Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
I find it interesting this notion that man not only doesn't affect climate change, but couldn't if they wanted to.
Like I said, fly into LAX on a clear day and look out the window as your plane descends into LA and tell me man has no effect on his environment.
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If you are talking about the nasty color of the air in LA, yes, it's pretty bad. But I've been to places like Boise and Salt Lake city when the air was worse due to wildfires.
As you probably know, most of that visible pollution you see eventually settles to the ground. The problem with LA is that it is situated in a basin, next to the ocean, where it receives a constantly westerly wind, so the pollution is trapped between the sea and the mountains, and can't escape.
It's not a good thing, but compared to what it was like in the 70's when I was an elementary school student, things are much improved. It's been more than 20 years since the last time kids were kept in their classrooms during recess because of smog alerts.
LA and other large cities have seen temperatures increase significantly over the last century, but this has nothing to do with greenhouse gases or global warming, as the temperatures in areas around the cities have remained essentially unchanged. Large cities have seen temperatures increase because of the large amounts if asphalt, concrete, and other materials which absorb heat, and hold it for long periods of time, combined with huge amounts of heat-generating machinery.
I've noticed that in Tokyo many of the streets are now being painted or coated to prevent them from absorbing heat. Many new buildings are also now being coated with new materials which reflect heat, rather than absorb it. Signs at construction sites tout these new materials, and how they will help keep the city cooler.
Many scientists who are advocates of man-made global warming have attributed the cause more to land-use issues than greenhouse gases, but their research has gone largely ignored by the IPCC and the UN. Why? Because land-use is not something which can be easily regulated or taxed as land in most countries is privately owned. The UN is only interested in finding causes of global warming which it can exploit monetarily and politically.