Climate change is a pollution problem, and countries know the best way to take care of pollution threats – think DDT and acid rain

Climate change can look like an insurmountable challenge. However, for those who look closely on the causes, you’ll realize that history is filled with similar health and environmental threats that humanity has overcome.

The predominant reason behind climate change – Carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels – is definitely just one other pollutant. And countries know the best way to reduce harmful pollutants. They did this with, amongst other things, the pesticide DDT, lead paint, and power plant emissions that caused acid rain.

In each of those cases, growing public outcry ultimately led to policy changes, despite opposition from industry. After being pressured by laws and regulations, industries increased the production of safer solutions.

I’m a Earth and environmental scientistsand my latest book, “Reclaiming our planet“explores the teachings of history in overcoming seemingly insurmountable dangers. Here are a number of examples:

DDT banned despite industry opposition

That was DDT first truly effective pesticide and is taken into account a miracle. By killing mosquitoes and lice it’s Malaria eradicated and other diseases in lots of countries, and in agriculture, tons of crops were saved.

After World War II, DDT was used on farms, buildings, etc Gardens within the United States. However, it also had disadvantages. It accumulate in breast milk to levels that would end in a toxic dose for infants. were women not really helpful They breastfed their babies within the Sixties due to danger.

Furthermore, DDT Bioaccumulation within the food chain to toxic levels in top species comparable to birds of prey. This weakened the eggshells a lot that brooding moms crushed their eggs. Bald eagles were reduced to 417 breeding pairs By 1967, they spread throughout North America and were placed on the endangered species list.

Biologist Rachel Carson documented the damage DDT caused her 1962 book “Silent Spring“ and thus triggered a public environmental movement. Despite disinformation campaigns and attacks There was enormous public pressure on politicians from the chemical industry Congressional hearings, state and federal restrictions and eventually a USA Ban on general use of DDT in 1972.

Bald eagle recovered to 320,000 within the United States by 2017 was concerning the same because the population before European settlement. The chemical industry, faced with a DDT ban, quickly developed much safer pesticides.

Providing evidence of the risks of lead

Lead use rose sharply within the twentieth centuryparticularly in paint, plumbing and gasoline. It was so widespread that nearly everyone was affected by it As research now shows, metal might be harmful the kidneys, liver, cardiovascular system and brain development of kids.

Clair “Pat” Patterson, a geochemist on the California Institute of Technology, has shown this Americans were continuously exposed to steer in almost toxic concentrations. Human skeletons from the Sixties were found as much as 1,200 times the management of ancient skeletons. Today, health standards say that is the case no protected lead level within the blood.

Despite personal and skilled threats and a disinformation campaign from the industry, Patterson and his supporters Years of evidence compiled to warn the general public and ultimately pressure politicians to ban lead from many uses, also in gasoline And Home Colors.

Once the regulations were in place, the industry boomed Production of substitutes. This causes lead levels in children's blood to rise decreased by 97% in the following many years. Although lead exposure is now less common, some individuals are still exposed to dangerous levels that remain in homes, pipes and soil, often in low-income neighborhoods.

Stopping Acid Rain: An International Problem

Acid rain is caused primarily by sulfur dioxide, which is released into the air by the burning of coal, high-sulfur oil, and the smelting and refining of metals. interacts with rain or fog. The acid rain that falls can destroy forests, destroy lake ecosystems, disintegrate statues and corrode infrastructure.

The damage attributable to acid rain across Europe and North America within the twentieth century also showed the world how air pollution that doesn’t stop at borders can develop into a global crisis requiring international solutions.

The acid rain problem began well over a century ago, but sulfur dioxide levels aren’t any longer high grew rapidly after World War II. A thermal inversion in London in 1952 resulted in such concentrations of sulfur dioxide and other air pollutants that it killed 1000’s of individuals. As damage to forests and lakes worsened across Europe and countries signed international agreements In the Eighties they began to cut back their sulfur dioxide emissions.

In the US, emissions from power plants within the Midwest were killing fish and trees within the pristine Adirondacks. The damage, health concerns and diverse disasters outraged the general public and politicians responded.

Sulfur dioxide was named on the groundbreaking ceremony as certainly one of the six criteria for air pollutants 1970 US Clean Air Actwhich required the federal government to set limits on its publication. power plants installed scrubbers to capture the pollutant and reduce sulfur dioxide concentrations within the U.S. over the following 40 years decreased by roughly 95%.

Parallels to climate change

There are many parallels between these examples and today's climate change.

Mountains of scientific evidence show how carbon dioxide emissions arise from the combustion of fossil fuels in vehicles, factories and power plants warm the planet. The fossil fuel industry began using them political power And Misinformation campaigns many years ago too Block regulations that ought to decelerate climate change.

And people world wide are facing worsening heat and weather disasters fueled by global warming Call to motion stop climate change and spend money on cleaner energy.

The first Earth Dayin 1970, attracted 20 million people. The rallies in recent times have shifted the main target to climate change have attracted tens of millions from people everywhere in the world.

The challenge was to get politicians to act, but that's the way it is change slowly in lots of countries.

The United States has begun Investments within the expansion of several instruments to curb climate changeincluding electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels. Federal and state politics, comparable to Requirements for the production of renewable energy and limits on greenhouse gas emissions are also crucial to encourage industry to modify to less harmful alternatives.

Climate change is a worldwide problem that requires global efforts. International agreements also help more countries make progress. A change that countries have been discussing for years could help boost those efforts: ending the billion-dollar spending Tax-funded fossil fuel subsidies and reallocating that cash to healthier solutions could help slow climate change.