Some of these scientists don’t believe global warming exists, some of them believe that the mainstream predictions on global warming are inaccurate.  Some – interestingly don’t dispute mainstream claims – but believe that global warming will be a benefit to society. 

Whether global warming is an out of control phenomenon or not, Bright New Ideas is dedicated to the idea that sufficiently cleaner air is a human right.  A lot of people have asked us why don’t we talk about global warming more in our efforts to reduce air pollution and improve health?  Well the answer is because that’s not our focus.  Our focus is to improve health and access to education for people around the world.  Our vehicle for doing that is solar energy and LED lighting.  Reducing air pollution, especially practices such as use of kerosene indoors, may happen to be congruent with the effects of climate change and it may not.  But at the very least it means a cleaner and healthier world for many people who deserve it.

But instead of letting all of that exhaust into the atmosphere, it stays in the balloon.  Then, when the balloon is full, put it somewhere safe, maybe deep underground or in the ocean.  But don’t try this at home, you’ll look like a weirdo and the balloon will probably pop.  Typically carbon capturing is done in fossil fuel (oil and coal) power plants.  And they don’t use balloons, they use something tough, made out of metal – sort of like a big industrial sized propane tank.  Vattenfall’s process improves carbon capturing for coal – which is great news for the U.S. where coal burning power plants produce about 1.5 billion metric tons of CO2 per year, according to the article, and debates have sparked about coal’s health effects over recent years.

The Pioneer Press article, “Twin Cities under air pollution advisory,” written by Nancy Yang was really just a short note, as follows:

“Air monitors indicate that fine particles are at a level approaching unhealthy for sensitive groups in the Twin Cities. Air quality is already at an unhealthy level in the Rochester area, the agency said. Sensitive groups include people with heart or lung disease, children and athletes. To learn more about air pollution or to check hourly updates of the air quality index, visit http://aqi.pca.state.mn.us/index.cfm.”

My question is, what are these “fine particles” and where do they come from?  According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Website, it is defined as follows:

Particulate Matter, Fine (PM2.5)

Fine particulate matter is a complex mixture of very small liquid droplets or solid particles in the air. Major sources are cars, trucks, construction equipment, coal-fired power plants, wood burning, vegetation and livestock. These particles can be directly released when coal, gasoline, diesel fuels and wood are burned. Many fine particles are also formed in the atmosphere from chemical reactions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, organic compounds and ammonia. Fine particulates are associated with increased hospitalizations and deaths due to respiratory and heart disease and can worsen the symptoms of asthma. People with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly and children are the groups most at risk. Fine particles are also major contributors to reduced visibility (haze). See Also Particulate Matter,”

These fine particles sound a lot like the smoke produced by kerosene lanterns, Perhaps it’s no stretch of the imagination to state that it looks like we here in Minnesota are now experiencing outdoors on a wide scale the same air pollution problem that is faced on a daily basis in huts and shanties across the world where there is no access to electricity.