THE ANTHROPOCENE - Plastics and Environmental Sustainability - page 43

25 But the pollutant may affect other localities in the general region. For
instance, the release of Mercury from coal-fired power plants in the
Upper Ohio River basin resulted in high blood Mercury levels in Eagles
(especially eaglets) in Catskill area of New York. The pollutant was
transferred, biomagnified, via contaminated fish that the eaglets
consumed. The report is reminiscent of the Minamata Bay incident in
Japan in 1960s (Nearing, 2008).
26 Without the greenhouse effect, the temperature on Earth's surface will
plummet to 0°F (−18°C), and all water on Earth, including the oceans,
will freeze! Life as we know it will not be possible.
27 Governments agreed at the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties in Cancun, Mexico
in 2010 (COP-16) on this level.
28 A ton of CO 2 gas has the volume inside a typical two-story US home.
29 Carbon dioxide is the dominant greenhouse gas, but others such as
methane and oxides of nitrogen also contribute to the greenhouse effect.
Forconvenience,thetotaleffectisquantifiedintermsofCO 2 equivalents.