The improvements in the environment really are worth celebrating.  The environment is much cleaner than it has been in decades.

A cleaner environment though isn’t good news for the environmental extremist groups (and their fundraising efforts).

Here’s an article from the notoriously biased AP reporter Seth Borenstein on how much cleaner the environment is, but instead of celebrating this, the article is an attempt to make sure that you don’t forget that we have major problems still. 

From the article:

On Thursday, 40 years after that first Earth Day in 1970, smog levels nationwide have dropped by about a quarter, and lead levels in the air are down more than 90 percent. Formerly fetid lakes and burning rivers are now open to swimmers.

The challenges to the planet today are largely invisible and therefore tougher to tackle.

Maybe the threats are invisible because they don’t exist?  But of course that would make too much sense.  We all know what the big invisible “threat” is: global warming.

Give the environmental extremists credit, when there’s no major environmental problems, make one up that nobody can see and make the problem as severe as possible. 

I want to celebrate today though instead of criticizing.  Here’s what I wrote in an April, 2007 report examining the 6 major air pollutants the EPA regulates (here’s three examples):

  • Carbon monoxide: 2005 levels of carbon monoxide in N.C. were 3.7 times less than 1990 levels and five times less than the federal standard.
  • Lead: Since 1980, lead has declined by 96 percent across the entire country, in part due to unleaded gasoline. The EPA data indicate that North Carolina?s lead air concentration is 37.5 times below the federal standard.
  • Sulfur dioxide (contributes to acid raid): The 2005 level of sulfur dioxide in N.C. is 9.4 times less than the federal standard and is at its lowest level during the period for which data are available (1990-2005).

Happy Earth Day!