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DanG
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Greenland Ice Core Reveals History Of Pollution In The Arctic
| Quote From Source: | Coal burning, primarily in North America and Europe, contaminated the Arctic and potentially affected human health and ecosystems in and around Earth's polar regions, according to new research.
Detailed measurements from a Greenland ice core showed pollutants from burning coal--the toxic heavy metals cadmium, thallium and lead--were much higher than expected. The catch, however, was the pollutants weren't higher at the times when researchers expected peaks.
"Conventional wisdom held that toxic heavy metals were higher in the 1960s and ‘70s, the peak of industrial activity in Europe and North America and certainly before implementation of Clean Air Act controls in the early 1970s," said Joe McConnell, lead researcher and director of DRI's Ultra-Trace Chemistry Laboratory.
"But it turns out pollution in southern Greenland was higher 100 years ago when North American and European economies ran on coal, before the advent of cleaner, more efficient coal burning technologies and the switch to oil and gas-based economies," McConnell said.
| | Click source url to view entire story. |
http://www.sciencedaily.com/...ses/2008/08/080819160103.htm |
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MattN
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Not surprising. Europe and especially Britian had vast amounts of coal. Nearly everything was coal powered. Coal furnaces are still used today for residential heating in some areas. The air quality in London at the turn of the 20th century was as bad or worse than modern China. |
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posted on 8/20/2008 at 14:43
