I came upon this article two weeks on the website for KTLA, a local TV station here in Los Angeles. The title caught my eye – “The difference is astonishing’: Graph shows how much better California smog is now.” And it turns out that this wasn’t hyperbole. The graph was astonishing. As the article notes, back in the 1950s, pollution in California – particularly Southern California with 12.5 million people in the Los Angeles metro area, a car culture with little public transportation and sitting in a basin where the smog can sink into – pollution became synonymous with the area. It wasn’t uncommon to have the famous Hollywood sign obscured from view, or to drive over the hill as the San Fernando Valley spread out in front of you, only to have the entire view covered by a low-lying cloud of the smog layer. The article told a story from the Los Angeles Times in the 1950s when conditions were so terrible that motorcyclists who worked for a blueprint company went to buy gas masks from a military surplus store because of “smog that was so thick they couldn’t see.” The Times added that “The masks worked, too, the men said, making seeing possible and breathing more pleasant.” But conditions have become drastically different today. Pollution is still a problem, but nowhere near that level. “So what changed?” the KTLA article asks. Well, the federal government passed the Air Pollution Control Act in 1955 – and then the Clean Air Act was passed in 1963. Starting in the 1970s, air pollution levels started to fall in L.A., the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere around California and throughout the Southwest. In fact, after three decades, smog levels actually fell below the national standard of 9 parts per million. And here’s that graph that shows the astonishing difference. So, anyone who wants to lambaste environmental laws – or overrule them (thanks, Supreme Court!) or ridicule treehuggers or make fun of snail darters – the reality is that science is an actual thing and not a belief system. There’s still a lot of improvement that needs to be done, but what a massive way they’ve come. You can read the whole article here.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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