Why cleaner air could speed global warming

Los Angeles Times ^ | 04/18/2010 | Eli Kintisch

[GunsAndBibles]

"That's right, the world is running short on air pollution, and if we continue to cut back on smoke pouring forth from industrial smokestacks, the increase in global warming could be profound."

[GunsAndBibles]

I had to read this very very carefully, at first I thought it was satire... But no - we're doomed without more air pollution. Guess I'll dust off the Chevelle SS454 and do my part to save the planet. Sheesh!

[GunsAndBibles]

Aerosol pollution, which is now on the downswing, has helped keep the planet cool by blocking sunlight. Tackling another pollutant, soot, might buy Earth some time.
You’re likely to hear a chorus of dire warnings as we approach Earth Day, but there’s a serious shortage few pundits are talking about: air pollution. That’s right, the world is running short on air pollution, and if we continue to cut back on smoke pouring forth from industrial smokestacks, the increase in global warming could be profound.

Cleaner air, one of the signature achievements of the U.S. environmental movement, is certainly worth celebrating. Scientists estimate that the U.S. Clean Air Act has cut a major air pollutant called sulfate aerosols, for example, by 30% to 50% since the 1980s, helping greatly reduce cases of asthma and other respiratory problems.

But even as industrialized and developing nations alike steadily reduce aerosol pollution — caused primarily by burning coal — climate scientists are beginning to understand just how much these tiny particles have helped keep the planet cool. A silent benefit of sulfates, in fact, is that they’ve been helpfully blocking sunlight from striking the Earth for many decades, by brightening clouds and expanding their coverage. Emerging science suggests that their underappreciated impact has been incredible.

Researchers believe greenhouse gases such as CO2 have committed the Earth to an eventual warming of roughly 4 degrees Fahrenheit, a quarter of which the planet has already experienced. Thanks to cooling by aerosols starting in the 1940s, however, the planet has only felt a portion of that greenhouse warming. In the 1980s, sulfate pollution dropped as Western nations enhanced pollution controls, and as a result, global warming accelerated.

[big bad easter bunny]

Baloney!

[unspun]

A lie told often enough...

...is really funny.

[kingu]

Iceland’s handling the issue right now.

[MarkeyD]

I’ve used the Clean Air Act as an example of correlation equals causation to combat the CO2 idiocy in the past.

[kcvl]

Eli Kintisch of AAAS (a global organization, with offices in Washington, D.C. and Cambridge, U.K). The American Association for the Advancement of Science, "Triple A-S" (AAAS), is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world

AAAS seeks to "advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people and to provide a voice for science on societal issues;

Eli Kintisch is a reporter for Science magazine, and he has also written for Slate, Discover, MIT Technology Review and The New Republic. Previously he worked as a science reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and as Washington correspondent for the Forward.

[bboop]

God seems to be doing His part in bringing the system into equilibrium once again; too clean? A little ash cloud will help.

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[Fredgoblu]

So...it was those danged Republican presidents--Nixon, with the Clean Air Act; and George Bush, Sr., with the Clean Air Act Amendments--that started the whole global warming problem.

If they hadn't put the CAA in place, would we still be worrying about the next ice age, as we did in the 1970's?