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Due to pollution controls on cars and smokestacks, acid rain has decreased in recent years. This can be seen clearly in Appalachian streams, where aquatic life is thriving. Butthis is leading to increased CO2 levels in the water, as a result of respiration and the organic decay of dead creatures. But more CO2 dissolved in water could lead to a major increase in global warming?if it escapes into the atmosphere.

In LiveScience.com, Sara Goudarzi quotes researcher David DeWalle as saying, “Although that is a positive thing?higher amounts of carbon dioxide in the soil means more of it ultimately may be emitted back to the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas.”

Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
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We’re not only polluting the earth: In the process, we’re polluting our children. Scientists think that pollution may be the cause of disabilities and diseases like Parkinson’s, autism, attention deficit disorder and cerebral palsy.

Jeremy Laurance writes in the Independent that “chemical pollution may have harmed the brains of millions of children around the world in what scientists are calling a ‘silent pandemic.'” Some of the worst pollutants are lead and mercury, but there are over 200 chemicals that are known to damage the brain, even at low levels of exposure.

In LiveScience.com, Charles Q. Choi quotes environmentalist Richard Fuller as saying, “[Pollutants] cause an enormous amount of misery and harm, especially to children.”
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Now that we know we can help alleviate global warming by doing something as simple as changing a light bulb, it’s time to do something bigger: invent a whole new type of power. A group of engineers have done just that: they?ve invented a combustion chamber where fuel is burned that will power a motor that gives off almost NO pollution at all?and it’s NOT nuclear.

The aim of this new combustion chamber is to reduce theproduction of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxide (NOx),which cause smog and other pollution. However, it’s not perfect: it still produces just as much of the greenhouse gas Carbon Dioxide (CO2) as a conventional engine.
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Global warming is on trial in a big way, in the Supreme Court. A dozen states that are suffering the most from air pollution are demanding that the EPA force car manufacturers to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from cars. This may turn out to be one of the Supreme Court’s most important rulings on the environment.

H. Josef Hebert writes in LiveScience.com that this argument will take a year for the court to settle, with a ruling not expected until next June.
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