Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The last time we had air pollution was when Mount St. Helens blew...
In Oregon, I've experienced the air from China...now that's a real downer to an Oregon (what used to be) blue sky...
I was amused too, perhaps Plains10 will say something else for us...
mtneer...I gave you points for your other post...but this one was better..
Also glad to not be living in the steamboat days...could you imagine? The settling of the west would have never occured..those steamboats clogged the river from New Orleans to Mckeesport, Pa to Butte, Montana...
I'll bet that was a sight that no one could actually behold for the smoke..
The jet stream does transport currents of air across the US from west to east. Back a few decades ago portions of the northeast dealt with high soil acidity levels caused by acid rain. However, those areas impacted were in the remote Adirondack region that has fewer than 4 people per square mile in Hamilton County. The bad air generally came from portions of the Midwest via the jet stream. Thankfully better technologies and emission equipment has improved the acid rain situation in areas of the Northeast.
West Virginia does have a lot of coal plants, but is and always will be a coal state. The latitude of the Ohio River Valley and Central Appalachians is perpendicular to nearly the same latitude as Washington DC and points off to the south. I am hopeful that technological improvements will continue to improve emissions from plants.
The Northwest and portions of the Northern Rockies do not rely on hardly any coal at all to generate electricity. Most of power there is generated through hydroelectricity, natural gas, and nuclear.
While we are on the subject of pollution, I have a rather amusing story to share. When I was in college I took a physical geography elective and for some reason the topic of air pollution came up for debate. A _insert not nice word(s) here__ from a certain hated state (cough cough NEW JERSEY) said that he was told the reason that NJ was so polluted was because of coal and other industrial output from WV and that it spread east to his state on its way to the ocean. He seriously got up pointed to a map tried to pinpoint airflows etc to prove his point..I don't think I've ever been so amused at another person's stupidity in my life.
Sorry to veer off topic but I find it amusing when people think WV's air is dirty. Here in DC I feel there are some days when I can take a knife outside and literally cut right through it.
You reminded me of something here: I remember walking along Lee Hwy from George Mason Drive to Glebe Rd and what really struck me that particular late afternoon was the haze. I had never seen anything like that in the DC area: note that I was born/raised there.
The date (August 25th, 1978) stuck in my mind; less than 24 hours later saw me arriving in the San Francisco area........that smoggy/hazy evening (Friday) was the last night I spent in the DC area.
I was listening to T-Boone's radio commercial today in the car and thought...wow! 50,000 windmills from Colorado to West Virginia...if the killed bird and bat count on the Thomas Ridge was 40,000 last year...How long would it take to kill every bird in America?
Can anybody do that math?...Snorpus. Do we even need birds and bats...we are making it without Honeybees now...the small bumblebees are taking over for us...no honey crop but I'm sure they could be re-engineered and cloned into an insect to do that...
Birds eat insects... we might have a malaria epidemic if we kill off all the birds.
But my suspicion is that "Survival of the Fittest" would come into play. Those birds smart enough to recognize that the "whoosh-whoosh" sound isn't good for them, even if they can't see the blades coming at 200mph, would just learn to avoid the ridgelines.
It might take a few thousand years for the evolution to take place, but eventually they'd all cross-breed with penguins, and that would solve the problem.
As to bats... would anybody miss them, other than Count Vlad?
Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
13,387 posts, read 19,436,175 times
Reputation: 4611
Quote:
Originally Posted by snorpus
DK,
Birds eat insects... we might have a malaria epidemic if we kill off all the birds.
But my suspicion is that "Survival of the Fittest" would come into play. Those birds smart enough to recognize that the "whoosh-whoosh" sound isn't good for them, even if they can't see the blades coming at 200mph, would just learn to avoid the ridgelines.
It might take a few thousand years for the evolution to take place, but eventually they'd all cross-breed with penguins, and that would solve the problem.
As to bats... would anybody miss them, other than Count Vlad?
Bats eat the mosquitos...how about the Hawks? The Appy's have been their migratory flyways since the Ice Age retreated with global warming...We have a great opportunity here to throw the eco into a great imbalance..
I'm certainly not a 'Tree hugger...But what the eco's are saying is 'right on this time...and these systems went out with milling corn and pumping water...they have very limited potential and will need coal fired plants to act as back-ups...
I'm for Nuke Power all the way...Europe has shown us this. Our navy has shown us this...small stations...What we need, we have here already...this is just another scam for the public's checkbook...
Hope you don't mind me sticking my nose into your local site here. I stumbled onto it while searching for some WV pics, and was reading all your views about WV and the world, and thought I'd register too..!! Why was I looking for some WV pics? Because I have had the pleasure of visiting a few times and don't have enough pics..!!
You folk will have to correct me whenever I get the wrong end of the stick about things here ok? I'm easily corrected...hehe
"why doesn't everyone live in WV?" - so many answers to that one I think, some of which have been mentioned in previous replies. If I could, I would uproot from here in the UK and move into your neck of the woods in a flash. I have great friends that live in Fairmont, Marion County, and they kindly invited my son and I to spend two weeks with them a few years back. We both had a wonderful tme. I instantly fell in love with the people,the hospitality,the landscape,the food,in fact everything you have. It was a nice change for me...but the feelings didn't die with me returning to the UK. I've been back to WV again,twice THIS year...so you certainly have SOMETHING that has captured my spirit. Like I said before,I only wish I could move there.
I could write a novel here,but I don't want to bore you in one sitting. I'll be happy to give my views on topics if you want...always willing to chat with mountaineers..!! Seems you have very similar problems to us back here too...from the serious to the downright stupid...!!
Thanks vec101....I'll do my utmost to return...I'm always having withdrawl symptoms...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'll be happy to give my views on topics if you want...always willing to chat with mountaineers..!! Seems you have very similar problems to us back here too...from the serious to the downright stupid...!!
