File under things you didn’t expect to learn. Contrary to what you’ve heard, apparently not all pollution is bad??
Earth spiked a bit of a fever in 2020, partly because of cleaner air from the pandemic lockdown, a new study found.
For a short time, temperatures in some places in the eastern United States, Russia and China were as much as half to two-thirds of a degree (.3 to .37 degrees Celsius) warmer. That’s due to less soot and sulfate particles from car exhaust and burning coal, which normally cool the atmosphere temporarily by reflecting the sun’s heat, Tuesday’s study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters reported.
Overall, the planet was about .05 degrees (.03 degrees Celsius) warmer for the year because the air had fewer cooling aerosols, which unlike carbon dioxide is pollution you can see, the study found.
“Cleaning up the air can actually warm the planet because that (soot and sulfate) pollution results in cooling” which climate scientists have long known, …
AP
Although the effect is temporary, it is strange to hear that pollution in any regard may be beneficial.
Pot Full of Frogs 