BTW the "Great Smokey Mountains" were called just that by the early explorers because of the constant haze caused by high humidity, transpiration, ultraviolet radiation, and yes 'Virginia' natural ozone production!
Skip:
I would be interested in your reference for this. I may be somewhat
off in my exact facts, but I don’t think the markedly reduced
visibility is open to dispute if you look at the Weather Bureau’s
records. It is true that there is natural ozone production, but, as
I write tonight my eleven o’clock news is telling me we are on a
health alert today because of polluting ozone and I should watch
exerting myself especially between noon and three tomorrow. The
number of such days is rising each year.
Michael Frome, in the book “Strangers in High Places,” says “from a
high vantage point, vistas unfold of waves of green forested peaks,
shrouded here and there by a deep-bluish mist rising from the
valleys. Such is the unpolluted smokiness from which the Smokies
derive their traditional name.” I will take a look for another
reference tomorrow.
I am quite certain that the ozone levels are rising alarmingly here.
EPA is close to requiring the City of Knoxville to do something (such
as vehicle inspection) to reduce them. I do agree that volcanic
eruptions and (maybe) asteroid collisions have led in the past to
extreme climatic changes and that mother earth eventually recovered.
However, in the process, species did become extinct, and I’m not in
favor of that if the species is us. I also do not think you can
point to natural disasters which produced chlorflurocarbons and
related compounds such as mankind has produced in the recent past and
which are pretty much inimical to reproduction and health.
I very much enjoy your acute posts and I have learned a lot from
them. However, I find it difficult to understand when people do not
see that we are generally in big trouble environmentally and instead
fall to analyzing details rather than seeing the big picture in
focus.
Best Regards,
Roy