Luke+B

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Miss Eisner, Hi, my name is Luke and I am a student at Nagel Middle School. In our social studies class we have started a project in which we are given a problem from Ancient Rome and we have to try and solve it. My problem was environmental issues and pollution. I was looking online and found that you were an Environmental Scientist. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me? In Rome they had a major smog issue, the Romans would burn millions of pounds of wood each year for heating baths, houses and markets. Today the U.S. burns about 17 million barrels of oil per day! Both Rome and the U.S. release smog into the air. It would be wonderful if you could get back to me at the email below. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Luke B. lucasbailey@student.foresthills.edu
 * 1) I was wondering what kind of alternative energy sources or methods we use to cut down smog?
 * 2) What are some ways the government is working on to cut back on pollution?
 * 3) What is the biggest contributor to air pollution in our area?

Response:

Hi Lucas,

Thanks for your message; you seem to be doing a good job researching this topic. So here's some answers to your questions:

Any alternative power source (like wind turbines, solar energy, would be good alternatives to cut down on our use of smog-producing energy. The easiest and cheapest thing we could do would be to make our homes and power plants more energy efficient, so they still may use fossil fuels, but we won't need as much to get the job done. We can also make polluters build cleaner power plants so they don't produce so much smog. We have the technology to do this, but energy companies somehow manage to avoid cleaning up their mess. The government is trying to fine energy companies that produce the most pollution, but often this becomes a big political issue, because the power companies say that it's bad for their business. The biggest contributor is coal, from power plants that generate our electricity.
 * 1) I was wondering what kind of alternative energy sources or methods we use to cut down smog?
 * 1) What are some ways the government is working on to cut back on pollution?
 * 1) What is the biggest contributor to air pollution in our area?

Here is one website that may help you with your project:

@http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/coalvswind/c02c.html

take care and good luck! Dr. Eisner

Dr. Wendy R. Eisner Associate Professor Graduate Program Director Department of Geography University of Cincinnati

wendy.eisner@uc.edu 513-556-3926 <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Mr Kawatra <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Hi, my name is Luke and I am a student at Nagel Middle School. In our social studies class we have started a project in which we are given a problem from Ancient Rome and we have to try and solve it. My problem was environmental issues and pollution. I was looking online and found that you and your student designed an experiment about smokestack scrubbers. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me?

<span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">What materials are scrubbers made of, natural elements or chemicals?

<span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">What gases do scrubber soak out of the smog that is being released?

<span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Is there different scrubbers made of different things for soaking up different gases?

<span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">How does the scrubber work, does it simply just soak up gases like a sponge?

<span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Thank you very much for your time. Please get back at your earliest convenience.

<span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Thanks, <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Luke B. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">lucasbailey@student.foresthills.edu

<span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> 8:06 AM 7 facts for Rome: <span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> 7 facts for today: The U.S. burns 17 million barrels of oil per day causing 3,700,000 tons of Carbone dioxide from a single coal plant. To cut down on fossil fuels we dam rivers, use solar panels and put up wind turbines to generate energy. Although it sounds good they are extremely expensive to make. We have developed something called scrubbers, these are put on the inside of smokestacks. These scrubbers are like sponges, they soak up the toxic gases and some smog. Wind energy produced in the U.S. 16,000,000,000 kwh per year, enough power for 1.6 million homes. If a single house has solar panels it can produce 15,000 kwh every year. Almost 90% of all U.S. energy comes from fossil fuels in which release smog. At each coal plant in the U.S. 3,700,000 tons of carbon dioxide is produced yearly. About 60700 acres have been deforested per year causing erosion. With erosion there is no fertile sol for farming causing food shortage. The average U.S. citizen has about 4.3lbs of trash per day causing massive land fills. The landfills cause methane which is a toxic gas which is burned or released into the air. <span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Final Prezi: <span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> http://prezi.com/cgxyzl7x4hhy/pollution-and-environmental-issues/ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Sources: <span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> . "The Role of Deforestation in the Fall of Rome." // h2g2 //. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb 2012. <http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/A2184473>.
 * all buildings in Rome were constructed out of wood. Because of this there were many massive fires burning down cities at a time releasing smog and carbon monoxide.
 * In Rome most pipes where made of lead, it contaminated the water. Today we now know this causes lead poisoning.
 * The romans would use deforestation to deforest entire forests for their everyday needs.
 * Because of the many farmers in the area they were forced to clear the Italian hillsides for land.
 * The romans would burn wood in homes for heating. Also in bath houses(228,000lbs of wood per year) and to heat the villa(2,506,000lbs per year).
 * The romans, as a battle strategy, would burn down forests in fear that enemies would hide in them.
 * Because of deforestation soil would wash away leaving clay and unfertile dirt unsuitable for crops.
 * With dirt washing away, marshlands would build up causing malaria.

. "Environmental impacts of coal power: air pollution." // Union of Concerned Scientists //. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 6 Feb 2012. <http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/coalvswind/c02c.html>.

. "Gas Purification Techniques." // Lenntech //. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb 2012. <http://www.lenntech.com/air-purification/gas-purification-techniques/wet-lime-scrubbing.htm>.