Air Pollution is Threatening our Skies

Here’s a question for Parkway friends to ponder:  why was the Parkway built?  Well, the simplest and truest answer has to be “for the views.”

There are 294 overlooks strung like beads along the slender Parkway, planned as platforms to take in those serene vistas.  So here’s another question:  how well have we preserved the “viewshed” we inherited from our grandparents along with the Parkway?  How much are we passing along to our grandkids to enjoy?
   
The answer to that is troubling.  Because we have allowed the views to disappear behind a thick curtain of air pollution.
   
The best estimates, derived from decades of research, tell us that we ought to be able to see 60 miles during summer, when natural haze is thickest.  Instead, the usual view is about 20 miles, and sometimes less than eight!  And that choking haze is human-made, most it from coal-burning electric power plants.  The next biggest contributor is cars.
   
The technology has long existed to clean up our soot-gray skies.  We just haven’t decided to make enough noise to see that the government really gets the job done.
   
Meanwhile, air pollution isn’t just killing the views, it’s killing us.  The latest EPA estimate is that fine-particle air pollution, the kind that coal-smoke generates, leads to premature death for about 15,000 Americans each year.  And the Blue Ridge has some of the dirtiest air in the nation, alas.
   
When it falls, the pollution becomes acid rain, which University of Virginia scientists say may sterilize a third of that state’s mountain streams by the year 2050.  Other research indicates serious damage to trees and plant life.
   
If we love our blue skies and green mountains, let’s figure out a way to reclaim them from the smog!
 
Steve Nash teaches journalism at the University of Richmond. He is the author of Blue Ridge 2020.  An Owner’s Manual published by the University of North Carolina Press.