Print this pageABSTRACT: What Happened to Science?
There is not a facet of anyone's life in industrial nations that is not related to us by hydrocarbons one way or another. Let us not decimate those industries that provide the infrastructure of our society by needless standards and regulations. Basic mineralogy would have told us that 95% of asbestos fibers are harmless and would have saved taxpayers millions of dollars in the so-called cleanup. In the case of affecting the ozone layer, Scientific research has revealed that the "ozone layer" is a naturally occurring event, that the release of chlorine from the sea and volcanoes dwarfs the chlorine released by CFC's and that harmful radiation reaching the earth's surface is not increasing.
Over the past several years there has been as much talk about global warming as there was about a new ice age in 1977. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been named the major culprit for the present global warming scare. However, scientific data show that all of the air-polluting materials produced by man since the beginning of the industrial revolution do not begin to equal the quantities of toxic materials, aerosols, and particulates spewed into the atmosphere by the volcanoes Krakatoa, Mt. Katmi, and Hekla. Further, it has been shown that sundry animals and insects also contribute huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Finally, we must not lose sight of the fact that carbon dioxide is essential for plant growth.
A 10-yr study of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program shows that " ... there is no evidence of widespread forest damage from current levels of acidic rains in the U.S." Further, scientific studies by the Illinois State Water Survey show that the acidity of the soil, not precipitation, determines the acidity in watersheds.
Let us study scientific data and move prudently so we don't destroy the industries on which we so much depend.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90991©1993 AAPG Mid-Continent Section Meeting, Amarillo, Texas, October 10-12, 1993.