pollution (Page 24)

If we can’t prevent air pollution from happening, why not install air cleaners instead? Trees are natural air scrubbers, taking in the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen, so Klaus Lackner invented an artificial tree. It’s not very pretty, however. “It looks like a goal post with Venetian blinds,” he admits. But one synthetic tree can remove 90,000 tons of CO2 in a year?the emissions from 15,000 cars.

They can be planted anywhere. Every home could have one on the lawn to absorb the CO2 emitted by that family. Or large ones the size of a building could sit out in the open near highways or power plants. He thinks 250,000 synthetic trees worldwide will be enough to soak up the 22 billion tons of CO2 produced each year.
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Recent studies show that Americans are absorbing toxic chemicals in their bodies as part of everyday life. We’re ingesting low levels of chemicals simply by eating, drinking, breathing and touching things. There are more than 70,000 chemicals used in the U.S., with 2,000 new compounds introduced every year. Almost everything we use, from carpets to cosmetics, is filled with toxins. Chemicals get into our bodies through pollution, food additives, pesticide residues, and consumer products from paints to plastics, as well as from many of the building materials in our homes and offices.
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The UN Environment Program (UNEP) says pollution from everything from gold mining to burning coal in power stations has tripled mercury levels in the air. Mercury gets into the food chain, and can cause brain and nerve damage resulting in impaired coordination, blurred vision, tremors, irritability and memory loss. Klaus Toepfer of UNEP says, “Things could get worse in the coming years, as increases in temperature also appear to help the spread of the mercury.”
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We rely on environmental testing to tell us if our water and soil is safe. Now it turns out test results are being manipulated to the extent that they are almost totally worthless. The Bush administration is putting people on scientific advisory committees who won’t insist on spending a lot of money on testing and regulation. And both private and government labs are faking the results of tests contracted by big businesses.
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