T
he politicisation of
atmospheric science
over the last decade or
so has somehow led to
“climate change” being
boiled (heh) down to
nothing more than hot
summers, and allegedly
“economy bustingly” expensive electricity.
Pro-coal politicians argue that any cut
Australia makes to our CO 2 emissions won’t even
be noticed on the world stage, and the cost of
moving a whole country from fossil-fuel power
to wind and solar just isn’t worth it.
While TV panel shows and parliamentary
enquiries are yelling about CO 2 -this and
degrees-above-average that, somewhere out in
the corridor all the other atmospheric scientists
are yelling “Hey! What about us?!”
Because the human eff ect on our
atmosphere is about more than just CO 2 and
other greenhouse gases. Remember how in
the 1970s and 1980s we used to talk about
“pollution”? Remember “acid rain” and “dioxides”
and other nasties in the air (and in the soil, and
in the water)?
CO 2 is the bogeyman right now, but that
doesn’t mean there aren’t far nastier monsters
lurking in the exhaust gasses of our ever-
increasing industrial activity.
Just for a light sampling, consider: There
are the sulphur oxides, which can form acid
rain. There’s nitrogen dioxide, which can cause
constricted breathing and immune system
problems. Carbon monoxide we know, but how
about “ground level ozone”? It’s a friend high in
the atmosphere where it gets its own layer, but
a room full of the stuff is deadly.
Then there are the volatile organic compounds,
or VOCs. Methane is another greenhouse gas
that’s much more eff ective than CO 2 at trapping
heat, but worse for you personally are benzene,
toluene, and xylene, which are all carcinogensthat cause leukaemia. Or so studies suggest.
All of these and many more forms of pollution
still exist, and we ignore them at our peril.
Populist governments call for the dismantling
of environmental protections and the deregula-
tion of industry. It’s their view that “the market”
will somehow sort all this out, since people
won’t want to buy an iPhone if... they think the
factory in Chain is very dirty? Not sure I get it.
But China - specifi cally Beijing - is a good
example of what happens when you massively
ramp up industrial output and don’t fuss too
much about environmental rules and regulations.
As our feature on page 36 explains, cleaning
up the smog over Beijing and bringing back the
blue sky is a major challenge.
But it’s not as if this kind of thing hasn’t
happened before. As recently as 1952, the
Great Smog of London shut down the city for
four days and killed a confi rmed 4,000 people,
but possibly as many as 12,000.
A week of weird weather trapped a thick
smog made of coal particles and sulphur
dioxide, along with car exhaust and especially
exhaust from the unfi ltered diesel engines of
the 50s, right on top of the city.
It was thick enough to be visible inside, and it
stung the eyes. Eventually the wind picked up
and blew the smog away, but it must have been
hell for those four days.
To the stoic Brits though, this was merely a
particularly bad “pea-souper”. After all, London
had suff ered bad air events on and off since the
13th century!
Climate change is bad. But smog is
immediately terrible, and it’s a big part of why
we have pollution laws at all.
Cheap, reliable electricity is important. But
if I have to choose between that and the air I
breathe, I know which box I’ll be ticking.Anthony Fordham
[email protected]THINGS WE LEARNED IN THIS ISSUE
+ The ancient world’s most famous boy king may
have DIED OF MALARIA instead of being murdered.
+ A planet orbiting CLOSE TO A RED DWARF could
be as warm and hospitable as Earth.
+ We owe the space program to HITLER’S
OBSESSION WITH REVENGE and the fi rst WMD.
+ Dropping a HIT OF ACID as therapy for mental
illness could one day be a standard treatment.
+ Along with wind and solar, GEOTHERMAL POWER
could play a bigger role in the future than thought.Issue #54 (12th October 2017)
EDITORIAL
Editor Anthony Fordham
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In Defence of the Air We Breathe
EDITORIALscienceillustrated.com.au | 3