we shall call this plain damn dirty

by kianabrown
(194 22 st irvington nj)

Care for our air

Care for our air

it's all about people being stupid and f*cking dirty because they don't care about other people or our earth.

Barry's Response - In many cases, yeah. That is often the cause of humanity's problems, environmental, political or otherwise. Thanks for noticing, Kiana.

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🧪Here's Why It's Plain Damn Dirty 🤢

It's Kiana's raw declaration - "we'll call this plain damn dirty" - that sets the stage for diving into the unsettling science of pollution. It's not just about sloppy individuals, it's about geochemical chaos caused by systems we barely notice. Sure, the dirty surface water pictures are horrifying, but the dirty air is often the real villain, acting as the trash chute for the atmosphere.

With cutting-edge research into the atmosphere's plumbing, let's figure out why this mess is so damn dirty. When industrial runoff pollutes rivers, it doesn't stay in the water. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), those nasty chemicals from solvents, oils, and industrial processes, volatilize - they jump from the liquid surface to the air, making water a problem for the sky. When they're airborne, they become tiny, invisible components of photochemical smog, reacting with sunlight to create ozone at ground level. There's no end to the filth in this machine.

Perplexing Science of Dirty Lids:

What's up with the air feeling so trapped? Physics! At night or under certain meteorological conditions, a temperature inversion acts as a cold, dense "lid" on the atmosphere. Because of this lid, any anthropogenic pollution - industrial fumes, car exhaust, cooking VOCs - gets jammed into the air we breathe and held in place. Whenever natural physics traps the air and our emissions hold it hostage, we'll call it plain damn dirty. In the image, you would see the plumes flattening out instead of rising.

Filth and the Ethics of Controversy:

While Kiana screams "stupid and dirty," an honest look at the problem, backed by some original thought, must acknowledge the systems. Skeptics often say that overzealous, prescriptive regulations stifle innovation. A facility may resist adopting better, more holistic long-term solutions (the integrity problem) if a regulation dictates how to treat its wastewater, but the solution is clunky and expensive.

Stewardship means more than just following rules; it means being responsible custodians - not just avoiding getting dirty, but creating a healthier environment. Therefore, the revolutionary method isn't stricter rules, but performance-based metrics that reward companies for net-zero pollutant transfer. As a result, we have to come up with creative, market-driven ideas.

Meteorologist's Muse

We need to think outside the box to fix invisible problems. Try these:

1) The Gothic Sludge: Maybe we could use the raw emotion of the title to inspire a Gothic horror story where the local water body is a haunted entity, its pollution a physical manifestation of past human neglect. Imagine clicking on a polluted stream photo and watching a 3D-simulated plume of methane (CH4) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S) rise and disperse across a map, instantly linking the aquatic environment to regional air quality. Wouldn't that be interesting?

2) What if we adapted industrial smokestacks? Instead of just filtering exhaust, how about coating them with specialized photocatalytic materials that use sunlight and the stack's heat to decompose ambient air pollutants? In other words, it turns the very infrastructure that caused the problem into a functional, wide-area air scrubber.

That's why we need to address the systems, not just shaming. By embracing the complex ways air quality and water pollution interact, we can forge new paths where innovation triumphs over inertia, and leave no part of the environment so dirty.

Let me know what you think

Would you be able to describe the most "damn dirty" piece of pollution you've ever seen with only a color and a sound? Feel free to share your weird reaction! 👇

Comments for we shall call this plain damn dirty

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starstar 		Talk the talk or Walk the walk
by: Gerry aka KOTO

Aloha Kiana:

You are right in many ways, there are people that don't care and there are people that don't know better. That is why people like you and I need to educate and also pick up after others, not only doing our part because we know better, but also setting examples.

Bad mouthing will not get the job done; words are just words. Walking the walk will make the difference that we need...you see Kiana, it is like trying to get a drunk to quit drinking or a smoker to quit smoking, you're not! All you can do is avoid and maybe pick up after them if you care about others.

Getting in their face will only start problems while setting examples and educating the young is our mission. Greater results will come from less bad words and more good action. People hear what we say, but see what we do and seeing is believing.

One random act of kindness at a time. You win with kindness and, Aloha, people can gripe day in and day out. Until you reach out and start picking up garbage and stenciling the storm drains, our life's blood remains threatened.

Action speaks louder then words. Good luck. Give it your best shot.

From Barry - Aloha Gerry, Your perspective — that "walking the walk" wins out over mere badmouthing — is a deeply insightful and wonderfully pragmatic counterpoint to Kiana's raw frustration. Instead of assigning blame ("plain damn dirty"), it enacts change, grounding the conversation in kindness. From shouting at polluters to picking up garbage and stenciling storm drains, this shift has a profound and measurable impact on water quality and air quality.

What's the Meteorology of Kindness?

You're for practical action over aggressive confrontation, which is actually the most effective strategy for pollution control. When you get "in their face", a form of aggressive confrontation, you're expending a lot of energy with little dispersal of the "pollutant" (the anger).

Take a look at the scientific impact of your suggestions:

A - Garbage Pickup (Reducing VOC and Aerosol Sources): When you pick up garbage, you're not just beautifying the roadside; you're directly reducing pollution. Decomposing plastics, rotting food, and discarded industrial materials release Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). When these VOCs escape into the air, they act as a chemical "starting fluid" for ground-level ozone. Your "random act of kindness" immediately reduces the precursor chemicals that cause smog. By doing that, you're literally reducing the atmospheric chemical potential.

B - Your idea to stencil storm drains (Controlling the Water-Air Pollution Feedback Loop) is brilliant because it tackles the water-air pollution feedback loop. Often, storm drains carry pollution directly to water bodies, causing problems like algal blooms downstream. Gases like methane and hydrogen sulfide are released by these blooms. You reduce the nutrients feeding the blooms by educating people not to dump chemicals down the drain, which reduces the release of noxious gases that would otherwise pollute the air. You're controlling biogeochemical cycling with a simple visual cue.

C - Educating the young and setting examples is essentially a form of social diffusion that environmental science can quantify. As a strong wind disperses pollution over a large area, consistent, visible acts of kindness and cleanup spread virtuous behavior. You're creating a positive feedback loop - good actions inspire more good actions - which is much more sustainable and stable than conflict energy.

You're right: Actions speak louder than words. When it comes to air and water chemistry, action is the chemistry, while words are just words. One random act of kindness at a time is the real "walk the walk" philosophy for a cleaner, kinder planet.

Are there any other simple, visible things you think have the biggest impact on local air quality?

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Thank you to my research and writing assistants, ChatGPT and WordTune, as well as Wombo and others for the images.

OpenAI's large-scale language generation model (and others provided by Google and Meta), helped generate this text.  As soon as draft language is generated, the author reviews, edits, and revises it to their own liking and is responsible for the content.