Politicians love to bandy about the term greenhouse gases and their progress in eliminating them, diverting our attention from the real villain which is air pollution and they are two quite separate entities.
Air pollution, as such, is damaging to human health. In fact, damage caused by air pollution to humans is estimated to cost $58.1 trillion per annum whereas greenhouse gases are required for life on earth as they provide insulation from the cold vacuum of space and are generally harmless.
So in the unlikely event you hear a politician talking air pollution, you have found a rarity – an honest politician – but you more than likely won’t because that would expose their greatest failure in preserving human life on planet Earth in the 21st Century and, unlike greenhouse gases, is steadily getting worse.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay
