healthmyths
Platinum Member
- Sep 19, 2011
- 29,976
- 11,432
- 900
Climate’s ‘Catch-22’: Cutting pollution heats up the planet
By targeting methane, the world could mitigate the warming effect of the reduction in pollution. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Air pollution, a global scourge that kills millions of people a year, is shielding us from the full force of the sun.
Getting rid of it will accelerate climate change.
That is the unpalatable conclusion reached by scientists poring over the results of China’s decade-long and highly effective “war on pollution”, according to six leading climate experts.
The drive to banish pollution, caused mainly by sulphur dioxide (SO2) spewed from coal plants, has cut SO2 emissions by close to 90 per cent and saved hundreds of thousands of lives, Chinese official data and health studies show.
Yet, stripped of its toxic shield, which scatters and reflects solar radiation,
China’s average temperatures have gone up by 0.7 deg C since 2014, triggering fiercer heatwaves, according to a Reuters review of meteorological data and the scientists interviewed.
“It’s this Catch-22,” said Dr Patricia Quinn, an atmospheric chemist at the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), speaking about cleaning up sulphur pollution globally.
“We want to clean up our air for air quality purposes, but, by doing that, we’re increasing warming.”