Pollution now and during the industrial revolution

[FourWheelDrift]

Regarding all this hyperbole about Co2 emissions and global warming etc in the modern world.

I was thinking that back in the 19th/early 20th century (late 19th/early 20th for most pollution) there was a huge amount of coal burning industry and every house had a coal fire, most would have had more than one (coal fire, oven) larger houses having multiple coal fires. Surely the amount of Co2 put out by the entire world back then was significant enough compared to today if it were a contributory factor.

Is it possible to estimate the amount of (and I hate saying it again) Co2 there might have been pumped into the atmosphere back then compared to now?

Gratuitous photo of London Smog caused by coal fires.


It was so serious Dr Who arrived to investigate (Tardis in background)

[thinfourth2]

CO2 is not a pollutant

Nox and Sox is the problems with burning coal

[FourWheelDrift]

If so why are the global Co2/MMWG evangelists telling everyone to cut emissions in China and India where almost all of the industry is coal fired?

And here always showing photos of (ironically) water vapour coming out of cooling towers in the belief they are showing coal fired power station pollution that they claim is causing climate change.

[s2art]

FourWheelDrift said:

Regarding all this hyperbole about Co2 emissions and global warming etc in the modern world.

I was thinking that back in the 19th/early 20th century (late 19th/early 20th for most pollution) there was a huge amount of coal burning industry and every house had a coal fire, most would have had more than one (coal fire, oven) larger houses having multiple coal fires. Surely the amount of Co2 put out by the entire world back then was significant enough compared to today if it were a contributory factor.

Is it possible to estimate the amount of (and I hate saying it again) Co2 there might have been pumped into the atmosphere back then compared to now?

Gratuitous photo of London Smog caused by coal fires.


It was so serious Dr Who arrived to investigate (Tardis in background)

You are overlooking the fact that while that was true for Britain, most of the rest of the world was just down from the trees. Not much coal burning or dark satanic mills outside England for much of the 19th century.

[FourWheelDrift]

That's why I have asked about early 20th, the great smog that killed 4000 people was in 1952 so maybe the highest usage was later. I suppose it was not until North Sea gas came on line in the 60s/70s that it changed.

[s2art]

FourWheelDrift said:

That's why I have asked about earl 20th, the great smog that killed 4000 people was in 1952, really I suppose it was not until North Sea gas came on line in the 60s/70s that it changed.

Even the USA was mainly an agricultural society at the turn of the 20th century. Even more true for Russia. Just got to take a look at global energy production or industrial output. It was a tiny fraction of today.

[FourWheelDrift]

s2art said:

FourWheelDrift said:

That's why I have asked about earl 20th, the great smog that killed 4000 people was in 1952, really I suppose it was not until North Sea gas came on line in the 60s/70s that it changed.

Even the USA was mainly an agricultural society at the turn of the 20th century.

After the Civil war in 1865 the USA had it's 2nd industrial revolution. They were producing 350,821,000 tons of coal a year compared to our 236,128,936 by the end of the 19th century, they had massive steel works, mechanisation of the agricultural system and of course the railroads, ship building and mining. They might have still been large on agriculture but that's due to the size of the country, their industry was very big rivalling ours. But Germany's industry was bigger than ours.

[deeps]

I think patchy rural air pollution would have been on a par with the great smogs of cities, centuries before the industrial revolution.

Keeping warm during the LIA for example must have been a bd! Wood fires constantly burning and low level smoke hanging in cold dense foggy air must have been the norm for months on end. I wonder what the lung cancer rate was like back then?

Pollution nowadays is peanuts in comparison, I dont include CO2 as pollution either btw as it does a whole lot of good and current atmospheric levels are still diminished.

[Eric Mc]

After the really bad killer smogs of the early 1950s, the Clean Air Act of 1956 was passed which started to improve matters almost immdediately. So it wasn't just the decline in traditional industries or the onset of natural gas that made the difference. It was (for a change) good government legislation.