Slide 11 of 28
Notes:
Such problems with air pollution were more familiar in different forms in Europe.
In "The Pickwick Papers" Charles Dickens had vividly described the effects of millions of coal burning fireplaces in 19th century London, England, turning the dense fogs typical of winter in that part of the world to an opaque yellow "Pea Soup", so thick that even at midday you could not see a yard in front of your face. The last of the great Pea-Soupers was for 9 days in December 1952. An Aunt of mine was misguided enough to be trying to drive her car in London during that time and decided she must abandon it. She found a friendly policeman (the traditional Bobby) who helped her park it in a safe place. On returning several days later she discovered to her consternation that, without realizing it, they had chosen a spot five feet from a vertical drop into the River Thames! At that time the buildings in London were all black, the stonework was crumbling, and as a child I could never understand why they were supposed to be beautiful. Following that episode, burning coal in London was forbidden - instead only preprocessed nuggets devoid of tar and sulfur were allowed, and the transformation has been miraculous.