The Search For Clean Air Continues Educational Supplement for the Video The Search for Clean Air For Educators and Youth LeadersACKNOWLEDGMENTS PROJECT COORDINATOR: Harriett S. Stubbs, Ph.D., North Carolina State University CONTRIBUTORS: We thank the following persons for their contributions to this publication. Jon R. Luoma, Norman D. Anderson, Edward W. Hessler, Marsha Knittig, Mary Lou Klinkhammer, Harriett S. Stubbs, General Learning Corporation, Air and Waste Management Association, The Acid Rain Foundation, Inc., The U.S. Forest Service EDITOR: Margaret J. Newbold GRAPHIC DESIGN: Claudia Fulshaw Design REVIEWERS: We thank the following persons for their comments and review of this publication: Teachers in the SCl-LINK/ GLOBE-NET Project; Norman D. Anderson, Ph.D., North Carolina State University; Robert I. Bruck, Ph.D., North Carolina State University; Walter Heck, Ph.D., U.S. Department of Agriculture; Mr. Edward Hessler, Minnesota Environmental Sciences Foundation, Inc.; Anne Howe, Ph.D., University of Maryland; Linda Little, Ph.D., Environmental Consultant; Mr. Hugh Morton, Clean Air Awareness Films; Ms. Ann Pope, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; William Spooner, Ph.D., N,C. Department of Public Instruction; Ms. Anne Taylor, N.C. Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources SUPPORT: We thank the following for partial support for the development and publication of these materials: North Carolina Department of Public Instruction; North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources; College of Education and Psychology, North Carolina State University; NCSU Education and Psychology Foundation ©1995 North Carolina State University IN NO EVENT SHALL NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY (NCSU) OR ANY OF ITS EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS PUBLICATION BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, OR OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE MATERIALS INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION EVEN IF NCSU HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. 3,000 copies of this document have been printed at a cost of $1.98 per copy.Educational Supplement THE SEARCH FOR CLEAN AIR CONTINUES Table of Contents Introduction............. What is Air Pollution? The Pollutants Pollutants' Effects Visibility and Particulate Matter........ Ozone Acid Deposition, Forest Decline Effects on Human Health 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 What You Can Do, Introduction to Activities........... 9 Activities For Classroom & Informal Learning Centers Activity 1 - Air Matters : 10-11 Activity 2 -'Concentrating on a Scale 12 Activity 3 - Smog and Temperature Inversion 13 Activity 4 - Investigating Tropospheric Ozone 14-15 Activity 5 - Trees & Forest Decline 16-17 Activity 6 - Vehicle Exhaust 18-19 Activity 7 - Every Breath You Take 20-21 Activity 8 - The World through the Eyes ofthe Cartoonist ... 22-23 Activity 9 - Wheeling Into the Future 24-25 Activity 10 - Energy 26-27 Glossary 28 Ordering Information Inside Back Cover "People climb to the top of mountains to look out, to see as far as the eye can see, to see the wonderful earth..." The Search for Clean Air Video This publication is printed on 50% recycled paper including 10% post-consumer waste."In the USA, the response was simple: build taller smokestacks, to let winds disperse the pollution. But this only set the stage for an invasion of dirty air in previously unspoiled places." The Search for Clean Air Video INTRODUCTION Teachers attending the SCI-LINK/GLOBE-NET workshop at Grandfather Mountain, sponsored in 1993 by the National Science Foundation and in 1994 by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, viewed The Search For Clean Air. These teachers requested the use of this video for their classes and agreed to assist in the design of ancillary classroom activities to supplement the video. The Search for Clean Air, a one hour video narrated by Walter Cronkite and produced by Hugh Morton of Clean Air Films, Inc., aired on WUNC TV (North Carolina) and received outstanding scientific and artistic reviews. The video was shown natiopally on PBS, Spring 1995. The documentary portrays a scientific odyssey with visits to five countries analyzing the effects of air pollution on people, materials, and natural ecosystems. The permanent loss of human lung functions coupled with irreparable damage to natural ecosystems is graphically displayed in this thought provoking documentary. The production of the video was supported by UNC TV Foundation, The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, and other private sources. The Search for Clean Air won the CINE Golden Eagle Award, the highest award for documentary, non-theatrical productions in the United States. Much of the video was filmed at Grandfather Mountain which (at this time) is the only privately held International Biosphere site as designated by the United Nations. These educational materials are a joint effort of the SCI-LINK/ GLOBE-NET Master Teachers; Air Resources Research Consortium; North Carolina Department of Public Instruction; the Office of Environmental Education, North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources; Mr. Hugh Morton; faculty members of North Carolina State University; and others.WHAT IS AIR POLLUTION? An answer is more difficult than it might seem. We may think of soot, or smoke, or foul odors - "dirty air" -as pollution, but some of the worst kinds of air pollution are both invisible and odorless. While such chemi-cals as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and ozone can pollute our air, many of the compounds we think of as air pollutants have always been part of our atmospheric mixture, and in proper concentrations are vital to life on earth. Plants need some sulfur and nitrogen from the atmo-sphere, and ozone high in the stratosphere shields the earth from harm-ful radiation. These compounds become pollutants only when their levels increase too much or in the wrong place. Air pollution steadily increased as the Industrial Revolution advanced in the nineteenth century. Today, large power plants, smelters, and refiner-ies are indeed major sources of many kinds of air pollution. There are also numerous small sources that, cumulatively, add millions of tons of pollutants to our atmosphere: household furnaces, automobiles, dry