Photo and Info Courtesy of: http://www.aqmd.gov/monthly/marchcov.html
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| The History of Smog... | |||||||||||||||
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| * During the early years of World War II, Los Angeles residents began to realize the cosequences of an increasingly industrialized area. Investigations began to determine the cause of resident's eye irritation, crop damage, severe reduction in visibility and the rapid deterioration of rubber products. "Smog" became a familiar word in everyday presence and scientists and medical personnel began to look at its effects on public health. |
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| Los Angeles in 1943 Photo and Info Courtesy of: http://www.aqmd.gov/monthly/marchcov.html |
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| * Before 1950's, the majority of the atmospheric pollution was created from the buring of coal for energy generation, space heating, and cooking. This implies that the most dominant type of smog present at that time was an Industrial Smog. London, for instance is world-known for its episodes of industrial smog and the most famous London smog event occured in December of 1952, when five days of calm, yet foggy weather created a toxic atmosphere that claimed about 4000 human lives. | |||||||||||||||
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| * In recent decades, by using cleaner fossile fuels, nuclear power, and hydroelectricity instead of coal, the occurence of industrial smog has been diminished. Irronically, however, burning of fossil fuels, such as gasoline, has helped inhance the severity of photochemical smog. This is the reason why photochemical smog has received a lot of attention in the last couple of decades. | |||||||||||||||