243 counties in mostly Eastern states, as well as in California, don’t comply with Environmental Protection Agency proposals to limit emissions of the extremely tiny particles. These particles are 28 times smaller than the width of a human hair, but they can cause death from heart and lung disease, as well as chronic bronchitis and asthma.
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