Wow, thanks for the education. I had no idea.
Mercury occurs naturally. Kiddie Kollege is an example of naturally occurring mercury becoming a pollutant.
Sulfur occurs naturally. Acid rain (which was virtually eliminated by a similar mechanism to Cap & Trade) is the result of sulfur as a pollutant.
Nitrogen is naturally occurring and composes 78% of the earth's atmosphere. Yet, through the human use of nitrogen for farming, it can pollute the groundwater system with human damaging consequences, usually in the form of cancer or thyroid condition.
Should I go on about the naturally occurring elements or molecules that man has turned into pollutants OHH? Nature is very specific as to the use of things, and when man exceeds nature's balance there are consequences. Sure, CO2 is a naturally occurring molecule, but would you build your house next door to a major emitter of CO2 or let your kids play in a playground adjacent to that property?
Or would you fill up your house with CO2 and live there because you have plants?
And that is what we are doing, we are filling up our house (the Earth) with more CO2 than it can handle. The result is the capture of solar energy underneath the atmosphere, which is causing warming. In addition, we are taking natural resources that are designed to provide balance...trees for example. The detestation of the rain forests have reduced Nature's ability to absorb CO2...since most of the CO2 is absorbed in the rain forest. Our pollution is destroying reefs globally with dire consequences to our ecosystem. We are the cause to the effect at some level, it is up to us to be the cause for much different results.
You simply cannot overlook the trash in the Pacific Ocean created by man,
The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan - Environment - The Independent, the Superfund sites in the US created by man,
Pollution Locator: Superfund, the pollution in our waterways,
america's ten most polluted rivers. , and the emissions of greenhouse gasses by industry (I have not included a link because they ALL are so biased that it is impossible to find clean information). This link, however, offers scientific information is what appears an unbiased format.
The Greenhouse Gases
I am not knee jerk here OHH, I have researched this and come to the conclusion that while we may not be the cause, we are certainly a part of the ecosystem that can have the greatest effect. We always seek to separate ourselves, as somehow in our greatness and God-given superiority we are NOT part of the mix...we are above it and therefore can have no impact. But when you put us into the equation, and you see our effect on our environment, you see just how wrong we are.