Ours To Save: Poisoning Planet Earth

Product Description

Modern humans and their industrial ways are an outsized burden on the planet. One reason is that there are just so many of us. The United Nations predicts that by 2050 almost 9.2 billion people will be living on Earth - almost four times the number of people living on Earth in 1950. It isn't just our numbers, though. We have forgotten the early childhood lesson: If you make a mess, clean it up. In this volume, you will learn how cities like Los Angeles are frequently shrouded with brown, smoggy skies, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, especially gas emissions from cars. Acid rain - precipitation mixed with gases released from coal-burning plants - kills fish and forests and damages many structures, including important monuments. Like smog, coal emissions can harm lung and heart tissue in humans. Fossil fuels also emit carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases, gases that in excessive amounts heat up the planet to unhealthy levels.