Text excerpted from the book: PROTECTING THE PLANET-Environmental Champions from Conservation to Climate Change (ISBN 978-1-63388-225-6)
by
Budd Titlow & Mariah Tinger
The late Sixties also featured an array of natural disasters unlike anything the world had seen before, providing even more proof that the Earth was in dire need of increased environmental sensitivity and protection. Most prominently in June of 1969, the Cuyahoga River near downtown Cleveland actually caught on fire creating an abominable absurdity that even Hollywood movie producers could not imagine conceiving.
In California, newscasters in Los Angeles were regularly advising residents to keep their children and elderly relatives inside during the frequent Brown Cloud smog alerts the city was experiencing. Primarily emanating from automobile engine combustion, the all too frequent Brown Clouds became a huge concern because they were seriously affecting the health of millions of Americans—especially the young and the elderly.
I (Budd) vividly remember sitting in our living room on cold winter mornings in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado and looking out at the City of Denver—20 miles to the east. Downtown Denver’s central phalanx of skyscrapers looked to be immersed for days on end in a bowl of beef bouillon. This was due the automobile exhaust fumes that were being trapped by daily temperature inversions.
The “Brown Cloud” hangs over the City of Denver on a winter morning.
To counteract this confounding pollution problem as a Nation, we took on the all-powerful American automobile industry and—in the long-term—forced them to make major changes in the products they delivered to consumers. The first legislated exhaust (tailpipe) emission standards were issued by the State of California for 1966 Model Year cars. Then in 1968, the rest of the US followed suit. Finally, starting in 1970, the US EPA began progressively tightening national emission standards each year.
By Model Year 1974, federal emission standards had tightened to such an extent that they couldn’t be met without seriously reducing engine efficiency and thus increasing fuel usage. Accordingly, the 1975 Model Year emission standards—coupled with the increase in fuel usage—led to the invention of the catalytic converter for post-emission treatment of exhaust gas. But because lead residue contaminated the platinum catalyst, use of catalytic converters was not possible with leaded gasoline. In response, General Motors proposed elimination of leaded fuels to the American Petroleum Institute (API) for 1975 and later model year cars. While production and distribution of unleaded fuel presented a major challenge to the US gas and oil industry, the transition was successfully completed in time for the 1975 Model Year cars. Today, all cars are equipped with catalytic converters and it is nearly impossible to find and buy leaded fuel in most developed nations.
Drawing of a typical Catalytic Converter that was completed in time for the 1975 Model Year cars.
In addition to this US industry re-tooling, foreign-made, fuel-efficient cars—led by the Japanese—gained a stronger foothold in the American market. This began during and after the 1973 oil embargo and with the corresponding rise in gas prices in the wake of the Arab-Israeli war. As a result, Detroit’s “Big Three” auto manufacturers—Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler—responded by manufacturing new lines of smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. The days of the US auto industry being dominated by gas-guzzling muscle cars which were ready for the junkyard before their odometers hit 100,000 miles were now gone forever.
Installation and use of Catalytic Converters led to switch from leaded gasoline to unleaded gasoline.
Isn’t this situation with the US auto industry directly analogous to what we’re now facing with Climate Change? On the one hand we now have all-powerful entities—the Big Oil Companies—dominating US lifestyles and finances. Just the same as the “Big Three” US automobile manufacturers were doing in the Sixties and Seventies. While on the other hand, we have a pollution problem that threatens to severely affect the good health and welfare of everyone on Earth. So why can’t we make the oil companies retool their production lines—just like we did with the automotive production lines—from extracting less fossil fuels to building infrastructure that increasingly creates and transports more renewable energy supplies? Folks—we’ve done it before, so why can’t we do it again?
Author’s bio:For the past 50 years, professional ecologist and conservationist Budd Titlow has used his pen and camera to capture the awe and wonders of our natural world. His goal has always been to inspire others to both appreciate and enjoy what he sees. Now he has one main question: Can we save humankind’s place — within nature’s beauty — before it’s too late? Budd’s two latest books are dedicated to answering this perplexing dilemma. PROTECTING THE PLANET: Environmental Champions from Conservation to Climate Change, a non-fiction book, examines whether we still have the environmental heroes among us — harking back to such past heroes as Audubon, Hemenway, Muir, Douglas, Leopold, Brower, Carson, and Meadows — needed to accomplish this goal. Next, using fact-filled and entertaining story-telling, his latest book — COMING FULL CIRCLE: A Sweeping Saga of Conservation Stewardship Across America — provides the answers we all seek and need.Having published five books, more than 500 photo-essays, and 5,000 photographs, Budd Titlow lives with his music educator wife, Debby, in San Diego, California.
CONSERVING NATURE WITH WORDS & PHOTOS 