As one can clearly see from the Pollution Loading file (link above in first sentence of article), we’ve been in dangerous territory for a considerably long time. Science has finally caught up to the reality.
There are some people who think that as energy and resource decline continues, pollution loading will be reduced. They might be correct – eventually – although this is debatable. The lag effect means that pollution loading (like climate change and many other predicaments caused by ecological overshoot such as population growth) will not be reduced for quite some time after manufacturing and/or economic growth begins to seriously be reduced. Wood burning is actually more polluting than burning coal in many respects, and wildfires and burning homes and other buildings is set to increase. As fewer people will be able to afford fossil fuels, they will resort to burning whatever is available for warmth and cooking and for making water potable by boiling…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
