Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 8 · column 3 of 4 · from the scan, no model involved
Clevenger’s
From Page A1
News and Courier” described a brown-tinted haze enveloping Luray on Friday, May 11, 1934.
It was dust, blown in from 1,000-miles away, from the mid-West during the great Dust-Bowl drought.
Just a month ago, on Sunday, July 7, 2002, smoke from forest fires 900-miles away in Central Quebec, Camada, created an odd haze here.
Dry pollutants can also arrive from nearby.
In early November 2000, ash from wildland fires in the Shenandoah National Park coated cars, rooftops, trees, etc. Rain finally brought these pollutants to the ground.
Similarly, pollutants arriving by water vapor have also traveled .great distant? before descending here as acid rain or snow.
Vegetation, oxygen
Once air-borne pollutants are here, vegetation is nature’s first line of defense. The Virginia Cooperative Extension Service describes how leaves and stems of trees and plants give off moisture, capturing dry airborne particles (smoke, dust, dirt), holding them until a rainfall or snowfall sweeps them to the ground.
Leaves and stems also slow down air movements, so heavier dry particles have time to sink to the ground, where they mix with moisture there.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture describes how trees and plants also take in carbon dioxide and put out oxygen.
A single acre of trees can generate four tons of oxygen, enough for the annual oxygen needs of 18 people.
This same acre of trees can absorb the carbon dioxide produced by a car driven 26,000 miles.
In addition, vegetation interrupts and slows down rain and snowfall, giving water time to soak into the ground, rather than running off and eroding the landscape.
Many developments, especially those near cities, totally clear-cut acres of land to ease the building of townhouses, condominiums, single-family homes, and commercial space.
By eliminating so much vegetation, a line of defense in counteracting pollutants is degraded.
95.8%