Rod,
I have actually travelled a little by air, by sea and even on land. Having said that, I do believe that, over time, the air we breathe gets quite well mixed; the concentrations of brown, yellow, etc., that you refer to are merely sources. And, being asthmatic, I am happy that I live, and breathe, in Northern Ontario and not, as you say, in certain cities. However, not even up here are we immune from pollution. That point was driven home last Summer when we had local "air quality advisories".
At the end of my crude calculation, I asked how we could achieve the recommended limits. I was actually thinking (maybe even hoping) that someone might say that we should build nuclear power plants to feed industry and homes and displace the coal and oil and gas burning types, and also the plants that depend on flooding vast tracts of real estate. I even thought that someone would suggest that we could also build nuclear power plants to drive the hydrogen production needed to feed fuel cells for transportation.
Alas, no takers...
Regards,
Andy
-----Original Message-----
From: AtomicRod@aol.com [mailto:AtomicRod@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 3:38 AM
To: adam.mclean@utoronto.ca; cdn-nucl-l@informer2.cis.McMaster.CA
Subject: Re: [cdn-nucl-l] U.S. research links power plant pollution to
lung cancer
Andy,
I am not sure what you are trying to accomplish with your crude calculation
of the volume of the atmosphere. If you think that the air we breathe is even
close to well mixed around the globe, I recommend that you do a little
traveling by air or sea so that you can get a visual look at the
concentrations of brown, yellow and dingy air that hangs over certain cities.
On some days, when the air in the upper atmosphere is actually warmer than
that closer to the earth's surface (what is known as a temperature inversion)
the air in the cities can get quite crappy. I do not need an instrument to
detect this, I have been "blessed" with the gift of allergies that border on
asthma and happen to live and work in some of the dirtiest areas in the
country -- southeast Washington, DC and Anne Arundel County, MD.
I know that people talk about the traffic and tailpipe emissions, but I have
a sneaking suspicion that the dozen or so coal power plant stacks and the
miles of coal carrying rail cars that I see every day have something to do
with the quality of the air I breathe. It is almost enough to make me swear
off running; in fact, I probably should on certain days.
Rod Adams
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