Atmosphere-Biosphere Interactions Toward a Better Understanding of the Ecological Consequences of Fossil Fuel Combustion (1981) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction and Overview
1 Introduction and Overview
Pages 1-8
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From page 1... ...
The analytical methods sufficiently sensitive to measure trace concentrations of many pollutants have been developed only recently. But even our present rudimentary understanding of regional and global distribution of atmospheric pollutants, now coupled with improvements in the scope and sensitivity of toxicity testing, has produced a number of indications in the scientific literature suggesting that some pollutants, even when diluted by air masses on a continental or global scale, may accumulate in the biosphere to concentrations that may be proved to be harmful.
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Attention was concentrated on the general properties of pollutants that govern their emission, dissemination, deposition, and ecological effects in the hope that discernible patterns would emerge that could assist management agencies and legislators in foreseeing some of the environmental consequences of continued fossil fuel burning, and in devising research programs that will address the most critical of unknown factors as quickly as possible. THE FOS SI L FUEL SCENARIO: THE PROBABILITY OF A CRISIS IN THE BIOSPHERE Ecologists, geochemists, and climatologists are beginning to discover that in many respects man is now operating on nature's own scale, particularly through the heavy use of fossil fuels to supply the energy that runs our industrial civilization.
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From page 3... ...
Acid deposition is also known to cause large economic losses by corroding metals and eroding buildings and statuary made of calcareous rock (Bolin 1971, Nriagu 19781. The Committee believes that continued emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides at current or accelerated rates, in the face of clear evidence of serious hazard to human health and to the biosphere, will be extremely risky from a long-term economic standpoint as well as from the standpoint of biosphere protection.
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From page 4... ...
Also emitted are organic micropollutants of many types, some of which are known to be carcinogens, acute toxicants, teratogens, and mutagens. Hence, faced with the total array of atmospheric pollutants that could be reviewed -- far beyond the scope of one committee's abilities -- the Committee on the Atmosphere and the Biosphere decided to focus its attention on pollutants generated in energy production, most notably on sulfur and nitrogen compounds including acid rain, trace metals' and organic substances.
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From page 5... ...
EPA standard for waters of Lake Michigan's hardness. The present rate of increase of the input rate for Lake Michigan is 4.6 percent per annum, which would cause the lake to reach the toxicity threshold for aquatic organisms in about 40 years.
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From page 6... ...
Two of the major impediments to making more specific conclusions or predictions are the lack of a long-term data base sufficient to quantify small increases in toxicants and the inadequacy of methods for detecting and predicting low-level toxic effects, at the level of either organisms or ecosystems. In Chapter 8, we give an up-to-date case history of acid deposition, one example of the severe biospheric effects resulting from anthropogenic pollution of the atmosphere that appears already to have eliminated or substantially reduced the populations of some organisms, including fishes, in parts of their natural ranges.
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From page 7... ...
In the long run, only decreased reliance on fossil fuel or improved control of a wide spectrum of pollutants can reduce the risk that our descendants will suffer food shortages, impaired health, and a damaged environment. CONC LUS I ONS AND RECOMMENDAT IONS Atmospheric pollution and its consequences deserve major consideration when the sources and sites of energy production are decided.
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From page 8... ...
, educational programs and research techniques need to be more clearly defined. In particular, current educational programs in toxicology must be upgraded to include rigorous statistical training and thorough grounding in ecological principles, with emphasis on detection of long-term, whole-ecosystem effects rather than on the current, short-term tests of individual species.
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