Air quality alert issued
The Wisconsin DNR has issued an Air Quality Watch for particle pollution effective 12:01 a.m. Saturday, continuing through 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.
The Department of Natural Resources says the forecast calls for elevated levels of fine particles in the air over much of the state. The particles include microscopic dust, soot, liquid droplets and smoke.
The air quality forecast is expected to reach the orange level, which is considered unhealthful for people with lung disease, asthma and other ailments. The watch means those people should cut back on strenuous activities and be watchful for chest pain, shortness of breath and wheezing.
The watch is in effect for Adams, Barron, Brown, Buffalo, Calumet, Chippewa, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Door, Dunn, Eau Claire, Fond Du Lac, Grant, Green, Green Lake, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Juneau, Kenosha, Kewaunee, La Crosse, Lafayette, Langlade, Lincoln, Manitowoc, Marathon, Marinette, Marquette, Menominee, Milwaukee, Monroe, Oconto, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Portage, Racine, Richland, Rock, Rusk, Sauk, Shawano, Sheboygan, St. Croix, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vernon, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, Waupaca, Waushara, Winnebago, and Wood Counties.
Sep 7, 2009 at 7:14 a.m.
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Pete, your right, this topic is about air quality.
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I did not post about the gyre of "dumb trash" in the ocean, but I wasn't aware of it so I'm glad JoeFlint brought it up. If it gets even one person to conscientiously recycle, it was worth it.
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We could all live cleaner lives, drive less, use smaller efficient vehicles, ride bicycles to work or the store, recycle everything possible, and stop reproducing like rabbits.
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I don't know what the solution will be for the rapidly declining national IQ, or if there will be a solution. On our present course, it is not the meek that will inherit the earth, it is the idiots.
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But as long as the big screen TV and cable hold out, who cares how anything works, right?
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It would be especially wonderful to get people to stop throwing those really nasty batteries and rechargeable devices in the landfill. It's illegal, and immoral.
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Drinking water with laced with nickel cadmium from your rechargeable flashlight, or lithium from your old iPod, is really, really bad for all of us.
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Don't take my word for it. Read your municipal annual water report, see what their testing for, then consider the sources of said toxins.
Sep 6, 2009 at 7:05 a.m.
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So when the winds pick up again, this stagnant bubble of smog will dissipate into the main bubble of smog called "Our Atmosphere".
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Then everything will be okay, right?
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Keep cranking out those babies folks. We can always add more lanes to highways if they get too crowded.
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World population 1950: 2.5 billion
World population 2010 projected: 6.8 billion
World population 2050 projected: 9.1 billion
How DENSE can we get?
Sep 6, 2009 at 12:04 a.m.
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... and in case you don't scroll down and read the comments in one of those links... here is a garbage whirlpool in the western Pacific.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503097119...
It is not difficult to find MANY more images of plastic in the gyre or of trash washing ashore on the northern beaches of Hawaii, particularly Oahu and Kauai.
Sep 6, 2009 at midnight
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> Mankind has so little of a effect on the planet.
Let's look at a few of the non-effects that mankind has had on this planet...
*** Earth at night & cropland fires ***
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap00112...
http://dmsp.ngdc.noaa.gov/images/fires/g...
*** Plastic garbage that would cover Texas twice ***
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacif...
http://tinotopia.com/wordpress/archive/2...
http://garbager.com/2009/03/22/plastic-t...
*** Mesoscale weather modification ***
A joint study ... revealed the effects of urban heat islands on thunderstorm formation. An urban heat island is an area where natural forests and vegetation have been replaced by buildings and blacktop roads. ... The study centers around Atlanta, Georgia, where more than 350,000 acres of land has been replace by urban sprawl since 1973. The heat island ... has raised temperatures there by as much as 10 degrees. ... The researchers also revealed that Atlanta is creating its own thunderstorms.
Science of Earth Systems, page 328.
... ad nauseam (literally: referring to something that has been repeated so often that it has become annoying or tiresome) ...
And if I and most other scientists are wrong, Pete, we'd be happy for you to present your facts and hypotheses... there's a Nobel Prize with your name on it if you're right.
In fact, PLEASE show us we're wrong; we'll ALL sleep easier at night, not just you.
Sep 5, 2009 at 9:01 a.m.
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What is scary is people like Pete who have no clue, or care to have a clue about the science of climate change and what it means for us. The deniers always throw Al Gore in there, as if he matters at all. You don't get it.
Sep 4, 2009 at 7:03 p.m.
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wisconsin, land of soot.
Sep 4, 2009 at 4:32 p.m.
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janesvillean is mostly correct. The advisory was issued based on a stagnant airmass with a very low temperature inversion trapping pollutants and particulate matter near the surface. When the inversion is near the surface, pollutants get trapped under it and are easily mixed to the surface and not dispersed further into the atmosphere by thermals. Also with the stagnant airmass there isn't much wind to "blow" the pollution elsewhere.
Sep 4, 2009 at 4:23 p.m.
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The jet stream is not (currently) blowing from SoCal up here.
http://www.intellicast.com/National/Wind...
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It's actually more that there is that bubble you can see that essentially represents still air, thus retaining pollution near its point sources. It's ours, in other words (keep in mind that Wisconsin now has the largest share of US manufacturing).
Sep 4, 2009 at 4 p.m.
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Campfires and BBQ grills?
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