HIGHACRES COLLEGIAN, APR. 26, 1971 -- PAGE FOUR
"The air, the water, and
the ground arc free • gifts to
man and no one has the power
to portion them out in parcels.
Man must drink and breathe
and walk and therefore each
man has a right to his share of
each."
-James Fenimore
Cooper, "The Prairie," 1827-
The Highacres Collegian is
concerned about control of
environmental pollution. In
this feature article we are
presenting some insight into
the pollution problem on the
local level.
In preparing this story we
spoke with Mr. Gerald Gatti of
the biology departmentin
preparing this story we spoke
with Mr. Gerald Gatti of the
biology department at West
Hazleton High School. Gatti is
perhaps the region's staunchest
advocate of pollution control
and reform.
Gatti said that as the
economy of an area
experiences an upsurge, energy
is increased. Wherever there is
energy, there is pollution.
But what is pollution?
Webster defines it as something
physically impure or unclean.
Only recently has there been a
great concern over the
pollution of our natural
resources. Actually
environmental pollution is as
old as the earth itself. Before
the coming of man, the earth's
water and air contained natural
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Greater Hazleton Area
Poisoned by pollution
pollutants, in particular ozone
,and nitrogen oxides formed at
'every discharge of lightning.
The wind picked up and
carried volcanic and meteoric
dusts, loose soil and salt
particles from evaporating sea
water. Gases such as hydrogen
sulfide, hydrogen flouride
hydrogen chloride and sulfur
dioxide escaped through leaks
in the earth's outer crust.
As living organisms came
upon the scene they, too,
became polluters of the
environ- ment. Dusts and gases
in the air were joined by
bacterial spores and pollen. All
living things produced some
type of waste which drained
into the waters or soil.
Pollution today is found in
several forms. The most
common, and also the most
serious, are air, water, land,
and thermal pollution.
Unfortunately all of the afore
mentioned are eveident in the
Greater Hazleton Area to some
degree.
Anthracite coal was
discovered in Hazleton in 1826
and soon thereafter numerous
mining operations sprang up.
In their search for coal and
weatlth they stripped the land
of its natural growth and
wildlife habitation.
Today one need only drive
up Broad Street, our main
thoroughfare, and look south
at the West Hazleton -
Hazleton boundary. The
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dominant sight is the ravaged, passes through the lungs
raped, and lifeless land. directly into the bloodstream.
In addition, water draining There it combines with the
through the abandoned mines hemoglobin in red blood cells.
has poisoned and acidified Since hemoglobin binds carbon
many area streams and rivers, monoxide over 200 times as
A local mine owner revealed to strongly as oxygen, a low
a Collegian reporter that the concentration of CO in the air
pH of water coming from his has a greatly magnified effect
mine is four while fish need on the body. The heart and the
about a neutral seven to brain are the two tissues most
survive. sensitive to oxygen
A recent study (Air
Pollution Primer, National
Tuberculosis and Respiratory
Disease Association, New
York, 1969) revealed the top From this it follows that
five national sources of major at a high concentration, carbon
air pollutants. Holding the top monoxide DOES kill by
notch with an unbelievable paralyzing normal brain
lead is transportation which function.
spews 86 million tons of People aren't the only
particles into the atmosphere living things that can be killed
each year. The next four places by air pollution. Plants and
are held by industry, power i trees also fall prey. It has been
plants, space heating and refuse found that carbon monoxide
disposal, in that order. has no adverse effects on
In 1969, according to the vegetation, though. The culprit
same study, 143 million tons in this case is ozone, which is
of pollutants were released into also contained in car exhaust.
the air by those five polluters. In 1966, Dr. Leon S.
Transportation acoounted for I Dochinger, a scientist for the
approximately 60% of it. U. S. Forest Service, set out to
Those are deadly figures, no find out the cause of chlorotic
pun intended. dwarf disease which has killed
Take carbon monoxide,
for example. The major source
of CO is the internal
combustion engines in motor
vehicles. Unlike other common
air pollutants, carbon
monoxide does not irritate the
respiratory tract. Instead it
deprivation. Therefore, they
show the most serious effects
from carbon monoxide
exposure.
more than a mil
pines since 1940.
White pines are among the
most valuable trees grown in
the U. S. and the disease first
struck them about 30 years
ago. Automobiles also became
more widely used at about that
time. After careful
experimentation, Dr.
Dochinger found that the
automobile was the answer to
his problem. Ozone was killing
the trees.
He later found that by
replacing non-resistant trees
(those susceptible to the
disease) with the resistant trees
(those which are immune) can
eventually eliminate chlorotic
dwarf disease in white pines.
He also discovered that the
resistant trees can use ozone
for breathing, thereby
removing considerable amounts
of tgli' poll'utatit frorn the air.
While oif the tOpic of air
pollution, We 'would be amiss
to omit mention of the Center
for Air Environment Studies
(CAES) of the Pennsylvania
State University. Accord- ing
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LECTURE HALL, above, in new classroom building has
seating capacity for 200 students. The hall is situated at ground
level.
lion white
SCIENCE LABORATORIES, above, will be in full operation
in new classroom building within two years, according to Ralph
Crawford, retiring Assistant Professor of Zoology.
to one of their recent
publications, the CAES, was
formed in 1963 to coordinate
re- search and instruction
concerning the interaction of
man and his air environment.
The Center maintains a
broad, flexible research
22nd &N. CHURCH STS. 455-3281
HAZLETON
program, dependent on faculty
and student interest.
The CAES` is presenting
the Teachers Conference on
Conservation of Our Air
Environ- ment in two parts
through the Continuing
Education Program of PSU.
The first part was held in
November, 1970, while the
second part will take place in
the fall of this year.
Anyone interested in the
Center's training programs can
address requests for more
information to the Director,
Center for Air ENvironment
Studies, The Pennsylvania
State University, University
Park, Pennsylvania 16802.
There are no fast, simple,
or cheap solutions in the search
for better control of
pollution. The problems are
huge and complex
encompassing the fields of
science and health, economics
and law, social custom and
politics. In fact, they include
almost every area of human
knowledge.
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