December 2, 2018 This day in history
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Started by metmike - Dec. 1, 2018, 11:26 p.m.

Pick a good/bad one!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2


1970 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Environmental_Protection_Agency


 

Stacks emitting smoke from burning discarded automobile batteries, photo taken in Houston in 1972 by Marc St. Gil [cs], official photographer of recently founded EPA

 

Same smokestacks in 1975 after the plant was closed in a push for greater environmental protection

 

Comments
By metmike - Dec. 1, 2018, 11:37 p.m.
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Back in the good old days, when pollution was pollution (-:  (not CO2)

Actually, something like 25 cars today cause the same amount of pollution as a car from the 1960's!


Clean Water Act

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Water_Act

Clean Air Act (United States)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Air_Act_(United_States)

History of Reducing Air Pollution from Transportation in the United States

https://www.epa.gov/transportation-air-pollution-and-climate-change/accomplishments-and-success-air-pollution-transportation

Cleaner Cars, Trucks, and Fuels

Compared to 1970 vehicle models, new cars, SUVs and pickup trucks are roughly 99 percent cleaner for common pollutants (hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particle emissions). New heavy-duty trucks and buses are roughly 99 percent cleaner than 1970 models.  

This diagram shows a 99% improvement in the cleanliness of exhaust in vehicles from 1970 to 2013.

I stand corrected, at the top.  Apparently, its more like 100 cars today make the pollution of 1 car from the 1960's. WOW!

By carlberky - Dec. 2, 2018, 6:41 a.m.
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1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going  to adopt Communism.

Two years prior, on a visit to the UN, he was given a ticker tape parade in NY city ... which he wanted Khrushchev to nuke during the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

On a semi-personal note, my cousin owned a 4 star Restaurant in Cuba ... which Castro confiscated because it was a gambling establishment.  They had a slot machine in the lobby. 

By metmike - Dec. 2, 2018, 1:12 p.m.
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Wow Carl!

Everyone knows about the Cuban missile crisis but there are different stories about our relationship with Cuba and strategies employed by those with influence in the US.

What a scary time in history. 


But then, what about WW2?

Or WW1?

Or worse yet, the Civil war?

Or the wars that won this country its independence?


There were a dozen+ other wars not mentioned. .....Iran, Vietnam, Korea.......ect


http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/kennedy_cuban_missile_01.shtml


In retrospect, this is one of the quietest periods(for war) in US history. 

By metmike - Dec. 2, 2018, 1:18 p.m.
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Related to my EPA pick. The most ingenious pollution fighting device invented in history:

Catalytic converter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_converter

To comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's stricter regulation of exhaust emissions, most gasoline-powered vehicles starting with the 1975 model year must be equipped with catalytic converters.


Reduction of nitrogen oxides to nitrogen (N2)

  • 2 CO + 2 NO → 2 CO2 + N2
  • hydrocarbon + NO → CO2 + H2O + N2
  • 2 H2 + 2 NO → 2 H2O + N2

Oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide

  • 2 CO + O2 → 2 CO2

Oxidation of unburnt hydrocarbons (HC) to carbon dioxide and water, in addition to the above NO reaction

  • hydrocarbon + O2 → H2O + CO2


Note, that in some of these reactions, CO2 is produced. 

You can't do anything about that, unless you want the other stuff in the air............except put a carbon tax on it.