Event Details

Abstract:

The 20th Century will probably go down as the century during which people began to understand what they were doing to the natural environment. While much of the last half of that Century was occupied with concerns arising from local toxic chemical effects, having had Rachel Carson's 'wake-up call' as the trigger, the last decade and a bit saw the rise of the large-scale global atmospheric issues - Stratospheric Ozone Depletion and Global Climate Change. While these two items grabbed the press headlines and the focus of international action, even at the turn of the Century the public was still not really "engaged" as the effects seemed too remote in time and space.

On the other hand, that last decade saw the culmination of many studies started 20 or more years ago that pointed to an atmospheric pollutant that killed, not in decades but right away, not in other countries, but right here in Canada! That pollutant is fine respirable particulate. This presentation will give some background to the issue, explain why it is of concern, and highlight actions that can be taken to reduce it as a problem.