MORNING SENTINEL • May 11, 2020
Millions of people self-isolating in their homes for fear of catching the deadly COVID-19 virus is not normally a sign of a healthy environment. Yet air pollution levels were sometimes 30% lower during March. The Clean Air Act of 1970 led to regulations that have gone a long way to reducing the effects of smog, ozone and acid rain as environmental problems, though air pollution below EPA standards continues to kill 200,000 people per year in the U.S. Alas, we have become so addicted fossil fuel energy that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are now almost 50% higher than when our civilizations started. The extra CO2 now causes additional heating equivalent to the explosion of five atomic bombs per second. As we recover our economy from the pandemic, we urgently need to switch to clean energy sources. ~ Peter Garrett, Winslow, Sustain Mid Maine Coalition and Citizens Climate Lobby