Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
revolution ushered in an interconnected set of
transformations in manufacturing, transportation
and the practices of the domestic population. The
rise of steam power, for example, revolutionized
transport and manufacturing, as the burning of
refined coal enabled the expansion of railways
and the mechanization of the textile industries.
The development of new techniques of iron
and steel production in large-scale furnaces
also required the burning of more and more coal.
Finally, as Britain's population expanded, and
more people moved into large cities in pursuit of
industrial jobs, the burning of coal in domestic
homes became much more prominent.
While the burning of more coal, to support
steam powered equipment and to fire furnaces,
generated black smoke, the industrial revolu-
tion also led to the production of new forms of
atmospheric pollution. The emergence of alkali
industries, which produced key chemicals that
could be used in the manufacture of a range of
substances including soap, glass and china, resulted
in the elevated production of invisible air pollu-
tants such as hydrogen chloride. When released
into the atmosphere, hydrogen chloride forms
hydrochloric acid, which can have a range of
harmful effects on human health (including
respiratory tract and pulmonary problems) and the
environment.
3.2.3 Sulphuric atmospheres and
transboundary pollution
The smoke and chlorides of the early industrial city
were largely associated with local environmental
problems. There was, however, an additional
chemical in these polluting fogs that would
contribute much more widely to the spread of
ecological problems. Both coal and petroleum
contain sulphur compounds. Consequently, when
these fuels are burned they release sulphur dioxide
(SO
2
). For a long period of time the presence of SO
2
in the atmosphere was only believed to pose a
threat to local air quality (Hajer, 1995: 126-127).
As the burning of coal was gradually moved from
the urban home to often rural power stations (with
high smoke stacks), it was thought that the pressing
threats associated with SO
2
production had been
addressed. This false assumption meant that up
until the 1960s people remained blissfully unaware
of the ecological damage being produced by SO
2
.
When SO
2
is present in the atmosphere it
reacts with water molecules to produce sulphuric
acid. Once produced, this highly corrosive acid
can be transported over very long distances
within weather systems before being deposited
on terrestrial ecosystems by precipitation. This
chemical process is now commonly referred to as
acid rain (note that acid rain can also be produced
EXERCISE
Fumifugium
Download the full text of Evelyn's Fumifugiumat:
When reading the text consider the following questions:
1. What motivated John Evelyn to produce this account of air pollution in seventeenth-century
London?
2. What are the main problems that Evelyn identifies with air pollution?
3. What solutions does Evelyn recommend for solving London's air pollution problems?
4. Reflecting on the whole pamphlet, how does Evelyn's conception of the nature of air pollution
differ from modern scientific understandings?
