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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Less Pollution, More Global Warming | Less Pollution, More Global Warming |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Some good news: The air we breathe has been getting cleaner. | Some good news: The air we breathe has been getting cleaner. |
| Across the globe and for many years now, air quality has been improving thanks to regulations that have dramatically reduced the release of pollutants that are harmful to human health. | Across the globe and for many years now, air quality has been improving thanks to regulations that have dramatically reduced the release of pollutants that are harmful to human health. |
| But there’s a catch. Some of the particulate matter in all that pollution was actually exerting a cooling effect on the climate by blocking solar radiation. In doing so, it was effectively preventing some of the global warming driven by the burning of fossil fuels. | But there’s a catch. Some of the particulate matter in all that pollution was actually exerting a cooling effect on the climate by blocking solar radiation. In doing so, it was effectively preventing some of the global warming driven by the burning of fossil fuels. |
| Scientists are now taking a closer look at this trade-off and arriving at a sobering conclusion: As we clean up the air, we also seem to making global warming a bit worse. | Scientists are now taking a closer look at this trade-off and arriving at a sobering conclusion: As we clean up the air, we also seem to making global warming a bit worse. |
| Before we examine the trade-offs, let’s acknowledge the obvious: Less pollution is a good thing. | Before we examine the trade-offs, let’s acknowledge the obvious: Less pollution is a good thing. |
| Particulate matter — stuff like soot and sulfates, much of which comes from burning fossil fuels but also from forest fires and other sources — contributes to more than 4 million early deaths per year, according to the World Health Organization. The tiny particles can become lodged in the lungs and even enter the bloodstream, causing problems in the heart and beyond. | Particulate matter — stuff like soot and sulfates, much of which comes from burning fossil fuels but also from forest fires and other sources — contributes to more than 4 million early deaths per year, according to the World Health Organization. The tiny particles can become lodged in the lungs and even enter the bloodstream, causing problems in the heart and beyond. |
| “There is absolutely no doubt that we would be all better off in the short term if we didn’t have to breathe in as many dangerous aerosols,” said Daniele Visioni, an assistant professor at Cornell University who has studied the relationship between air pollution and climate change. “From a health perspective, it makes sense to reduce pollutants.” | |
| The Clean Air Act has gone a long way toward improving air quality in the United States. A wide range of dangerous pollutants have fallen sharply since 1990, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. |