[LEMONS] 1.09.2002
The South has changed. In my lifetime, particularly the 80s and 90s, it has undergone a radical transformation. No longer an economic and cultural wasteland, it's chock full of industry and bustling cities. Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville, New Orleans, cities on the make all. It's become overwhelmingly suburban, and has shifted dramatically from a Democratic stronghold to a Republican one.
And something else has happened as well. It's inherited the problems once associated with the Northeast. If you live in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, or Kentucky, you're breathing some of the filthiest air in the country. You're breathing air with more particulate matter (mostly sulfate and nitrates which cause lung damage) than anywhere else in the nation. More that New York, more than New Jersey, more than Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New England, California or Ohio. And guess what? You've got a different kind of pollution too. The pollution that comes from automobile emissions. Atlanta, Birmingham, Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, and Chattanooga sport some of the highest low-level ozone pollution on the planet. And to topit all off, the heat makes it worse. Meaning if global warming does exist, things are going to get exponentially worse. Cheers.
So here's the rich part of the story. Here's the part of the story where you think to yourself, "hmmmm. perhaps the White House really doesn't have my best interests at heart. perhaps there is something more important than empty promises about taxes and $300 checks in the mail." The Bush administration wants to remove the teeth from the the Clean Air Act. It also wants to scrap programs that would make cars more fuel efficient right away in favor of long term pipe dreams. In other words, between industry and auto-overloaded suburbs, the air you breath in the South is about to get dirtier. Much dirtier.
Why does this happen? How can this happen in the twenty first century, when we understand what causes cancer? Because the Bush administration is little more than a front for its campaign contributors who are overwhelmingly associated with the energy industry.
But hey, the South is solidly Republican. And according to Republicans, corporations do a good job of policing themselves, and there's no such thing as global warming. Which means you've got nothing to worry about. Right?
and er.... sorry for the nytimes links. couldn't be helped. i guess that's why it's the paper of record, huh?
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