States Oppose New Pollution Reduction Rules

On Monday, ENews Park Forest reported that sixteen largely polluting states filed a lawsuit to prevent new smog rules from being enacted. Much of their desire to do so was to save big utilities and coal companies that gave an estimated $5 million in contributions to governors and attorneys general who supported them. Personally, I find it appalling that these states would put money ahead of environmental protection and public health. How do you feel about this?

Air pollution and a reluctancy to make changes

Last year the EPA finalized the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule in an effort to reduce air pollution.  Recently 16 states have sued the EPA in opposition to this new law (article).  Not coincidentally, many of these states have the highest rates of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions in the country.
These current issues in the US bring to mind the environmental issues other parts of the world are facing.  Pollution in China has gotten so extreme that gas-masks are now commonplace in Beijing and iPhone applications have been made so that its citizens can track the pollution hourly.  Let's hope that here in the US we can take preventative measures now so that we don't have to buy gas-masks later.

London Smog

The chapter discusses the perfect environment for Smog. First, there needs to be enough traffic to produce emissions. There must also be enough warmth and sunlight for the reactions to proceed. Lastly, there cannot be much air movement. For these reasons London is a city with perfect smog conditions. This article talks about some of the worst smog conditions experienced in London over last year's Easter weekend.

Skeptics and the Ozone

An interesting article discusses the original opposition scientists faced from skeptics when the ozone hole was discovered. It lays out the different approaches skeptics took to try and disprove the ozone hole and prevent the banning of CFC's. The article talks about the dramatic effects skeptics thought banning CFC's would have on the economy and other areas of life, and what actually occurred over the past 20 years.

Finding an ozone friendly alternative to HFCs

After discovering the adverse effects CFCs on the ozone hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) were largely employed as a replacement.  However outside of North America alternatives to HFCs have already been investigated.  Hydrocarbons can be utilized as coolants for manufactured goods without contributing to global warming.  In December the United States EPA just approved the use of three hydrocarbon refrigerants as substitutes to HFCs, which have an atmospheric lifetime of decades.  A switch to hydrocarbons is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 600,000 metric tons by 2020.

Arctic Ozone Hole

We've known about the hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic for a few decades. An article on Live Science back in October of 2011 talked about the first time there was a significant enough loss of ozone over the Arctic to be considered a hole. Due to the seasonal conditions that cause the the hole in the Antarctic, it usually appears in early spring. The Arctic's hole followed the same pattern and appeared last March. Will we see a hole appearing above the Arctic this spring, too?

Ozone Layer Helping Global Warming?

In 2010, an interesting article was published by National Geographic magazine about the possibility of the ozone layer actually helping global warming. Saving the ozone layer has become a major priority over the years, but interestingly enough the hole in the ozone may actually be helping to prevent global warming from occurring at a faster rate in parts of the southern hemisphere.